According to "Clark County History 1985" and "The Columbian - A Look Back at Vancouver History," Amos and Esther Short, from Pennsylvania and Illinois, and their eight children landed ashore near Hudson’s Bay Company Fort Vancouver on Christmas Day, 1845. They took up a homestead — a donation land claim, built a log cabin 1/2 mile from the fort, and started their potato farm. The eastern boundary of their land, marked by a Witness Tree on the banks of the Columbia (now a benchmark since the tree fell into the river), would one day become Vancouver's Main Street and its northern boundary would even later become 26th Street. The Witness Tree was also the boundary marker for the Hudson's Bay Company (H.B.C.) Fort Vancouver (later the U.S. Military Reservation).The H.B.C. officials at the fort did not want their new neighbors. Since the fort was founded, no Americans had dared claim land in its vicinity. Britain wanted to hold everything north of the Columbia River. To make matters worse, just a year before the American settlers had dared to establish the Oregon Provisional Government. The H.B.C. tried every means possible to evict Amos and Esther Short, including destroying their fences, plowing under their crops, and burning down their cabin several times.
One time when Amos was away, the H.B.C. even took Esther and her children, put them in a boat and took them across the Columbia to the American side of the river where they were put ashore and told to stay. The Shorts came back. The H.B.C. swooped in again, catching the whole family unprepared. The family was loaded into a scow and set adrift on the Columbia without oars. But Amos Short and his wife and children reached land - and they came back! Once a man came to the cabin door and struck Esther Short across the face with a heavy club. After that Amos kept a gun handy.
On Friday, April 5, 1850, two men came to evict the Shorts. Amos was warned of their coming so he took the four or five men who were working for him and who volunteered, and went to meet the men. He ordered the men to keep off his land and warned them he would shoot but they came on anyway. A battle followed, and Amos shot the two men, one a white man, Dr. David Gardner, and a Kanaka (Hawaiian), employed at Fort Vancouver. Amos was arrested by the H.B.C. and taken to the fort. Esther entreated Major Hathaway, an American stationed in the area, to intercede. He helped bring about the release of Amos. Fearful of being convicted of the crime of murder if tried at Fort Vancouver, he elected to be tried across the Columbia in Hillsborough. The trial was set for May 7, 1852. The court found that he acted in self-defense within half a day of proceedings. A territorial judge who acquitted him is reported to have said, "The only trouble I find with you, Short, is that you didn't shoot more of them."
While Amos was away defending himself against murder charges, other H.B.C. men under the leadership of an adventurous French-Canadian, Francis Facette, were sent to destroy the fences once again. Fed up, Esther hit Facette with the open palm of her hand, knocking him to the ground. The Hudson's Bay Company gave up in the face of her determination.
On January 7, 1853, Amos Short drowned at the treacherous Columbia River bar while returning on a ship, "Vandalia," from selling his potato harvest in California. The demand for food was high in California during the gold rush and the Shorts were making good money. Undaunted, Esther carried on with the task of helping build the city of Vancouver (at first called Columbia City). In 1855 she donated Esther Short Park and a long strip of waterfront for the city's use forever. Vancouver was incorporated two years later on January 23, 1857. Esther Short (b. PA 1806) died on June 28, 1862. She had mothered ten children - Curtis, Jersusha, Drusilla, Clark, Samantha, Maxey, Deloss, Grant, Esther and Emmaline - besides losing two more. She was buried in the Old City Cemetery.
Visit Instructions: A closeup photo of the surveying plaque or the benchmark is required with you or your GPSr in the picture. The plaque is located along the north edge of the landscaping at the south end of the parking lot. If a car is parked there it tends to hide the plaque. The Surveyors Monument is located a few feet away in the middle of Joe's Crab Shack parking lot (N 45 37.278 W 122 40.311). It looks like a water meter cover with a Vancouver symbol and a large "W." Lift the cover to see a bronze post about 2 1/2 inches in diameter. This 1989 post replaced the old marker that was put in after the Witness Tree fell into the river.