Fort Astoria/Fort George - Astoria, OR - UK Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

On October 23, 1813, the Americans operating the Pacific Fur Company trading post in Astoria, Oregon, turned the post over to their rivals in the British North West Company, and for the next three decades Britons dominate the fur trade of the Pacific Northwest.

The town and fur trading post at Astoria were founded in 1811 at the behest of John Jacob Astor, a German-born American immigrant who had hoped to beat out his British rivals and develop the Pacific Northwest fur trade for America. Unfortunately for Astor, the outbreak of the War of 1812 between the U.S. and Great Britain threw the fate of his enterprise into doubt, raising the threat that at any moment a British warship might arrive and seize Astoria as a spoil of war. Astor's partners in the Pacific Fur Company were mostly Canadian, and they saw little reason to risk losing their entire investment in a British takeover so they sold their interests to the British North West Company in early October 1813. Just as they had feared, within weeks of the sale a man-of-war arrived and took possession of Astoria for Great Britain. In December 1813, the stars and strips came down, the Union Jack went up, and Astoria became Fort George.

Although Great Britain gave the settlement of Astoria back to the United States after the War of 1812, the British maintained control of Fort George and the Pacific Northwest fur trade, primarily through the royally chartered Hudson Bay Company. For the next 20 years the Hudson Bay Company's British representatives ruled as benevolent despots over the traders, settlers, and Indians of the Pacific Northwest. By the 1840s, the beaver population had dwindled, while American settlement in the area was on the rise. Unwilling to protect the Hudson Bay Company's claim to the region, the British agreed to accept American control of the territory below the 49th parallel in 1846 and ceded to the U.S. the territory encompassing the future states of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.

The sign at the Fort site reads:
Desiring to dominate the areas explored by Lewis and Clark, John Jacob Astor sent expeditions overland to seize the mouth of the Columbia. The schooner Tonquin arrived first and work was begun on this site April 12, 1811. “The foliage was budding. We imagined ourselves in the Garden of Eden. Buildlings were of boards tightly covered and roofed with cedar bark.” Later palisades were raised against the Indians. Here gathered adventurers from all the vast wilderness; Here in 1814, lived the Oregon country’s first white woman, the English barmaid, Jane Barnes. Here were the true beginnings of our stock raising, farming, and shipbuilding. The property was sold to the North West Company to avoid capture during the War of 1812 and was operated as “Fort George” until its abandonment in 1825 when the Hudson’s Bay Company moved headquarters to Fort Vancouver. The buildings decayed and modern Astoria rose upon the site.

Type of Historic Marker: Inscribed sign Historical Marker Issuing Authority: National Park Service Age/Event Date: 04/12/1811 Related Website: [Web Link] Give your Rating:

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