The United States and United Kingdom came to an agreement in 1818 in which they would share sovereign rule over the Oregon Country.  Oregon’s borders came into reasonable shape in the next couple of years with an agreement between Russia and the US followed by one between Russia and England demarcating the northern border to be at the point of 54°40’ latitude.

JOINT SOVEREIGNITY

The Anglo-American Convention of 1818 established the 49° parallel north to become the boundary between the US and British North America replacing the previous boundary of the Missouri watershed.  That is up to the crest of the Continental Divide.  Further west, the boundary remained nebulous.  The treaty mainly focused upon areas east of the Rocky Mountains, but Article III did establish joint control over Oregon for ten years.

Some wrote that the convention led to a fierce struggle between the two countries over control of the region for the following two decades until the Oregon Treaty of 1846 finally resolved most of the Oregon border questions.  That probably represents a wrong interpretation of events.  In 1818, there were few Europeans in the Oregon Country – a few fur trappers and the occasional sailing vessel – whalers or fur traders.  Oregon did not really ring any bells in either London or Washington, D.C.  That sense of discernment would have to wait for another 22 years when American emigrants finally began to arrive facing a political situation of benign neglect.

TEN-YEAR CLAUSE

The treaty’s joint rule clause ran for ten years at which time both sides were to re-sign for another ten-year term.  If either side wanted out of the treaty, they needed to give the other party a year’s notice.  With 1828, little notice was given as the two sides re-upped for another decade.  On a governmental level, Oregon barely registered for either side.  All British policy basically mirrored that of the Hudson’s Bay Company, the monolithic fur trading monopoly left in charge of most of what is today Canada.  American policy was basic ignorance beyond what a few American trappers and explorers had written.

HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY

Hudson’s Bay Company – HBC also simply known as the Company – began its long life as a royal charter granted by Charles II on 2 May 1670.  The company lasted 355 years until its recent bankruptcy ended the current iteration of the company.  Two French colonists in New France – Pierre-Esprit Radisson and Médard des Groseilliers learned the best fur country lay north and west of Lake Superior.  They failed to interest French officials in New France of setting up a trading post on the shore of Hudson Bay.  The two men went up into the Great Lakes basin anyway bringing back a load of premium furs.  But the French government responded by arresting the pair of men, confiscating their furs, as well.

After a failed attempt to get a Boston group to head for the Bay, the two Frenchmen were brought to England in 1665 where they gained the sponsorship of Prince Rupert, cousin of Charles II.  With two ships, they sailed in 1668 to explore the potential for trading in the Hudson Bay region.  One ship turned back but Groseilliers aboard the Nonsuch made it all the way to James Bay founding a small fort – Charles Fort – on the mouth of the Rupert River.  Returning to England the following year, the enterprise proved the viability of the project.

a royal charter

This followed by the royal charter a year later granting the company a monopoly over the entire watershed of Hudson Bay – almost 1,500,000 square miles (30% of modern Canada).  A series of six forts became built over the next 49 years, three along James Bay and three on the west shores of Hudson Bay.  It was not until 1774 before the company began to build inland trading posts taking advantage of the vast riverine systems flowing into the Bay.

North West challenge

To compete with the HBC, a group of traders in Montreal came together to form the North West Company – NWC – 1779.  By 1784, HBC profits began to lose ground because of the competition.  Competition was fierce leading to a series of violent confrontations between 1812 and 1821.  Declining profits on both sides plus pressure from the British government led to a merger of the two companies in 1821. 

The newly re-organized HBC – with many officers from the NWC – now controlled the fur trade over much of North America.  Between 1820 and 1870, the company issued its own paper money, issued mainly for the Red River Colony – today’s Manitoba, but that money also found its way to the Oregon Country.

HBC was a joint-stock company, meaning company shares were owned and traded by shareholders.  The shareholders then at an annual General Court elected a governor and committee to organize the business of the company.  The governor was based in London and he, along with the committee, set all basic policies for company actions in Rupert’s Land.  The General Court also appointed a governor to act for the company in the Bay area. 

Rupert’s Land further divided into districts from which chief factors (head traders) acted over.  In 1821 HBC’s North America operations streamlined into a Southern Department – lands south of Hudson Bay – and a Northern Department – more of a western department taking in all lands west of the Bay.  To run the Northern Department, George Simpson got the tab to become the governor. 

HBC COMES TO OREGON

Fur trading in the Oregon Country before 1821 fell into the bailiwick of the NWC.  Parties of the NWC previously explored many areas as far south as the Umpqua River.  The War of 1812 saw the American-owned Pacific Fur Company lose its foothold in the region selling out to the NWC – with whom they shared friendly relations – their trading post at Fort Astoria – afterwards, Fort George. 

Ideas of the PFC gained adoption by the NWC with an annual supply ship arriving at Fort George.  Furs coming in from the interior then became loaded onto the ship heading onward to China.  There, furs traded for tea and other goods for shipment back to Britain.  The NWC lifeline was made of the Columbia River and its tributaries.  That lifeline would remain as the anchor for the newly re-organized HBC after 1821.

The Oregon Country fell under the NWC Columbia District, re-styled as the Columbia Department by the HBC.  John McLoughlin, a chief factor at Lac la Pluie – the Rainy Lake region between today’s Canada-US border between Minnesota and Manitoba – became the chief factor for the Columbia Department with Peter Skene Ogden as an assistant in 1824.  Accompanying Governor Simpson at Fort George, they decided to establish a new HBC headquarters further upriver.  Thus, the new fort would be less vulnerable to passing potential enemy ships.  The ground chosen – Fort Vancouver – also sported much better agricultural possibilities so the post could become more self-sufficient.

FORT VANCOUVER

Fort Vancouver and the York Factory – HBC headquarters on the west shore of Hudson Bay – linked together through two “express brigades“.  The brigades consisted of 40 – 75 men traveling in 2 – 5 specially made boats.  They would cover the 2,600-mile distance in about 100 days stopping along the way to resupply forts and trading posts in addition to maintaining communication between York Factory – Simpson’s headquarters – and Fort Vancouver.

Eventually, Fort Vancouver would oversee 34 trading outposts, 24 trade ports, six ships and 600 employees.  Of the employees, Scottish Irish men headed the operations – chief factor, chief traders – while the mass of the workers – trappers, boatsmen, etc. – came from French Canada and included many Native Americans from eastern American tribes or mixed-race Métis from the Red River area.  HBC gained authority, including judicial, over-all British citizens in the Oregon Country.

UNITED STATES AND OREGON

The Oregon Country’s relationship to the United States – much like the relationship to Britain – is one of benign neglect.  In Britain’s case, the government left the region to the semi-independent HBC.  Very few people in the US government gave the region much pause over the next decade and a half.  A few American explorers would venture into the lands made somewhat momentarily well-known following the 1805-1806 exploration of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. 

There had been the brief foray by John Jacob Astor’s PFC in the 1810-1813 establishment of Fort Astoria.  But war had given the fort to the NWC.  Sovereignty over the fort returned to the US after the Treaty of Ghent.  That amounted to a flag raising followed by a return to control by the NWC since they had purchased the post from the PFC in 1813.  After 1821, the fort became the short-lived headquarters for the newly remade HBC.

Meanwhile, American interests in Oregon were limited to the occasional trading ship along the coasts and a few fur trappers in the interior.  Fur trapping in the Country became more difficult by the HBC policy of creating a “fur desert” imposed by Simpson.  He ordered a deliberate over-hunting of the areas south of the Columbia River to discourage American trappers from encroaching in an HBC realm.

It was not until 1834 before Oregon began to impinge upon thoughts back east.  First, Jason Lee’s mission to Oregon.  He was not very successful converting Native Americans to Methodism, but he and subsequent mission reinforcements sent word back about the richness of lands awaiting potential emigrants.  By 1840, the Oregon Trail allowed increasing numbers of American settlers to make their ways west.

INTELLIGENCE GATHERING

Two government-sponsored expeditions visited the Oregon Country – William Slacum in 1837-1838 and Charles Wilkes in 1841.  Their missions easily seen by the HBC and McLoughlin as “spies” though they were actually simple fact-finding efforts regarding a territory supposedly shared by the two nations.

As more settlers came to Oregon, the lack of governance – HBC could not provide “law” to American citizens – led to the establishment of a provisional settler government at Champoeg in 1843.  At the same time, expansion became a favorite topic of many back in the eastern US with Texas linked to Oregon and California, as well. 

American expansion had run aground with the always-present question of slavery.  A proponent of expansion – especially with regards to Texas – James Polk used the theme as an important component of his successful run to the presidency in 1844.  He saw Oregon as a perfect foil to Texas.  Texas would become annexed as a slave territory while Oregon would come in as a free territory.

BRITISH VIEWS

As early as 1824, Simpson and McLoughlin came to the conclusion lands south of the Columbia River eventually would become American.  Fort Vancouver chosen on a site upriver to protect it from possible sea raiders.  The HBC thought by creating the “fur desert” to the south would maintain them in the region for the time being. 

But with time, Simpson began to look further north deciding to move the departmental headquarters north to a new fort he established in 1842 – Fort Victoria.  He also thought eventually the US would accept not the Columbia River as a border but demand the Puget Sound and a boundary at the 49^th parallel, minus Vancouver Island.  This had, in fact become the American proposal.  The Puget Sound was the only area south of the 49^th which offered deep-water ports.  The Columbia River bar was very dangerous causing many delays for ships to safely cross.

proposals

British proposals first centered upon the Columbia River as the border.  In view of the lack of a deep-water port for the Americans, however, they were willing to concede a portion of the Olympic Peninsula to include the harbor of Discovery Bay.  This proposal went nowhere.

Neither side wanted to go to war over the region.  England needed American trade, and the US was involved with the outbreak of the Mexican War in April 1846.  Then, in June, the British offered to further negotiate the border.  It took only a short time before both sides agreed to the 49^th parallel with Vancouver Island going to the British.  The question of the San Juan Islands would remain the only problem eventually settled in favor of the US in 1872.

A SPY MISSION

In 1845, with the “Oregon Question” turning hot, George Simpson sailed to Britain to give his views on the affair.  Two British officers went out to “obtain a general knowledge of the capabilities of the Oregon Territory in a Military point of view.”  “The selected officers would join governor Simpson on a journey “to the Oregon Territory as private travellers, and will carefully examine the important features of the Country in order to obtain as accurate a knowledge of it as may be requisite for the future and efficient prosecution of Military operations in it, should such operations become necessary …”  “It is scarcely necessary to add that cordial cooperation with Sir George Simpson with reference to the objects of the Mission will be an essential part of the Duties of the Officers employed …”

The Officers selected

Of the two officers, Lieutenant Henry James Warre was in charge with Lieutenant Mervin Vavasour of the Royal Engineers as his companion.  They pretended to be men of leisure amusing themselves with hunting, fishing and wandering around in the west with canoes and men supplied by Simpson. 

Born in Cape Town 12 January 1819, Henry was the son of Lieutenant-General Sir William Warre of the port trading Warre family.  He joined the army at the age of 18 after attending the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. With a lot of spare time allowed by his choice of a military career, Warre enjoyed drawing and painting.  He became aide-de-camp to his uncle by marriage, Sir Richard Downes, the commander of British forces in North America stationed in Montreal.  With Henry’s artistic abilities, he was a natural for selection to help evaluate the British presence in Oregon.  Warre was 26 years of age at the time of his appointment.

Mervin Vavasour had the task of drawing plans of the various Hudson Bay forts along their trek as well as geographical features of military importance.  He was also the son of a British soldier, Captain Henry William Vavasour, also a Royal Engineer.  Mervin attended the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich commissioned as a 2^nd lieutenant on 19 March 1839.  His first posting saw him working on the Ottawa and Rideau canal development following completion of the military engineering school – the Royal Engineer Establishment – at Chatham, England in 1841.  Along with Warre, Mervin found himself tabbed for the secret mission.  He was 24 years old.

THE MISSION BEGINS

Warre, Vavasour, Simpson and Peter Skene Ogden all left Montreal on 5 May 1845 reaching Fort Garry (today’s Winnipeg) on June 7 over the watercourses of the Great Lakes. They ventured out in two canoes, one holding Simpson – Canôt du Governeur – and another for the officers and Ogden – Canôt des Officiers.

Resting up for a little over a week, Warre, Vavasour, Ogden, an HBC clerk and ten men set out for the far west in two carts.  With Ogden – who knew the real purpose of the two officer’s mission – along to help them interact with the various HBC posts along the way, they made their way to Fort Vancouver on 26 August.  Along the way, Warre kept up a diary of their journey and a series of sketches and watercolors showing people, customs and landscapes.

Personal Impressions

Warre wrote later of the group as they crossed the Great Plains and Rockies, “… The amiability of Our party, on the whole, is seldom disturbed – Mr. Ogden, a fat jolly good fellow, reminding me of Falstaff, both in appearance & wit, always talking, always proving himself right – clever, with a good knowledge of French and of most of the Indian Languages having been 30 years in the Indian Country, strongly prejudiced in favor of all the Indian Customs, and cannot imagine that any one who has not had the same advantages can possibly know any thing about the Country with a very Republican Spirit which he adheres to with.”

Warre continues, Mr. Ogden “Has read a vast number of Works which he remembers well, but takes too much for Gospel.  On the whole, he is a very good & commendable fellow – full of information about the country which we are about to visit, but most difficult to obtain such information from, his partiality for joking & ‘selling’ rendering it nearly impossible to know when he is in earnest or not.”

Ogden had a slightly different take on his two guests.  He did not particularly enjoy traveling with the two British officers carrying toothbrushes and top hats. “I had certainly two most disagreeable companions,” he later wrote, noting the officers’ “constant grumbling and complaining” about life on the trail.

IN OREGON

Warre’s impression of Fort Vancouver simple. The fort, while well suited for pasturage, it occupied a bad site for defense.  He mentioned a ridge behind the fort which commanded the plains on which the fort stood – the ridge eventually was where the US Army would eventually build its own fort.

After a bit of time at the fort, McLoughlin sent the pair of army “spies” south to the Willamette Valley with another HBC chief factor, James Douglas.  They visited Oregon City, where Warre estimated that some 350 inhabitants lived.  After visiting farms in the Willamette Valley where they found themselves hospitably received by mostly former HBC employees, they returned to Fort Vancouver.

Cape Disappointment Interlude

Next, they went downstream to Fort George, with Peter Ogden again at their side. Here they found an amiable host in James Birnie, the chief trader at the post.

While the two officers were traveling south to the Willamette Valley, Ogden went downriver to visit Cape Disappointment on the north shore of the Columbia River mouth.  Simpson had given Ogden instructions to take possession of the Cape with the “view to the forming of a trading post and pilot lookout (should it not have been previously occupied on behalf of the United State Gov’t, or any of its citizens).” 

Simpson also noted these instructions to Warre suggesting they also make a “close examination of Cape Disappointment, a headland on the North bank of the Columbia River at its outlet to the Pacific, overlooking the Ship Channel, and commanding as far as I was able to judge when upon the spot from superficial observation, the navigation of the River, the occupation of which as a fortification would, in my opinion, be of much importance tin the event of hostilities between England and the United States.”

ogden’s purchase

Ogden made a claim there, purchasing the land from James Saules, an American – 9 September.  Returning with the officers to Fort George, he noted to Warre, “I regret to say that my purchase of the Cape is now null and void.  The man I purchase it from had no right to dispose of it.  Two men … had a prior claim.  They, however, proposed to part with it for $900.00, which I refused, having no authority vested in me to negotiate.

Ogden returned on 9 September and then made his north to explore a possible brigade route between the forts at Kamloops and Langley – near present-day Vancouver.  He found himself at Fort Colville when the York Express arrived bringing letters from Simpson which changed the HBC administration for the Columbia Departments for the near future.  McLoughlin was to share leadership with Ogden and Douglas in a three-member Board of Management.  The department also split up into three sections.  With these instructions Ogden accompanied the Express downriver to Fort Vancouver arriving 8 November.

Warre and Vavasour head north

After visiting the Willamette Valley, the military duo headed north near the end of September where they met up with Captain John Gordon aboard the HMS America which arrived Discovery Bay on the southern shore of Strait of Juan de Fuca.  Together, they crossed over to Fort Victoria meeting up with James Douglas.  After attending a ball at the fort, they made their way back to Fort Vancouver where they spent most of the winter. 

Altogether, Warre and Vavasour spent the next seven months visiting the various settlements in the Oregon Country.  Much of the winter, to the disgust of Ogden, the two spent much of their time enjoying the delights found aboard the HMS Modeste overwintering in the Columbia across from Fort Vancouver.  They did spend some of their time reporting on strategic values of places they came across and the numbers of settlers living there.  Vavasour drew plans for the HBC forts as well as areas which could be of use to the Royal Army if needed.

Questions about the Cape remain and resolve

Warre had spent time north at Fort Victoria, returning to Vancouver on 17 November.  He questioned Ogden on whether or not the purchase of Cape Disappointment had gone through.  Ogden had already answered that question before leaving for the northeast.  He noted to Warre that “neither Cape Disappointment, Tongue Point, nor any other place, is to be taken possession of by the Hon’ble H.B.Company, if already possessed or occupied on behalf or the United States Government or its citizens.”

Eventually, in February 1846, Ogden headed back downriver to re-purchase the claim at Cape Disappointment for $1000 – Warre and Vavasour also returned at the same time to make further sketches and surveys. The plan was to move the trading post at Fort George over to the cape.  Some buildings went up, used by the HBC until 1850.  Plans to place artillery atop the headlands never went forward, however, with the Oregon Treaty soon signed.  With the land now part of the United States, any plans for artillery would wait until Fort Canby and 1863.

ROYAL NAVY ARRIVES

Not only did the army feature in determining the on-ground situation, the Royal Navy became involved.  Warre and Vavasour met up with Lieutenant William Peel – son of the British prime minister – and Captain William Henry Parke, Royal Marines – himself, the son of another British general – of the HMS America while they visited Oregon City in September 1845. 

The America anchored in Discovery Bay on the Strait of Juan de Fuca.  The ship’s captain, John Gordon, sent the two officers south on a reconnaissance with a similar intelligence gathering to the two army officers – to learn the actual situation in Oregon – settlements, population, American military present and what protection might come forward to the American settlers.

The two officers of the naval project headed south from the Puget Sound arriving at Fort Vancouver on 8 September.  James Douglas, the chief factor who would replace McLoughlin, had taken Warre and Vavasour south to tour the Willamette Valley.  McLoughlin then sent the two naval men south, as well.  All greeted by the settlers “with the utmost hospitality of which their means would admit…” 

back to the ship

Douglas then accompanied Peel and Parke back north to the America, a three-day journey.  They took with them copies of correspondence between McLoughlin and Jason Lee as well as his reports on William Slacum’s visit in 1841 and stories written by Hall J. Kelley – colonization prospects in Oregon and American claims to the region – and speeches from Lewis Linn in the US Senate concerning possible annexation by the US.  McLoughlin wrote, “I considered it but proper that British officers should be informed of their gross misrepresentation.”

Douglas soon joined up on the 18-gun sloop HMS Modeste commanded by Thomas Baillie.  Baillie earlier brought the Modeste to the Northwest coast in July 1844 crossing the Columbia bar.  Now in October 1845, he returned, this time to the Puget Sound.  McLoughlin continued, “I do not apprehend the least danger, and still the visit of a British Man of War to this place has both a moral and political effect, and shews that our Government is ready to protect us….”   wintering across from Fort Vancouver that year into the next. 

Both the America and the Modeste were in Oregon to raise the flag and show America Great Britain would not give up easily.  Soon after, the Modeste made its way to Fort Vancouver where it overwintered there. They eventually left in 1847 by which time the Oregon Treaty had long since signed between the US and Great Britain.

RETURN

On 25 March 1846, the army pair were ready to return to Montreal and further to England.  They embarked in a boat late in the afternoon as part of the annual York Express westward-bound venture.  More journeys and a slew, more sketches awaited them on their return to Montreal on 20 July.  Their travels had taken 14 months.  Warre then proceeded to Boston where he returned to England aboard “the Magnificent Steamer Cambria”.  Warre had been overseas for six years at that point – his uncle had died the previous June when they trudged upon their outward-bound journey.

REPORTS

Amidst the reports on the strategic values of the various places they had visited, Warre included an accusation of McLoughlin encouraging American settlement into the Oregon Country to the detriment of British interests. Their final report issued 16 June 1846, did not reach England until July. This was well after the Oregon Treaty was signed on 15 June.

Ogden and Simpson were well aware of the military aspects of Warre and Vavasour’s trip to Oregon, McLoughlin was not.  McLoughlin had easily surmised the reason for visits by William Slacum and Charles Wilkes to Oregon earlier.  He surmised the intelligence purpose of Eugène Duflot de Mofras in late 1841 on behalf of Orléanist France.  Maybe, in 1845, McLoughlin simply had too many other things on his mind – his worsening situation vis-a-vis with George Simpson over his administration of the Columbia Department.

But especially with Simpson’s role in bringing to justice the murderers of his son, John McLoughlin, Jr.. John Jr. was murdered at Fort Stikine – in today’s Panhandle of Alaska.  Then with Simpson’s instituting the three-headed Board of Management, McLoughlin was beginning to look for a way out.  He would resign at the end of 1845, though the HBC kept him on their books until 1850.

mcloughlin’s reaction

Simpson gained a copy of Warre’s report, and he did send a copy to McLoughlin.  Included in the report, “In conclusion, we must beg to observe with an unbiased opinion that whatever may have been the orders, or motives of the gentlemen in charge of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s posts on the west of the Rocky Mountains their policy has tended to the introduction of the American settlers into the country.  We are convinced that without their assistance not 30 American families would now have been in the settlement …”

McLoughlin was mortified.  He noted the officers had not accepted his offer to help them gain whatever information they needed with regards to the Columbia Department. 

Additionally, McLoughlin reproached those above him in the HBC, “… and I think the world will admit that the Hudsons Bay Company if they knew the object of Messrs. Warre & Vavasour’s mission, and those who sent them, ought in justice to me, to the situation I held in the Hudsons Bay Company’s Service and to themselves, so as to obtain correct information of the affairs of the Country to have instructed these Gentlemen to have at least handed me their report for perusual, that I might have an opportunity to explain, and not have as it were, my character assassinated in the dark ;;; And I must in conclusion be allowed to observe It is a treatment I did not deserve and which I did not expect to receive from any of the parties …”

Warre and Vavasour’s Conclusions

Their final report had no effect on the outcome of the Oregon Treaty. This especially so since it was not received until after the treaty went into effect.  Warre was convinced of Great Britain’s legitimacy in Oregon. Still, from their earlier reports and from a practical point of view, military intervention was discouraged.  The territory was too far away to send troops to.  Once there, those soldiers would be difficult to supply.  Most of the HBC forts they found not to very impressive. 

Oregon had been won by the mass emigration ongoing since 1840 with Americans vastly outnumbering British in the region.  And many more were on their way.  As one British foreign minister earlier told an American negotiator, “… you will conquer Oregon in your bedchambers.”  Britain could do little more than “show the flag,” undertake a military reconnaissance, put up a little bluster, and wage a strong diplomatic war.

Warre – as we have seen in my earlier post – gathered together a number of his sketches, He then made these into hand-colored lithographs for his 1848 Sketches in North America and the Oregon Territory, a book reproduced by the Canadian government in 1976.  The book gives a wonderful look at their journey and experiences in the 1840s.

Meanwhile, the Navy

William Peel made it back to England before the army duo.  To get the report as quick as possible to London, Gordon sailed the America to Honolulu where Peel boarded an American ship to Mazatlan.  From there, he went overland to Veracruz and then onto Havana and London aboard a Royal Mail steam packet.

He submitted his own report in February 1846.  His conclusions were similar to those later of Warre and Vavasour, but from a naval perspective.  Naval power could show the flag and flex its might, but its dominion did not extend beyond the coast.  Unless Britain was willing to send in regiments of infantry and artillery and rule by the sword, American domination of the territory could not be overcome by just the Royal Navy.

Peel noted American settlers were already in place north of the Columbia River.  He did note that if the 49^th parallel was extended, Britain should try to retain its presence on Vancouver Island.  From Victoria, the British fleet could still control the straits from a good harbor.  He noted that California would probably fall under American control and with that the port of San Francisco giving them “a decided superiority in the Pacific.”

RESOLUTION

While Britain would retain Vancouver Island, there remains no evidence to which Peel played any role in that.  It came down to McLoughlin’s warning in a letter to Captain Gordon, “…unless active measures are taken by the Government, for the protection and encouragement of British influence, this Country will pass into other hands, as the overwhelming number of Americans who are from year to year coming to the Country, will give an American tone and character to its institutions, which it will be impossible afterwards to eradicate.”