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78-561: In 1865, the Army decided it needed a fort near the Warner Lakes to facilitate the interdiction of Indian raiding parties passing through the area. Army scouts from Fort Vancouver selected a site along Honey Creek on the west side of the Warner Lakes in what is today Lake County, Oregon. In 1866, a unit of the 14 Infantry Regiment was sent from Fort Boise to establish the fort. The 14th Infantry came by way of Fort Harney , arriving on

156-678: A clerk until 1834 when he was promoted to the rank of Chief Trader. From October 1838 to November 1839, while McLoughlin was on furlough in Europe, Chief Trader Douglas was in charge. In November 1839 Douglas was promoted to the rank of Chief Factor. Douglas took on several temporary assignments elsewhere, to set up HBC's trading post at Yerba Buena (San Francisco) California in 1841, and to establish Fort Victoria in 1843, but from 1839 to 1845 there were normally two Chief Factors based at Fort Vancouver, with McLoughlin in charge and Douglas as his subordinate. At its inception, Governor George Simpson wanted

234-524: A government, individual, or legal entity from their prior owners. "Patent" is both a process and a term. As a process, it is somewhat parallel to gaining a patent for intellectual property , including the steps of uniquely defining the property at issue, filing, processing, and granting. Unlike intellectual property patents, which have time limits, a land patent is permanent. In the United States , all claims of land ownership can be traced back to

312-593: A land patent, first-title deed , or similar document regarding land previously France , Spain , the United Kingdom , Mexico , the Kingdom of Hawaii , Russia , or Native Americans . Other terms for the certificate that grants such rights include "first-title deed" and '"final certificate." A land patent is known in law as "letters patent" and usually issues to the original grantee and to their heirs and assigns forever. The patent stands as supreme title to

390-565: A large press and wrapped in elk or bear hide to create overseas fur bales. The large 270-pound bales were then placed on boats on the Columbia River for shipment to London via the HBC trade routes. The furs would then be auctioned off to textile manufacturers in London. A large demand came from hatters who produced popular beaver felted hats . For most of its existence, Fort Vancouver was

468-584: A more suitable headquarters than Fort George at the mouth of the Columbia. Simpson was instrumental in the establishment of Fort Vancouver. Using the HBC position that any settlement of the Oregon boundary dispute would confirm the border placement along the Columbia; Simpson selected a location situated opposite from the mouth of the Willamette River . This expanse was an open and fertile prairie that

546-466: A narrow, marshy channel between Hart Lake and Crump Lake. Shortly after the bridge was begun a second detachment was sent ahead to construct the new fort. The bridge was completed that summer and the soldiers moved into the new camp, which was named Fort Warner . By 1869, the Indian raids in south-central Oregon had ended and a treaty had been signed. With no Indian raiders left in the area, Fort Warner

624-505: A particular tract of land that has gone through various legally-prescribed processes like surveying and documentation, followed by the letter's signing, sealing, and publishing in public records, made by a sovereign entity. While land patents are still issued by governments to indicate property is privately held, they are also often used by sovereign citizens and similar groups in illegitimate attempts to gain unlawful possession of property, or avoid taxes and foreclosure. Land patents are

702-598: A plan was put together to preserve the location. Fort Vancouver was declared a US National Monument on June 19, 1948, and redesignated as Fort Vancouver National Historic Site on June 30, 1961. This was taken a step further in 1996 when a 366-acre (1.48 km ) area around the fort, including Kanaka Village, the Columbia Barracks and the bank of the river, was established as the Vancouver National Historic Reserve maintained by

780-522: A plethora of Indigenous cultures for fur pelts. Furs from Fort Vancouver were often shipped to the Chinese port of Guangzhou where they were traded for Chinese manufactured goods for sale in the United Kingdom. At its pinnacle, Fort Vancouver watched over 34 outposts, 24 ports, six ships, and 600 employees. Today, a full-scale replica of the fort, with internal buildings, has been constructed and

858-422: A result, the company was able to sell thousands of acres of dry, worthless land during their week-long auction. As a result, very few purchasers ever lived on their property or received economic benefits from it. The Oregon Central Military Wagon Road was a circuitous 420-mile (680 km) wagon trace designed to capture government land grants rather than link destinations. Today, Oregon Route 58 (also known as

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936-528: A school, a library, a pharmacy, a chapel, a blacksmith, plus a large manufacturing facility. The Chief Factor's residence in the center of Fort Vancouver was two stories tall. Inside was a dining hall where company clerks, traders, physicians, and others of the gentleman class would dine with the supervising Chief Factor. In general, the entirety of the Chief Factor's House and its meals were typically barred for general laborers and fur trappers. After dinner

1014-586: A snow storm. In the spring of 1867, the 14th Infantry was replaced by a company of the 23 Infantry Regiment . In February, General George Crook visited Camp Warner. Crook directed that the camp be moved to the Honey Creek site west of the lakes. To get the Army's wagons and equipment across the Warner wetlands, forty men under the command of Captain James Henton were assigned to build a bridge across

1092-697: A system of written laws, Crown rights and officials, courts, and permanent records. After the American Revolution and the ratification of the US Constitution , the US Treasury Department was placed in charge of managing all public lands. In 1812, the United States General Land Office was created to assume that duty. In accord with specific Acts of Congress and under the hand and seal of

1170-624: A unique military and transportation history site, the Stone Bridge and an adjacent section of the Oregon Central Military Wagon Road were listed on the National Register of Historic Places on 8 November 1974. Despite this designation, both are very difficult to find. A marker was placed at the east end of the Stone Bridge in 1975; however, the causeway itself is only visible when the water level in

1248-582: Is established. Land in the United States of America was acquired by claim, seizure, annexation, purchase, treaty, or war from France , Great Britain , the Kingdom of Hawaii , Mexico , Russia , Spain , and the Native American peoples. As England , later to become Great Britain, began to colonize America , the Crown made large grants of territory to individuals and companies. In turn,

1326-759: Is open to the public as Fort Vancouver National Historic Site . During the War of 1812 , the Pacific Northwest was a distant region of the conflict. Two rival fur trading outfits, the Canadian North West Company (NWC) and the American Pacific Fur Company (PFC), had until then both operated in the region peaceably. Funded largely by John Jacob Astor , the PFC operated without many opportunities for military defense by

1404-568: The Hawaiian Kingdom , and Mexican California. The HBC opened agencies in Sitka, Honolulu , and Yerba Buena (San Francisco) to facilitate such trade. Fort Vancouver was supplied in part through the overland York Factory Express . It originated from a route used by the NWC between Fort George to Fort William on Lake Superior . Each spring two brigades were sent, one from Fort Vancouver and

1482-486: The National Park Service . It is possible to tour the fort. Notable buildings of the restored Fort Vancouver include a bake house, where hardtack baking techniques are shown, a blacksmith shop, a carpenter shop and its collection of carpentry tools, and the kitchen , where daily meals were prepared. Land patent A land patent is a form of letters patent assigning official ownership of

1560-698: The Oregon Treaty set the Canada–United States border at the 49th parallel north , putting Fort Vancouver within American territory. Although the treaty ensured that the HBC could continue to operate and had free access to navigate the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Puget Sound, and the Columbia River, company operations were effectively stifled by the treaty and became unprofitable and were soon closed down. Because of its significance in United States history

1638-767: The Pacific Northwest . Named for Captain George Vancouver , the fort was located on the northern bank of the Columbia River in present-day Vancouver, Washington . The fort was a major center of the regional fur trading. Every year trade goods and supplies from London arrived either via ships sailing to the Pacific Ocean or overland from Hudson Bay via the York Factory Express . Supplies and trade goods were exchanged with

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1716-628: The US Congress . An example of Congress granting land through patents to corporate entities is the railroad grants made under the Pacific Railroad Acts to compensate the railroad companies for building a transnational railroad across America. When a territory agreed to enter the United States, an Enabling Act was agreed to as a condition precedent of statehood. The Enabling Act requires that all unappropriated lands, which are not yet privately owned, to be forever disclaimed by

1794-572: The US President , the General Land Office issued more than 2 million land grants made patent (land patents), passing the title of specific parcels of public land from the nation to private parties (individuals or private companies). Some of the land so granted had survey or other costs associated with it. Some patentees paid those fees for their land in cash, others homesteaded a claim, and still others came into ownership via one of

1872-546: The United States Navy . News of the war and of a coming British warship put the American company in a difficult position. In October 1813, management met at Fort Astoria and agreed to transfer its assets to the NWC. HMS Racoon arrived the following month and in honor of George III of the United Kingdom , Fort Astoria was renamed to Fort George . In negotiations with American Albert Gallatin throughout 1818, British plenipotentiary Frederick John Robinson

1950-659: The Whitehorse Ranch on the east side of the Pueblo Valley. From there the road follows Crooked Creek northeast, passing near what is now Rome, Oregon . From there it ran along Jordan Creek to Silver City, Idaho . The Stone Bridge and the Oregon Central Military Wagon Road were historically important projects undertaken by the United States Government and the State of Oregon. Because it is

2028-450: The right , title , and interest to a defined area. It is usually granted by a central , federal , or state government to an individual, partnership, trust, or private company. The land patent is not to be confused with a land grant . Patented lands may be lands that had been granted by a sovereign authority in return for services rendered or accompanying a title or otherwise bestowed gratis , or they may be lands privately purchased by

2106-593: The Columbia District were brought to Fort Vancouver from smaller HBC outposts either overland, or by water via the Columbia River . Once they were sorted and inventoried by the company's clerks, the furs were hung out to dry in the fur storehouse, a large two-story post-on-sill building located within the walls of the fort. After the furs had been processed, they were mixed, weighed into 270-pound (120 kg) bundles, and packed with tobacco leaves as an insecticide. The 270-pound bundle of furs would be placed in

2184-558: The Columbia District. The territory it oversaw stretched from the Rocky Mountains in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and from Sitka in the north to San Francisco in the south. Fur trappers would bring pelts collected during the winter to the fort to be traded in exchange for company credit. The credit, issued by the company clerks, could be used to purchase goods in the fort's trade shops. Furs from throughout

2262-470: The General Land Office issued a land patent for the claimed public land and sent it on to the President for his signature. The first US land patent was issued on March 4, 1788, to John Martin. That patent reserves to the United States one third of all gold , silver , lead and copper within the claimed land. Usage restrictions (such as oil and mineral rights, roadways, ditches, and canals) placed on

2340-878: The Oregon Central military road reached the summit of the Cascade Mountains , it turned south through the upper Deschutes River country into the Klamath Basin to Fort Klamath. It then followed the Williamson and Sprague Rivers , claiming large parts of the Klamath Indian Reservation . The Oregon Central road meandered through the Goose Lake Valley , over the Warner Mountains to Camp Warner (west of

2418-694: The Owyhee River crossing (present day Rome)where it connected to an existing wagon road from Winnemucca, Nevada. On 12 January 1870, Oregon's Governor, George L. Woods , certified to the United States Secretary of the Interior that the road was complete. This allowed the Oregon Central Military Wagon Road Company to claim property along the route. However, most of the Oregon Central roadway

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2496-575: The PSAC to colonists. James Sinclair was later appointed by Finlayson to guide the settler families that signed the PSAC agreement to Fort Vancouver. They left Fort Garry (modern Winnipeg ) in June 1841 with 121 people that consisted of 23 families. When they arrived at Fort Vancouver, they then numbered 21 families of 116 people. Fourteen of them were relocated to Fort Nisqually, while the remaining seven families were sent to Fort Cowlitz. Signed in 1846,

2574-541: The Pacific Coast of North America. These largely originated in part from correspondence with the NWC and later HBC. The border would continue to extend west on the 49th parallel to the Rocky Mountains, where the Columbia (and some times the Snake River) would be used as the border until it reached the Pacific Ocean. Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs George Canning has been appraised by later historians as

2652-427: The State of Oregon did not have a tax base sufficient to support road construction so the government financed the military road projects with land grants. Private companies were specifically chartered to construct the roads. Congress allowed the construction companies to claim three sections of land for every mile of road they built, every odd numbered section in a swath covering three miles (5 km) on either side of

2730-606: The Willamette Pass Highway) follows the first leg of the Oregon Central military road from Eugene over the Cascades to Central Oregon . At that point, the original road headed south through northern Klamath County past what is now the community of Chemult . It followed the Williamson and Sprague Rivers before turning east into Lake County. The road passed over Drews Gap and followed Drews Creek through

2808-713: The Willamette Valley as agriculturalists, through the use of priests François Norbert Blanchet and Modeste Demers , utterly failed to convince any farmer to leave for vicinity of the Cowlitz farms. While additional plans called for recruitment in Scotland, these too came to nothing. The only successful source of early colonists for the PSAC would come from the Red River colony. In November 1839, Sir George Simpson instructed Duncan Finlayson to begin promoting

2886-505: The adjoining lakes drops to a low level. Some sections of the military road have become part of Oregon's modern road network while crude dirt roads follow the route in other places; however, most of the original road has completely disappeared. Fort Vancouver Fort Vancouver was a 19th-century fur trading post built in the winter of 1824–1825. It was the headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company 's Columbia Department , located in

2964-478: The causeway settled into the soft marshy ground, disappearing beneath the water. Today, the Stone Bridge is completely underwater except during periods of drought. As a result, it is very difficult to find. Between 1865 and 1869, the United States Congress awarded land grants to the State of Oregon to pass on to companies constructing military wagon roads. The roads were intended to facilitate

3042-550: The companies and colonial governors later made smaller grants of land based on actual surveys of the land. Thus, in colonial America on the Atlantic seaboard , a connection was made between the surveying of a land tract and its "patenting" as private property . Numerous other land patents were granted by the Crown for lands purchased by private individuals from Native American tribes. Many original colonies' land patents came from

3120-722: The corresponding country of control like Great Britain. Most such patents were permanently granted. Those patents are still in force; the US government honors those patents by treaty law, and, as with all such land patents, they cannot be changed. Many early patents of lands originally granted by Native peoples were contested, occasionally in court, as a result of different understandings of "private property" and "ownership" between those people. Indigenous Americans often held land and its bounties communally, reinforced by oral tradition, while those from Western Europe who held established and finite views on assets, their transfer, and their adjudication in

3198-413: The early 19th Century, the HBC was forced to expand its fur trade operations across North America to the Pacific Northwest. Prior to the establishment of Fort Vancouver, the HBC's largest westward fort was Fort William in present-day Ontario , which the company gained through its merger with the NWC. From its establishment, Fort Vancouver was the regional headquarters of the HBC's fur trade operations in

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3276-425: The east side of the Warner Lakes in late summer. The Army was unable to cross the chain of lakes which stretched more than seventy miles north to south. After several skirmishes with Indians, the soldiers decided to build Camp Warner on the east side of the lakes. The camp was sited poorly and its construction was hasty. As a result, the men had a very difficult winter, losing one sergeant who froze to death during

3354-1120: The fort became the last stop on the Oregon Trail where they could get supplies before starting their homestead. During the Great Migration of 1843 an estimated 700 to 1,000 American settlers arrived via the Oregon Trail. The signing of the RAC-HBC Agreement with the Russian-American Company pushed the HBC into creating an agricultural subsidiary, the Pugets Sound Agricultural Company in 1840. Herds of sheep and cattle were purchased in Alta California and raised at Fort Nisqually . Agricultural products were sown and grown in abundance at Fort Cowlitz and exported with foodstuffs produced at Fort Vancouver to Russian America. Recruitment from retired HBC laborers residing in

3432-863: The fort to be self-sufficient as food was costly to ship. Fort staff typically maintained one year's extra supplies in the fort warehouses to avoid the disastrous consequences of shipwrecks and other calamities. Fort Vancouver eventually began to produce a surplus of food, some of which was used to provision other HBC posts in the Columbia Department. The area around the fort was commonly known as "La Jolie Prairie" (the pretty prairie) or "Belle Vue Point" (beautiful vista). In time, Fort Vancouver diversified its economic activities beyond fur trading and begin exporting agricultural foodstuffs from HBC farms, along with salmon, lumber, and other products. It developed markets for these exports in Russian America ,

3510-500: The fort. There they resided with their Indigenous or Métis wives and families. The dwellings were organized into orderly rows. The settlement was commonly referred to as Kanaka Village because of the many Hawaiians in company employ who lived there. In fact, it has been suggested that the Fort had the "largest single group of Hawaiians ever to congregate outside their home islands". With high demand from Europe for fur-based textiles in

3588-411: The fraud. Legal disputes kept the ownership of these lands in question for decades, preventing honest settlers from claiming land grants for farms and ranches. In addition, the company paid no taxes while the land claims were disputed. At the same time, the value of the land and its timber, minerals, and grazing potential continued to increase as the property rights were passed from one investor group to

3666-608: The fur trade in much of what Americans styled the Oregon Country , had previously discouraged settlement because it interfered with the lucrative fur trade. By 1838, however, American settlers were coming across the Rocky Mountains and their numbers increased each subsequent year. Many left from St. Louis, Missouri , and followed a fairly straight, but difficult, route called the Oregon Trail . For many settlers

3744-570: The inside by buttressess. At each angle there is a bastion, mounting two twelve pounders, and in the centre there some eighteen pounders; ... these cannon have become useless. The area within is divided into two courts, around which are arranged about forty neat, strong wooden buildings, one story high, designed for various purposes... The fort was substantial. The palisades that protected it were 750 ft (230 m) long, 450 ft (140 m) wide and about 20 ft (6.1 m) high. Inside, there were 24 buildings, including housing, warehouses,

3822-593: The land are spelled out in the patent and are distinct from state and local statutory regulations relative to property appurtenant to the land, such as zoning and building codes, as well as property taxes applying to both land and property. Private property rights accompanying land patents can also be thereafter negotiated in accord with the terms of private contracts. The rights inherent in patented land are carried from heir to heir, heir to assignee, or assignee to assignee and cannot be changed except by private contract ( warranty deed , quitclaim deed , etc.). In most cases,

3900-407: The land because it attests that all evidence of title existent before its issue date had been reviewed by the sovereign authority under which it was sealed and was so sealed as irrefutable. Thus, the land patent itself so becomes at law the title to the land defined within its four corners. In practice, the irrefutability of counter-claims is relative, but once a patent is granted, permanence of title

3978-446: The land passed into the hands of the Oregon Valley Land Company , which subdivided it into 14,000 lots and parcels. The property was finally sold in a nationally advertised auction held in Lakeview, Oregon in 1909. The company sold a total of 340,000 acres (1,400 km). Many of the properties included a separate lot in the town of Lakeview along with the rural land purchase. Many buyers bid on land without actually seeing it. As

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4056-441: The largest non-Indigenous settlement in the Pacific Northwest. The population of the fort and the environs was mostly French Canadians , Métis, and Kanaka Hawaiians ; there were also English, Scots, Irish, and a variety of Indigenous peoples including Iroquois and Cree . The common language spoken at the fort was Canadian French , while company records and official journals were kept in English. However, trading and relations with

4134-566: The law of a particular piece of patented land will be governed by the Congressional Act or treaty under which it was acquired, or by terms spelled out in the patent. For example, US laws govern the land may involve the Homestead Act or reservations placed on the face of the patent, and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo governs certain jurisdictional dicta relating to large amounts of land in California and adjoining territories. Legal entities other than natural persons (such as trusts and corporations) may not obtain land patents except by express act of

4212-408: The local registrar records to make sure the claimed land was still available. The receiver (bursar) took the claimant's payment, because even homesteaders had to pay administrative fees. Then, the district land office register and receiver sent the paperwork to the General Land Office in Washington. That office double-checked the accuracy of the claim, its availability and the form of payment. Finally,

4290-399: The majority of these gentlemen would relocate to the "Bachelor's Hall" to "amuse themselves as they please, either in smoking, reading, or telling and listening to stories of their own and others' curious adventures". As Dunn recalled; The smoking room ... presents the appearance of an armory and a museum. All sorts of weapons, and dresses, and curiosities of civilized and savage life, and of

4368-411: The many donation acts that Congress passed to transfer public lands to private ownership. Whatever the method, the General Land Office followed a two-step procedure in granting a patent. Firstly, the private claimant went to the land office in the land district in which the public land was located. The claimant filled out entry papers to select the public land, and the land office register (clerk) checked

4446-435: The most supportive British Foreign minister in securing a border along the Columbia. United States Secretary of State Henry Clay had given instructions to the American plenipotentiaries to offer a partition of the Pacific Northwest along the 49th parallel to the Pacific Ocean. The difference in the two considered plans were too much to solve, making the diplomats put off a formal colonial division once more. Fort Vancouver

4524-414: The movement of Army units within the state and promote settlement along the routes. Congress eventually authorized the construction of five military wagon roads in Oregon. The first military road was approved by Congress on 2 July 1865. Known as the Oregon Central Military Wagon Road, it was to run from Eugene, Oregon to Fort Boise in Idaho . The Civil War had drained the United States treasury and

4602-466: The natives and sought to maintain law and order with American settlers as well. McLoughlin was later hailed as the Father of Oregon for allowing Americans to settle south of the Columbia River. Against the company's wishes, he provided substantial aid and assistance to westbound American settlers in the territory. He left the company in 1846 to found Oregon City in the Willamette Valley . James Douglas spent nineteen years in Fort Vancouver; serving as

4680-428: The next. Finally, newspaper reports of the fraud compelled Congress to investigate. This led to a major court case, known as the United States versus the California and Oregon Land Company . That case was decided by the United States Supreme Court on 6 March 1893. As a result, the United States Government was able to reclaim the unpatented lands; however, title to patented lands remained in private hands. Eventually,

4758-486: The north end of the Goose Lake Valley , along what is Oregon Route 140 today. It then crossed the Warner Mountains and entered the Warner Valley, crossing over the Warner Lakes at the Stone Bridge between Crump Lake and Hart Lake. The road continued south of Hart Mountain, through what is today the Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge . The road crossed the Catlow Valley and then Steens Mountain . It continued through Harney County , entering Malheur County near

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4836-463: The other from York Factory . A typical brigade consisted of about forty to seventy five men. These men carried supplies, furs and correspondence by boat, horseback and in backpacks for various HBC posts and personnel along the route. Furs stored at the York Factory would in turn be sold at London in an annual fur sale. Indians along the way were often paid in trade goods to help them portage around falls and unnavigable rapids. The HBC, which controlled

4914-414: The present day community of Plush). From Camp Warner the Oregon Central Military Road went across Warner Valley east crossing north of Beaty's Butte, across the south end of Catlow Valley. The road crossed Steen's Mountain through Long Hollow (near the present day community of Fields) going on to Camp C. F. Smith on Whitehorse Creek. From Camp C. F. Smith the Oregon Central Military Road continued northeast to

4992-420: The proposal and subsequent talks did not focus on establishing a permanent border west of the Rocky Mountains. The Treaty of 1818 made the resources of the vast region were to be "free and open" to citizens from either nation. The treaty wasn't made to combine American and British interests against other colonial powers in the region. Rather, the document states that the joint occupancy of the Pacific Northwest

5070-441: The road. As ten-mile (16 km) sections of road were completed, the companies could claim up to thirty sections of land along the route as payment. Once the tracts were patented , the company could sell or lease the land to recover the cost of construction and create profits for its investors. As a result, road surveyors laid out routes designed to pass through as much well watered, desirable land as possible. For example, when

5148-409: The southern end of the seventy-mile long chain of lakes and wetlands known as Warner Lakes. The Stone Bridge is actually a quarter mile long causeway rather than a traditional bridge . It was constructed by hauling basalt boulders and smaller rocks from nearby Hart Mountain and dumping them into the marsh. When it was completed, the causeway was probably several feet above the water level and

5226-540: The surrounding community were done in Chinook Jargon , a pidgin of Chinook, Nootka, Chehalis, English, French, Hawaiian, and other elements. A survey of the total personnel at Fort Vancouver in 1846 reveals a culturally and materially diverse populace. Notably, the number of employees from the Hebrides , Orkney , and Shetland Islands was 57 men. This is exactly the same number as the combined number of workers from England and mainland Scotland. The number of men hired from Upper Canada , Lower Canada , and Rupert's Land

5304-485: The territory and the people of the territory and the title to ceded to the United States for its disposition. For example, the enabling act of the Washington Territory declares in part: ...that the people inhabiting said proposed States do agree and declare that they forever disclaim all right and title to the unappropriated public lands lying within the boundaries thereof, and to all lands lying within said limits owned or held by any Indian or Indian tribes; and that until

5382-421: The title thereto shall have been extinguished by the United States, the same shall be and remain subject to the disposition of the United States. .. After the right and title to land was disclaimed by the people of the territory, it was held in trust by the United States until someone proved a claim to it, typically by improving the homestead parcel for a certain period of time. Once a proper claim has been filed,

5460-418: The various implements for the prosecution of the [fur] trade, may be seen there. Outside the ramparts there was additional housing, as well as fields, gardens, fruit orchards, a shipyard, a distillery, a tannery, a sawmill, and a dairy. By 1843, situated roughly 600 yards outside Fort Vancouver were about sixty wooden houses. This small settlement was inhabited by fur trappers, machinists and other laborers of

5538-466: Was abandoned in 1874. While the fort is gone, the Stone Bridge the Army built to cross the Warner wetlands still exists. The Stone Bridge was the first large structure built in the south-central part of Oregon. It was constructed between 16 May and 24 July 1867 by forty men from the 23 Infantry Regiment under the supervision of Captain James Henton. The site chosen for the bridge was a narrow marsh that connects Hart Lake and Crump Lake, two large lakes at

5616-457: Was established on the north bank of the Columbia River in the winter of 1824–1825. The London-based Hudson's Bay Company established it to serve as the headquarters of the Company's interior fur trade. In the early 1820s a general reorganization of all NWC properties, now entirely under HBC management, was overseen directly by Sir George Simpson . The newly established Columbia District needed

5694-429: Was in total 91. These men came from English, French Canadian, Métis, Iroquois, Cree, and other cultural backgrounds. Most notable however, was that Kanaka Hawaiians totaled 154 that year, or 43% of the total fort population. Chief Factor Dr. John McLoughlin was its first manager, a position he held for nearly 22 years, from 1824 to 1845. McLoughlin applied the laws of Upper Canada to British subjects, kept peace with

5772-690: Was intended to "prevent disputes" between the two nations from arising. In the ensuing years, the North West Company continued to expand its operations in the Pacific Northwest. Skirmishes with its major competitor, the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), had already flared into the Pemmican War . The end of the conflict in 1821 saw the NWC mandated by the British Government to merge into the HBC. Throughout 1825 and 1826, British officials continued to offer Americans partition plans for

5850-518: Was nothing more than a rudimentary trail. In reality, the Oregon Central Military Wagon Road was a giant scam , designed to acquire public lands at little or no cost to the road company's investors. Nevertheless, the Oregon Central Military Wagon Road Company claimed a total of 875,196 acres (3,541.79 km) of public land. The company was able to patent 235,568 acres (953.31 km) before lawsuits ended

5928-719: Was offered a proposition for a partition that would have, as Gallatin stated, "all the waters emptying in the sound called the Gulf of Georgia ." Frederick Merk has argued the definition used by the negotiators of the Gulf of Georgia included the entirety of the Puget Sound , in addition to the Straits of Georgia and Juan de Fuca . This would have given the United Kingdom the most favorable location for ports north of Alta California and south of Russian America. Robinson did not agree to

6006-433: Was outside the flood plain and had easy access to the Columbia. An employee of the HBC, wrote a general description of Fort Vancouver and its structural composition as it was in 1843: The fort is in the shape of a parallelogram, about 250 yards long, by 150 broad; enclose by a sort of wooden wall, made of pickets, or large beams firmly fixed in the ground, and closely fitted together, twenty feet high, and strong secured on

6084-419: Was wide enough for wagons to pass over it. The Army abandoned the crossing in 1874 when it closed Fort Warner and left the area. In the meantime, the Oregon Central Military Wagon Road had begun using the Stone Bridge to cross the Warner Lakes. However, the road company never maintained it. After the military road was abandoned, local ranchers used the causeway as a cattle crossing for many years. Eventually,

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