THE POLITICAL BEGINNING OF WASHINGTON TERRITORY.[1]
The first people to come to what is now the State of Washington, with intent to make permanent abode, were the fur traders, the men of the Northwest and Hudson Bay companies. The two companies were consolidated, after a long and fierce struggle in Canada, and for many years the Hudson Bay Company, which succeeded the other, was in exclusive occupancy of the field in the British and Oregon territories. Its operations on the North Pacific Coast had headquarters at Vancouver on Columbia River, with subordinate establishments at Colville, Spokane, Walla Walla, Cowlitz, Nisqually, and elsewhere. Dr. John McLoughlin was in charge, assisted by Mr. James Douglas, commonly known now, from honors later acquired, as Governor Douglas and Sir James Douglas. These men were of the utmost integrity, great ability, devoted to the corporation they represented and the flag under which they were born—that of Great Britain.
Others who came officially, as representatives of the United States, were Captains Lewis and Clark, the hundredth anniversary of whose coining is now being so magnificently celebrated in the neighboring city of Portland; Lieutenant Slacum and Captain Wilkes, both of the navy, and Lieutenant Fremont, of the army; also Dr. Elijah White, Indian agent. There were occasional American whalers and trading vessels along the coast, on Puget Sound, and in the Columbia River, and Smith, Wyeth, and Bonneville made their appearance with parties overland. These, however, were affairs of short duration,
- ↑ An address by Thomas W. Prosch to the Association of Washington Pioneers, at Seattle, June 21, 1905.
