Fort Nisqually
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Fort Nisqually is a living history museum located in Tacoma, Washington, USA, within the boundaries of Point Defiance Park.
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[edit] 19th century history
Fort Nisqually was the first European trading post on the Puget Sound. The vast British fur trading enterprise, known as the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), established the fort in 1833. It was located on the plains around the Nisqually River Delta near the present town of Dupont, Washington.
Fort Nisqually was operated and served by Scottish gentlemen Native Americans, Kanakas (Hawaiians), French-Canadians, Metis, West Indians, Englishmen and, in the last final years before the British cession of their claims to Puget Sound with the Oregon Treaty, a handful of American settlers. Fort Nisqually grew from an obscure trading post to major international trading establishment. The fort's main export was beaver pelts that could be used for making a beaver-pelt top hat. Along with the Puget Sound Agricultural Company, a subsidiary of HBC, Fort Nisqually also started to export livestock and crops for local consumption and export to Russian America, Hawaii, Mexican California, Europe and Asia.
Fort Nisqually was never a military outpost and only one small military engagement was recorded in the fort's history. Nevertheless, American and British military forces occasionally visited the fort. The 1846 treaty between the United States and Great Britain established a compromise border between Canada and the United States at the 49th parallel which left Fort Nisqually on American soil. With the fur trade in decline and increasing harassment from American settlers, tax collectors, and revenue agents. In 1869, Fort Nisqually closed and the United States paid the HBC $460,000 for its land.
[edit] Restoration
In the 1930's, Fort Nisqually was rebuilt in its current location in Point Defiance Park in Tacoma, Washington. The restoration was part of President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal program to provide jobs to the Depression stricken nation. The effort was funded and backed by the WPA and the Tacoma Businessmen's Association. Only two buildings, the granary and factor's house, were moved from their original locations, the rest having fallen into decay.
[edit] Fort Nisqually Today
Today, Fort Nisqually is a living history museum run by many well-trained employees and volunteers. Two of the original buildings, the Factor's House, and the Granary remain. In addition, there is a trade store, working black smith shop, laborers dwelling house, demonstration kitchen, and kitchen garden. Fort Nisqually has seen recent changes designed to capture its original character. These changes include, most significantly, the restoration of the Factor's House, and the relocation and restoration of the two 1930s era bastions. In addition a section of the pallisades wall is designed to replicate the 1847 era wall.
Archaeology was conducted in 1988-89 to determine the placement, orientation and size of the northeast bastion and palisades wall. Hundreds of artifacts were discovered and catalogued and have added to the historical record. In addition, much research has been conducted using the original journals as well as hundreds of letters of Edward Huggins. Huggins was a clerk of the HBC who arrived in 1850. Huggins, originally a Londoner eventually became an American citizen and homesteaded the land and buildings after it was abandoned by the HBC. He lived on the land until 1906 when he died of colon cancer. The fort is managed by Metro Parks Tacoma.
[edit] External links
- Fort Nisqually-Official site of Fort Nisqually
