4122 - Shelton, Washington, United States

A great history card from Shelton, Washington. It is a drawing of Fort Vancouver, a Hudson Bay Company trading fort and the mouth of the Columbia River and controlled the Oregon Territory. At the time, Oregon Territory stretched to Alaska to California. 

Fort Vancouver was built in the winter of 1824-25 and named for Captain George Vancouver of the Royal Navy. Captain Vancouver led the Vancouver Expedition through this part of the Pacific Coast in the late 1700s. 

Trade goods from London would arrive at Fort Vancouver and the Indigenous people would trade furs pelts for them. Some of the furs collected at Fort Vancouver were shipped to the Qing dynasty through Guangzhou where they were traded for Chinese manufactured goods for sale in Britain. At its peak, Fort Vancouver controlled 34 outposts, 24 ports, six ships, and employed 600 men. 

In 1946 Great Britain and the United States signed a treaty ceding the land around Fort Vancouver to the United States. Although the Hudson Bay Company could continue trading furs, as per the treaty, it resulted in Fort Vancouver's closure soon after. 

Today the city of Vancouver, Washington, is located where Fort Vancouver sat. There are almost 200 000 residents in Vancouver which sits on the north side of the Columbia River and border with Oregon. The site has been preserved as the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site. The park contains a full sized replica of the Hudson Bay Company outpost which is open to the public.