Fort Colvile facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Fort Colvile
Fur Trade Outpost
Indian camp at Fort Colvile by Paul Kane.
Constructed:	1825
Company built:	Hudson's Bay Company
Location:	Kettle Falls, Washington
Continent:	North America
Later Ownership:	none
Abandoned:	1870

Fort Colvile was a very important trading post built by the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC). It was set up in 1825 at a place called Kettle Falls on the Columbia River. The fort was named after Andrew Colvile, who was a leader in the HBC in London.

This fort was a key stop on the York Factory Express route. This was a long trade path that connected the fur trading posts in North America to London, England. For a while, Fort Colvile was considered the second most important HBC fort, after Fort Vancouver.

Back then, both Great Britain and the United States claimed the land known as the Oregon Country. This disagreement was settled by the Oregon Treaty of 1846. The new border was drawn along the 49th Parallel all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

Fort Colvile became even more important during the gold rushes of the 1850s and 1860s. It was a major center for miners to get their supplies. The fort was finally left empty in June 1871. Some of its buildings stood until they burned down on July 6, 1910.

Later, the Grand Coulee Dam was built, and the area where the fort stood was flooded in 1940. This also covered Kettle Falls. When the water in Lake Roosevelt was lowered in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the fort's site and Kettle Falls appeared again. After archaeologists studied the area, the site of Fort Colvile was once more covered by the lake. In 1974, Fort Colvile was added to the National Register of Historic Places because of its important history.

Why Fort Colvile Was Built

Fort Colvile was built to replace an older trading post called Spokane House. Spokane House was thought to be too far from the Columbia River. The leader of the HBC, Governor Simpson, worried that closing Spokane House might upset the Spokane people. So, he ordered gifts to be given to them.

All the company's goods from Spokane House were moved to Fort Colvile in March 1826. Governor Simpson also told Chief Factor John McLoughlin to make sure they collected lots of fish and other food. This was because it was hard to send supplies from Fort Vancouver. Simpson believed that Kettle Falls was a much better spot for farming, fishing, and trading.

Daily Life and Work at the Fort

During the 1820s, the fort didn't sell many furs, usually less than 20 blankets a year. But then, more animal hides started to be collected. This happened when the "Flat Head brigade" joined the Bitterroot Salish on their yearly trips past the Rocky Mountains.

In 1829, there was a small fight between the Bitterroot Salish and people from Columbia Lake. This made the HBC workers worried about how safe Fort Colvile was. More workers were sent to build a strong fence (a palisade) and set up a mill during the winter.

The number of workers at Fort Colvile changed with the seasons. In the spring, when things were busy, there could be up to 30 employees in the 1830s. But in winter, usually only five men stayed at the fort. If there were more, they would be sent to other places.

Missionaries from the ABCFM started the Tshimakain Mission in 1838. They became friends with the officers at Fort Colvile, which was the closest white settlement. After the Whitman massacre, missionary families like Elkanah Walker and Cushing Eells came to the fort for safety.

A man named Alex McLeod, who was born at the fort in 1854, remembered what it looked like. He said, "The trading post itself was a square area. The store and storage buildings were on the north side. The Chief Trader's house was on the east side. Married workers, like my father, lived outside the main fort area on the south and west sides."

Farming and Food at the Fort

Farming was a very important activity at Fort Colvile. The fort grew so much food that it supplied other trading posts further inland. They grew wheat, peas, flint corn, and potatoes. An artist named Paul Kane visited the fort and called the prairie it was on an "island of fertility" because it was so good for growing things.

When the fort first started, they planted 24 bushels of potatoes. But more than half of them were eaten by rodents! However, by 1830, the farm was producing enough crops to feed its own staff and the people at Fort Nez Percés. Still, the harvest wasn't always big enough for the fur trappers heading to the New Caledonia district, so supplies sometimes had to come from Fort Vancouver.

In 1838, about 20 Native and White men worked on the farms. This was about two-thirds of all the men at the trading post. The potato harvests had grown a lot since the beginning. In 1838, they harvested over 7,000 bushels! Charles Wilkes from the United States Exploring Expedition noticed that farming was the main focus of the fort. He said, "all the northern posts depend upon Colville for supplies of provisions."

Salmon was also easy to get when the fish runs happened each season. One early settler remembered that men at Kettle Falls would "put large wicker baskets below the falls and raised them up three times a day, always filled with fish."

Later Years and Changes

After the Oregon Treaty of 1846 was signed, Fort Colvile ended up south of the new border, meaning it was in American territory. The Hudson's Bay Company then built Fort Shepherd just north of the new border, in British land. But they kept Fort Colvile running for a few more years.

In 1853, Washington Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens visited the fort. He described it as having a main house, several storage buildings, and blacksmith shops. These were all made of squared logs. He noted that the fort used to have a strong fence around it, but most of it had been removed.

In 1859, the Palliser Expedition met up at Fort Colvile before traveling down the Columbia River. They had been exploring much of what is now western Canada. The mill at the fort was sold in 1865. Many early settlers around Colville were French-Canadians who used to work for the HBC. They would often gather at the old fort for social events, where they would "drink whisky and brandy and sing old songs or tell tales of hunting experiences."

Images for kids

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  Map of the route of the York Factory Express, from the 1820s to 1840s. Modern political borders are shown.