1978 - Artcraft - Fort Nisqually - Remote Outpost - #1604

Description

Artcraft cachet issued 8/11/1978 in Tacoma, WA. From the web...
Fort Nisqually was an important fur trading and farming post of the Hudson's Bay Company in the Puget Sound area, part of the Hudson's Bay Company's Columbia Department. It was located in what is now DuPont, Washington. Today it is a living history museum located in Tacoma, Washington, USA, within the boundaries of Point Defiance Park. The Fort Nisqually Granary, moved along with the Factor's House from the original site of the second fort to this park, is a U.S. National Historic Landmark. Built in 1843, the granary is the oldest building in Washington state and one of the only surviving examples of a Hudson's Bay Company "post on sill" structure. The Factor's House and the granary are the only surviving Hudson's Bay Company buildings in the United States.
The Hudson's Bay Company expanded to the west coast by forming the Columbia District to oversee its operations in what was known by American interests as the Oregon Country. Forts would be built in the District at central fur gathering locations, accessible to a large number of tribes. In 1824, Fort Vancouver was built a few miles from the Columbia River to the south and Fort Langley was built in 1827 on the Fraser River to the North. The Cowlitz Portage, an overland and shortcut route was soon created, and thus a vital link between the two forts was established. After the attack and murder of Alexander McKenzie and four men in his party on this route, it was determined a fort located at a halfway point was needed for safety and security reasons.
The new midway location was at Nisqually, chosen for its excellent ship anchorage, its convenience for overland travel, the friendliness of local tribes and its prairies for grazing animals and growing crops. Located near the mouth of Sequalitchew Creek on the plains north of the Nisqually River Delta, in the present town of DuPont, Washington, Nisqually House was built in April 1832. It was a 15 by 20 feet warehouse. The staff was only three men with a few supplies left behind to manage it. It was notably the first European trading post on the Puget Sound.
One year later in May 1833, Chief Trader Archibald McDonald returned with William Fraser Tolmie and seven men to begin the construction of a permanent fort. Tolmie spent the year there and wrote about the region extensively. The men were dependent upon the surrounding native villages for sustenance because they were unable to find much game to hunt. Relations with neighboring Indigenous people began to deepen, the officers of the post meeting with Chief Gray Head of the Steilacooms in 1833. Trading with the nearby Puyallup tribe and more distant S'Klallams developed in the same year.
Fort Nisqually was operated and served by Scottish gentlemen, Native Americans, Hawaiian Kanakas, French-Canadians, Métis, West Indians, Englishmen and, in later years a handful of Americans. Fort Nisqually grew from an obscure trading post to major international trading establishment, despite not being a true military outpost. The fort's main export was beaver pelts that could be used for making a beaver-pelt top hat. Over the time Fort Nisqually functioned as a trading post, about 5,000 beaver, 3,000 muskrat, 2,000 raccoon and 1,500 river otter furs were collected.
This cover is crisp, clean, and unaddressed.  See scan for
condition
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