290408 - [The Discovery of Puget Sound and the Pig War of San Juan Island]

Although the April 8, 1929, episode of Empire Builders was called "The Discovery of Puget Sound," it mostly centered on the story of the Pig War of San Juan Island. This was a tale generally known to all school kids in the state of Washington –  until such stories took a back seat to things like cell phones and social media.

Map of the Columbia District, aka Oregon Country. National Park Service

Basically all of what is now Oregon, Idaho, and Washington, and even a large part of British Columbia, was encompassed in an area known as the “Columbia District” of the Hudson’s Bay Company, and was also referred to as the “Oregon Country.” The land was in dispute by the British and the Americans. James Polk won the U.S. Presidency in 1842 largely on a platform of laying claim to the entire area, and utilizing his famous campaign slogan of “54-40 or Fight.” This was a reference to the northern-most line of the Columbia District, which roughly aligned with the southern tip of Russia’s territory of Alaska (a line of latitude at 54° 40' North). A treaty was signed in 1846 establishing the boundaries of the territory to be retained by the British and that by the Americans, with the 49^th parallel as the dividing line. In the language of the treaty was a comment on the international boundary that left Vancouver Island to the Brits and ran from the 49^th parallel southward to meet up with a line that roughly bisected the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The agreement made reference to a navigable channel through the islands, but what was not widely known at the time was that there was more than one navigable channel through there that could be followed in a southward fashion.

This fact developed into a full-fledged bit of 19^th century brinksmanship, triggered by the shooting of a pig. A boundary commission was formed in an attempt to get the Americans and the British to agree to a specific boundary line through or around the islands that everyone could live with. Talks continued, without resolution, through the last half of 1857.

In the meantime, the Hudson’s Bay Company established a post of British citizens on San Juan Island. A loose community of about 25 Americans also inhabited the island. Relations were relatively peaceful until June 15, 1859, when a pig owned by a Brit named Charles Griffin was caught rooting through the potato patch of an American, Lyman Cutler. Cutler valued his potatoes more than he did Griffin’s pig. Other than those consumed by the pig, the potatoes endured. The pig did not.

The playlet of this broadcast of Empire Builders featured a dramatization of the confrontation between Cutler and Griffin over the pig. The way things played out in real life was that Captain George E. Pickett (1825-1875) took 66 American soldiers to the islands in an attempt to deny the British an opportunity to land and dispatch any more of their own soldiers. However, three war ships were called in to protect the interests of the British. Even though his men were heavily outnumbered, Pickett (who went on to earn more attention in the Civil War with his “Pickett’s Charge” at Gettysburg), defied the Brits and famously declared “We’ll make a Bunker Hill of it.” The Brits elected not to open fire.

Over the summer of 1859 both sides sent more and more men, with the American contingent numbering well over 400 soldiers. The Brits, on the other hand, mustered more than 2,000. After a few months, and ample time for everyone to cool down, it was agreed the Americans would occupy the south part of the island, and the Brits would settle into the north part – two areas known as the “American Camp” and the “English Camp,” respectively.

Map of disputed international boundary. The blue line (through Haro Strait) was favored by the U.S. The Brits argued for the red line (through Rosario Strait). The green line was proposed as a compromise. Kaiser Wilhelm I ultimately went with the blue line (or something close to it). Map created by Wikipedia contributor "Pfly." [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PigWar-boundaries.png]

Finally, on October 21, 1872, an arbitrator (Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany) determined where the boundary line should lie, and the San Juan Island archipelago now consists of no less than 172 islands (some of them admittedly very small) as part of the state of Washington.

The only life lost in the Pig War was the pig.