Fort Astoria Fort Astoria ( also named Fort George ) was the Pacific Fur Company ' s primary fur trading post in the Northwest , and was the first American - owned settlement on the Pacific coast of what was to become the United States . After a short two - year term of US ownership , the British owned and operated it for 33 years . It was the first British port on the Pacific coast of the Americas . Control of Fort Astoria was a factor in the British and the Americans ' resolving their disputed claims to the Oregon Country . The Fort Astoria Site was added to the list of National Historic Landmarks on November 5 , 1961 . It is marked by a reconstructed block house and is home to The Fort George Building , which houses Fort George Brewery . Founding . The fort was founded in March 1811 when officers and employees of John Jacob Astor ' s Pacific Fur Company , controlled by Americans , arrived via Captain Jonathan Thorn ' s ship , " Tonquin " . By the end of May , they had completed a fort , built with bark - covered logs enclosing a stockade , with guns mounted for defense . In 1811 , the " Tonquin " carried twelve Native Hawaiian laborers from the islands , including " Naukane " ( also known as John Coxe ) . In 1812 , it transported another 26 laborers to Astoria from Hawaii . By the time an overland party joined them in February 1812 , they had constructed a trading store , a blacksmith ' s shop , a house , and a storage shed for pelts acquired from trapping or trading with the local Native Americans . The traders arranged cannons around the perimeter for defense . The post was to serve as an administrative center for various satellite forts such as Fort Okanogan . In 1811 British explorer David Thompson navigated the entire length of the Columbia River . He reached the partially constructed Fort Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia , two months after the Pacific Fur Company ' s ship " Tonquin " . Two of the notable founders were Alexander MacKay , who had previously been with the North West Company , and Alexander Ross . Both men were Scottish emigrants to Canada . Mackay died in the 1811 battle with natives that destroyed the " Tonquin " near Vancouver Island . In 1813 Ross joined the North West Company after they acquired Fort Astoria . Operations . The inhabitants of the fort differed greatly in background and position , and were structured into a corporate hierarchy . The partners of the company were at the top , with clerks , craftsmen , hunters , and laborers in descending order . Nationalities included Scots , French Canadian , American , Kanaka ( Hawaiian ) , and people from various indigenous North American peoples , including Iroquois and others from Eastern Canada . They found life quite monotonous , with the fish and vegetable diet boring . Venereal diseases were problematic . Types of fur taken at the fort included beaver , sea otter , squirrel , and red fox . On June 15 , 1811 , two unusual native visitors arrived : the Two - Spirit woman Kaúxuma Núpika ( known in English as Man - like Woman or " Bowdash " , which is derived from the Chinook Jargon " burdash " ) and her wife , both of the " Kootenai " from the far interior . The Astorian Pacific Fur Company leaders suspected the two of being spies for the North West Company , but at the same time welcomed their detailed geographical knowledge . About a month later , David Thompson of the North West Company arrived . Thompson knew the Kootenai couple and told the Astorians about Kaúxuma Núpika and her unusual life . Both the Astorians and Thompson ' s party ended up protecting the life of Kaúxuma Núpika , whose prophecies of smallpox among the local natives put her life at risk . Thompson , who for months had been out of touch with the evolving politics between the fur companies , believed that the North West Company held a one - third partnership with Astor ' s Pacific Fur Company . He carried a letter to the effect . The Astorians knew that the deal had fallen through but dealt with Thompson as if the deal were still on . The journals of Thompson and the Astorians are silent on the matter , yet both parties took steps to mislead or thwart the other , while at the same time remaining on friendly terms . It is likely that in this remote region , neither party knew for certain whether the two companies were to be allies or competitors . Thorn and the " Tonquin " left for Russian America in June 1812 , but the ship and crew were destroyed at Clayoquot Sound , Vancouver Island after troubles with the " Tla - o - qui - aht " people there . Astor sent the " Beaver " to resupply the fort and to carry fur to Russian America , and thence to Canton in exchange for highly valuable Chinese goods . British tenure . The War of 1812 between the British and Americans brought tension to this fort , though not as a result of hostilities between the fur companies . In 1813 , the Pacific Fur Company officials , desiring to abandon the fort , sold it to officers of the British - owned North West Company . They had arrived at the coast after running low on food supplies in the Interior . Despite this sale to a British company , the British seized the fort with war - sloop " Racoon " . Its captain William Black renamed the post Fort George . It soon became the centre of North West Company operations in the region , where the company had no competition for the land - based fur trade . It became an important port - of - call for the Maritime Fur Trade . [ " With the foundation of Astoria in 1811 " ] for the first time , the North West Company had a competitor in the territory west of the Rocky Mountains . That competition did not last long . From beginning to end fortune frowned upon the American Fur Company . Its ships were wrecked , its overland expedition suffered losses and hardships ; its affairs were mis - managed , and jealousies and bickerings marked its councils ; then war broke out between Great Britain and America , and HHM " Raccoon " [ sic ] was despatched to take Fort Astoria . The officers of the warship looked forward to winning much prize - money , as the post was said to be weel - stocked with furs . However , it was already in possession of the British . Without supplies , and without an adequate force to defend the place , Donald McDougall , who in [ Wilson Price ] Hunt ' s absence was in command of the place , had disposed of the fort and all it contained to the North West Company , whose agents had found their way to the Columbia . Upon his return from a tour of the Russian settlement and the Sandwich Islands , Wilson Price Hunt found that the fort and its supplies and stores that it contained had been transferred to J . G . McTavish and John Stuart , the representatives of the North West Company . He was not , perhaps , altogether in favour of this disposition . . . nevertheless he acquiesced at the time . . . thus all the efforts and expenditure of John Jacob Astor , who had aspired to be supreme in the new region , went for naught and his British rivals acquired sole control of the whole field . No sooner had the North West Company acquired Astoria than it energetically proceeded to occupy the rich territories lying between the Fraser River and Columbia River . Fort George , formerly Astoria , became the capital of the Oregon Territory [ sic ] , and all supplies for the transmontane region were shipped to that place around the Horn , or through the Strait of Magellan . Fort George became a Fort William in miniature . Fields were cultivated , several large buildings erected , and the pallisades [ sic ] and bastions strengthened . The Nor ' Westers were noted for their hospitality and bonhomie . The banqueting hall was often the scene of the revelries of as jovial a set as ever gathered together . Nevertheless the officers were jealous of each other and life at Fort George was not always as depicted by Commander Wilkes , the author of this picture . By 1818 , complications of the Treaty of Ghent , which ended the War of 1812 , resulted in an odd scenario : a fort never conquered was returned as booty - of - war . This led to additional complications of international law concerning the region , and circumstances set the stage for the " joint occupancy " of what became known as the Oregon Country afterward . British Columbian historians E . O . S . Scholefield and F . W . Howay state it this way : During the war of 1812 – 14 the British government at the earnest solicitation of the North West Company sent out the sloop of war " Raccoon " [ sic ] to demolish Astoria ; but before her arrival Astoria had passed into the hands of the North West Company by purchase , yet Captain Black could not resist the temptation of " taking " the fort , and as we have already shown , he went through a little demonstration of hauling down the American flag and running up the British in its place . When the war was settled by the Treaty of Ghent , the first article provided that " all territory , places and possessions whatever , taken by either party from the other during the war , or which may be taken after the signing of the treaty excepting the islands hereinafter mentioned ( in the Bay of Fundy ) shall be restored without delay . " In the negotiation of that treaty the word " possessions " was introduced by Henry Clay , as he later proudly stated for the very purpose of including Astoria , even though it was not known at the time that it was captured . In accordance therewith in October 1818 , commissioners representing the two nations met at Astoria and exchanged acts of delivery and acceptance whereby the British Commissioner Captain Hickey of HMS " Blossom " and J . Keith for the North West Company " did in conformity to the first article of the Treaty of Ghent restore to the Government of the United States through its agent J . B . Prevost , Esq . , the settlement of Fort George on the Columbia River . " The North West Company after they had obtained possession of Astoria had given it the name of Fort George . it was strongly contended that the effect of this transaction was a formal recognition of the territorial rights of the United States at the mouth of the Columbia . In addition to these claims in her own right the United States also claimed by contiguity that portion of Oregon west of the boundaries of Louisiana . And , further , claim was made by them as a result of the Florida Treaty of 1819 . by that treaty , all of Spain ' s rights passed to the United States . It was urged that as the heir of Spain the United States obtained strength from the discoveries of the Spanish explorers Heceta , Bodega , and Maurelle . In order to escape the difficulty which the Nootka convention naturally placed in the way of any claim of exclusive sovereignty the United States were forced to argue , as they did most energetically , that by reason of the war which broke out between Spain and Great Britain in 1796 , the convention of 1790 ceased to have any effect . The British claims , however , did not allege any exclusive right or sovereignty of Great Britain in the disputed territory . The claim was that the Nootka convention entitled Great Britain to a sort of joint right to settle upon and thereby obtain the sovereignty of such portion of the territory as were desired . Despite the ceremony of possession , actual North West Company and ownership went on as before , and no actual American presence was established in the region from the symbolic repossession . In 1821 the North West Company was merged into the Hudson ' s Bay Company , which took ownership of the fort . George Simpson , governor of the Hudson ' s Bay Company , visited the Columbia River region in the mid - 1820s and spent the winter of 1824 – 25 at Fort George . He did not like the fort , finding it inappropriate both as a fur post and a regional depot . He ordered the construction of Fort Vancouver , a new post and depot upriver at a site with better potential for agriculture , to be the administrative center of Columbia District . Fort George was used as the company ' s main depot in the region from 1821 until Fort Vancouver was completed in April 1825 . Fort George was abandoned from June 1825 to 1829 . The Hudson ' s Bay Company reoccupied it on a small scale from 1830 to 1848 . During this time , the fort became the center of the Hudson Bay ' s Company ' s emerging salmon fishery . The company used the salmon to feed its town employees , as well as exporting some to the Hawaiian Islands market . The post finally became United States territory only after the Oregon Treaty ended the Oregon boundary dispute . Great Britain ceded its territorial rights south of the 49th parallel . The Hudson ' s Bay Company gave up its possessions in the region , though the treaty had guaranteed their continued existence .