Look around you. The scenic spot where you now stand was once the heart of one of the busiest shipping ports west of the Rocky Mountains. From 1825 to 1846, Fort Vancouver's waterfront served as the western economic artery of the Hudson's Bay Company, connecting a wilderness of wealth to a powerful trading network.

Trading vessels large and small once moored at a wharf here, supplying a variet of goods to distant ports. Company ships exported northwest goods throughout the world: fur to England, salted salmon to Hawaii, and lumber to South America.

Fort Vancouver is the grand emporium of the Company's trade west of the Rocky Mountains as well as within the Oregon Territory and beyond it, from California to Kamschatka.

                                        John Dunn,

                                        Postmaster at Fort Vancouver 1836-1838

Marker can be reached from SE Columbia Way.

Courtesy hmdb.org

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