Posted by Wilhelm
While in Friday Harbor, on San Juan Island last weekend we visited the Griffin Bay Bookstore. I decided to buy one of the local interest books. I chose The Pig War, by Michael Vouri. The Pig War was not actually a war, but it did involve a pig (the conflict's only fatality.)
The beautiful San Juan Islands are situated between the Washington coast and Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The entire Oregon Country (including the present States of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and parts of Montana and Wyoming, and the the Canadian Province of British Columbia) was a subject of dispute between the United States and the United Kingdom in the early 1800s.
In 1846, the dispute was thought to have been resolved by the Oregon Treaty, which divided the Oregon Country between the U.S. and Canada, with the boundary extending along the 49th parallel of latitude to the middle channel between the continent and Vancouver Island, then proceeding south to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, then through that strait to the Pacific Ocean. The location of this "middle channel", however, was not specified. The channel could be either the more western Haro Strait (giving the San Juans to the U.S.) or the more eastern Rosario Strait (giving the islands to Canada).
Both the Americans and the English established camps on San Juan Island. When, in 1859, an American shot and killed a pig belonging to the Hudson's Bay Company, however, the situation became a crisis. The matter dragged on, without ever becoming an actual war, for twelve years until the dispute was finally settled in favor of the United States, through international arbitration by Kaiser Wilhelm I (no relation) of Germany.
Today, the San Juan Islands are one of the most serenely beautiful vacation destinations in North America. If you get a chance to visit, by all means go.
I learned about the Pig War while visiting the San Juan Islands. One of the things I like about traveling is learning and discovering. Enjoyed your review.
Posted by: booklogged | Wednesday, March 07, 2007 at 07:23 PM