Traditional Muzzleloading Association
The Center of Camp => People of the Times => Topic started by: Puffer on September 30, 2019, 09:36:47 PM
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Uncle Rus asked for this :bow
Kanakas -
Kanakas were Hawaiians { “Sandwich Islanders,â€}(the word means "human being" in Polynesian) who came to WA/OR & BC in the nineteenth century to work for the Hudson's Bay Company in the fur trade.
Many Hawaiians were employed at posts of the Pacific Northwest Fur Company. By 1811, the American Fur Company at Astoria employed twelve Hawaiians on three year contracts at the newly established trading post at Astoria, Oregon. They were paid room and board and received $100 in merchandise at the end of the contract. {In 1811, there were 24 “Sandwich Islanders†among the crew of men sent by John Jacob Astor to establish his trading post at the mouth of the Columbia River. One of these men was Naukane, known to the Euro-Americans of the Northwest as ‘John Cox’ (sometimes ‘Coxe’). Cox would later be remembered as “a bold and trustworthy fellow… a prodigy of wit and humor†(Alexander Ross, Adventures of the First Settlers on the Oregon or Columbia River, 1810-1813, p.115). He was the first Polynesian person to travel into the Northwest interior, accompanying David Thompson on a voyage up the Columbia and helping to establish the Pacific Fur Company’s first inland post, Spokane House. Later, his travels on behalf of the company would take him to Montana, across the continent to Montreal, over the Atlantic to England, and eventually all the way around the globe, back to the Pacific.}
When the Hudson’s Bay Company [HBC] merged with the Northwest Fur Company in 1821, the HBC Governor George Simpson, recommended that fifteen more Hawaiians be hired for “common drudgery and as guards.†They were also to be employed as crewmen on the Cadboro, a vessel used in the coastal trade. Later, the Columbia Bar escort schooner, Dolly, employed an Hawaiian crew. Thus, the first bar pilot may have been Hawaiian. By 1824, the HBC employed thirty-five Hawaiians west of the Rockies.
As the Company expanded its operations, they employed more Hawaiians. At Fort George [Astoria] some eighteen Hawaiians were employed in 1825. Governor Simpson’s report for 1825 showed this population: 37 men [20 + extra men, brigadiers, 8 express men, 9 belonging to Governor’s canoe], 17 women, 35 children, 11 slaves. Of the 37 men, eighteen were Hawaiians.
Dr. John McLoughlin, the newly appointed Director of the Northwest Hudson’s Bay Company set about establishing Fort Vancouver as the chief supply center for the regional operation. By 1829, 200 hogs and an Hawaiian swineherd kept the Fort supplied with pork.
Food supplies and trade goods were sent from Fort Vancouver to smaller posts. Furs traded by the Indians at each post, or trapped by HBC employees, were sent to Fort Vancouver by regularly scheduled canoe, boat, and horse brigades and loaded onto company ships and transported to London. Much of the labor at each stage of this process was performed by Kanakas.
. Kanakas provided the labor force at the Posts sawmill.. James Douglas recorded in his journal that the mill “works twelve saws and cuts about 3500 feet of inch boards during the twenty-four hours.†By 1837, the mill employed ten yoke of oxen and twenty-eight men and large stocks of lumber were dried at the mill for export. The Kanakas were a cheap yet skilled source of labor.
the Kanaka Village in1848 the village consisted of 60-75 buildings & At its peak, the village was home to around 535 men, 254 Indian women and 301 children. {community...where the Company employees of lower rank—Iroquois, Sandwich Islanders, French metis—lived with their Indian wives and families.â€
A number of Kanakas were loaned by the HBC to work temporarily for the missions, and visiting missionaries occasionally would hold Sunday services at the Fort.
Even though the Kanaka Village is long gone, But --
Kanaka Bay, San Juan Island, WA exists, why the name -- (The Hudson’s Bay Company offered Kanakas three year contracts that included room and board and a wage of ten pounds a year. They worked at the Belle Vue Farm on San Juan Island where they looked after sheep under the direction of the foreman Charles Griffin and maintained a presence for the British. The Kanakas had a reputation as one that was willing to “fight the local Natives†and for this reason they were employed as guards.
Aloha, Oregon, and Kalama,Washington . These Hawaiian names are sprinkled up and down the coast of Northwest America. Kalama is named after one of the first Hawaiians who came to the Northwest 175 years ago.
In BC - In 1851, James Douglas, then the chief factor of Fort Victoria, set up a militia group comprised of “eleven Kanakas and two negroes†known as the Victoria Voltigeurs. It existed for 7 years as a rifle corps to guard the fort. Douglas relied on them frequently to apprehend Natives who threatened the HBC. He wrote of a case where the Voltigeurs chased a Cowichan Native into the woods, captured him and another and brought them back on board the Steamship Beaver. The two men were later hanged for the crimes.
During the mid-1850s the Voltigeurs were often used on more routine patrol duties on horseback “to visit the isolated settlements for their protection.†In 1856, eighteen Voltigeurs were sent a s part of a large expedition to Cowichan after the attempted murder of a white man by a Cowichan Native.
The Voltigeurs continued as a force until the gold rush began in 1858. The following year, the HBC’s monopoly on trade officially ended and many of the Kanakas left Victoria to join the gold rush in the Fraser Canyon. Kanaka Bar was one place where they left their mark. Many of them lived in Victoria on what was known as ‘Kanaka Row’ – a line of shacks at the head of Victoria harbour where the Empress Hotel is located.
There was a strong connection between Victoria and Hawaii (still referred to as the Sandwich Islands)
Russell Island near Salt Spring Island was owned by a When the United States government began passing legislation which prevented the Kanaka people from becoming American citizens or owning land, many Kanaka people moved to Canada. By the 1870s, the Kanaka began settling in the Gulf Islands.
In 1886 William Haumea, a Kanaka settler, received a certificate of purchase and a Crown Grant for Russell Island. Haumea already had land at Eleanor Point on Salt Spring Island and was expanding to Russell Island. Although he never built a home on Russell, he was responsible for clearing fields and pasture areas as well as for establishing a large orchard and a strawberry field.
In 1901, Maria Mahoi was identified in Haumea's will as the sole heir to Russell Island.
In Vancouver, for instance, there was a community known as Kanaka Ranch
More later - ie How it all started & Why
For now it, time finish my Pea Soup & corn bread. :wave
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Can't wait Puff, keep 'em coming!
There's more to this story, and ol' Puff has stacks and stacks of reference to get his material from.
Years ago, when Puff first starting posting about Hawaiians being "a part" of the Fur Trade Era, I was flat out flabbergasted, as I had never heard of this before.
So I did a little research on my own, nothing like Puff had done, and without all his resources, but I did start finding a mention here and there about the Natives of Sandwich Islands, and how they were in demand by both the Hudson Bay Company (HBC), and the Pacific Fur Company (PFC).....for some reason I had thought all the Trappers and Traders came from the East Coast or Mid West. I just couldn't imagine the Islanders being involved, but they were.
But this is Puff's story, so I'll let him continue this at his pace.
I do think many will find this interesting, and perhaps some will even be a bit surprised...like myself!
It's good to see ya postin again Ol' friend, many of us thought we may never hear from ya again.....
:hairy
Uncle Russ...
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Excellent read! Thanks for sharing. Never heard any of this before... :hairy
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One little correction - My folks moved to Aloha, Oregon in 1977 after my Dad retired from the university of Hawaii. The local history was that it was originally going to be named Aloah, but the "a" and "h" were transposed when the paperwork for a post office was submitted. Nothing to do with Hawaiians, I'm sorry to say.
On the other hand, kanakas were everywhere. Strong, hard-working men with a good sense of humor and very easy going. I grew up in Hawaii so this post really hit home. Thanks for sharing!
~Kees~
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Puffer
Thank you for sharing. These are good reads.
doggoner