The Puget Sound Agricultural Company

[Puffer]

When We think of the HUDSON BAY COMPANY, We think FUR! But, here in the Western area the PNW, Agriculture was a Very Big part of Their business. _____  The Puget Sound Agricultural Company, a subsidiary of HBC, operated  in the mid-19th century ( was formed in 1839 -  1869, as the first example of corporate farming and ranching in the Pacific Northwest.
 From the outset, the idea was that HBC would continue to concentrate on the fur trade and PSAC would handle the agricultural business. PSAC would supply foodstuffs to the HBC posts along the Pacific coast, as well as to Alaska and Hawaii.

2 new posts were created = Ft. Nisqually & The  Cowlitz Farm.


 Fort Nisqually had been founded by HBC in 1833, and was well-situated for its new role as both an agricultural center and transshipment point. Nisqually did raise a fair amount of produce,but due to its superior grazing lands, its primary value was the raising of livestock. By 1845, it was home to over 5,872 sheep, 2,280 cattle, and 228 horses.


 The  Cowlitz Farm portage was the termination point of river travel from the Columbia, and the embarkation stage for the overland route north to Puget Sound. A large prairie was located about a mile from the landing.The soil at Cowlitz was rich, and far better suited than that of Nisqually's for crop production. Over the years, the Cowlitz farm became the chief grain producer for the P.S.A.C. Land was rapidly put into production: by the spring of 1840, six hundred acres had been ploughed, and by the fall of 1841 one thousand acres were under cultivation. At the time of the 1846-47 inventory, 1,432 1/2 acres were under cultivation. Crops included wheat ( White Lammas Wheat {called HBC Wheat}, oats, barley, peas, turnips, beans, cole seed and potatoes. ..
By the spring of 1840, some houses had been built, and by the spring of 1841, when Charles Wilkes visited the site, a dairy was in operation, and both a gristmill and sawmill were under construction. In 1845-46 a dwelling, granaries and outbuildings were erected at the mouth of the Cowlitz River to store the farm's produce until Company vessels could pick it up. ..."