The Pig War - San Juan Islands History

How many of you have eaten ham lately? Did you know a pig was the start of some interesting history in Washington State's San Juan Islands, a catalyst for a boundary dispute between Great Britain and the United States?

Yep.

Hudson's Bay Company had a site at Fort Vancouver, B.C., Canada, where they had a salmon-curing operation and a sheep ranch. It was the British understanding and Hudson's Bay's that the San Juan Islands were theirs, so they posted a notice to that effect. However, the Oregon Territorial Legislature (Washington State was a part of Oregon territory then) declared the San Juans to be theirs and created Washington Territory which encompassed the islands.

The British never concurred with the agreement. They insisted the land was theirs and tempers flared. Both countries levied taxes.

The plight really came to a head when American settler Lyman Cutlar shot (see photo of gun at right) and killed a pig rooting in his garden in the San Juans. The pig belonged to Charles Griffin of the Hudson's Bay Company.

The British threatened to kill Cutlar and Americans asked for military help. The 9th Infantry under Captain George Pickett (you may know him from Civil War history) came to settle the dispute in 1859. British Columbia's Crown Colony General James Douglas sent his own British war ships under Captain Geoffry Hornby to settle the agreement. Before it was over 461 Americans, 2,140 British and five British war ships were involved and the conflict went on for over 12 years!

The incident escalated until Washington, D.C., got news of it. President Buchanan got involved. Finally, the dispute went to Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany and on to a three-person arbitration commission in Geneva for settlement.

All over a pig!

By the way, it would be interesting to read a Canadian version of the history of this war. Anybody?

If you want to visit the San Juan National Historical Park in person, where you'll learn more about the Pig War history, it's worth a long ferry wait to do so.

RD Larson sent me a personal picture of the Pig War Museum on the island. Thanks, RD.

Mike Viori, park ranger there, does a bittersweet history program, "An Evening With George Pickett," both in the US and Canada beginning in May. Check out the 2001 calendar.

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