Fort Vancouver

Fort Vancouver was a 19th-century fur trading outpost along the Columbia River that served as the headquarters of the Hudson’s Bay Company in the company’s Columbia District. Since I was staying a few days in Vancouver, I went to visit the old fort… actually it is a full scale replica of the original fort from the 1800’s.

The one big thing I took away from the visit was just how important the fur trade was back then. Not that the fur was put to any good use, like saving lives of keeping children warm. Instead, we (humans) killed off millions and millions of animals simply so people back in Europe could have the latest and most fashionable hat, made of beaver fur. The demand of beaver fur was so strong out in the wild west that it was the primary currency of the land.