In its first incarnation, in 1825, Fort Vancouver was built near the
Columbia River, in present-day
Vancouver, Washington State. Four years later, this fur-trade post shifted 2 km west, closer to the river, and
from there would grow to become the HBC's
Columbia District headquarters, where it administered all manner of commercial activity, from trade
and shipping to fishing and farming; moreover, Fort Vancouver became a flashpoint
for tensions between British, US, and Indigenous interests.
After the Oregon Treaty of 1846 was ratified, and Fort Vancouver found itself on US
soil, the HBC turned its presence north of the 49th parallel, to
Fort Victoria, as the base of its west coast operations; the old fort was abandoned in 1860.