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Hawaiian Laborers in the Pacific Northwest Fur Industry

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Hawaiian Laborers in the Pacific Northwest Fur Industry AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Donnell J. Rogers for the degree ofMaster of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies in the co-departments ofAnthropology. Anthropology. and Geography presented on 19 April 1993 . Title: Ku on the Columbia: Hawaiian Laborers in the Pacific Northwest Fur Industry. Abstractapproved_Redacted for Privacy David R. Brauner Archaeological investigations can reveal persistent traditions of ethnic groups. Hawaiians were employed in the fur trade of the Columbia River from 1810 through 1850. The Hudson's Bay Company employed them at Ft. Vancouver, Washington from 1825 through the end of this period. Data from the excavations of the servant's village at Ft. Vancouver are compared with the built environment of contact period Hawaii. Similarity of structural remains suggests a persistence of tradition among the Hawaiian employees of the Hudson's Bay Company. © Copyright by Donnell J. Rogers 19 April 1993 All Rights Reserved Ku on the Columbia: Hawaiian Laborers in the Pacific Northwest Fur Industry. by Donnell J. Rogers A THESIS submitted to Oregon State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, Interdisciplinary Studies Completed April 19, 1993 Commencement June 1993 APPROVED: Redacted for Privacy Associate Professor of Anthropology in charge of major Redacted for Privacy Professor of Anthropology in charge of co-field Redacted for Privacy ""--/ Professor emeritus of Geography in charge of co-field f Redacted for Privacy Chairman (f Departmt ofnthropology Redacted for Privacy Dean of Grate Schoc( Date thesis is presented 19 April 1993 Typed by researcher for Donnell J. Rogers TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1 Chapter 2: HAWAIIAN CULTURE 6 Hawaii 6 Hawaiian Social Organization 7 The Superstructure 9 Material Culture 18 Structures of Stone 22 Summary 27 Chapter 3: HAWAIIANS IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST FUR INDUSTY 29 Early Fur Trade 31 Hiring On 34 Duty and Labor 38 Distribution of Populations 54 Traditional Hawaiians 69 Retirement and Reward 74 Summary 84 Chapter 4: ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE FUR TRADE 87 Forts and Villages 87 Ethnicity and Archaeology 105 Fort Vancouver's Hawaiian Shrine 107 Chapter 5: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 116 BIBLIOGRAPHY 124 APPENDICES Appendix A 139 Appendix B 141 LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. Fur Trade Forts of the Northwest 4 2. Hawaiian Fishing Shrine 11 3. Proto-Historic Hawaiian Residential Complex 14 4. Historic Hawaiian House Sites 15 5. Hawaiian Tanged Adze 20 6. Plan of Fort George in 1818 48 7. Hawaiian Populations at Fort Vancouver and in the Columbia Department, 1831-1854 62 8. Average Wages of Hawaiian Servants, 1821-1841 75 9. Fort Vancouver Servant's Village in 1846 92 10. Post-In-The-Sill Construction Detail 94 11. Archaeology of the Village 98 12. Klikitat Lodge at Fort Vancouver 104 13. Village Rock Feature Excavation Map 109 14. Village Rock Feature Perspective Drawing 110 15. Fur Trade Forts with Hawaiian Populations 123 LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Minimum Hawaiian Populations in the Columbia Fur Trade, 1811-1822 57 2. Hawaiian Populations of the Hudson's Bay Company, 1821-1854 61 3. Employment Wages of the Hudson's Bay Company Hawaiians, 1821-1854 76 4. Deaths, Discharges, and Desertions, 1821-1854 78 Ku On The Columbia: Hawaiian Laborers in the Pacific Northwest Fur Industry. Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION The Euro-American culture of the North American fur trade has been widely documented. Many published histories have been written and numerous archaeological studies of trading posts have been conducted. This attention is to be expected, as the fur trade was a very powerful tool in the expansion of western capitalist mercantilism. The minority cultures associated with the fur trade have not fared so well. The Native Americans and Pacific Islanders that were employed by the fur trading companies have received little attention. Histories of the fur trade have been focused on commercial enterprise (e.g. Galbraith 1957; Gibson 1985; Ronda 1990) and its physical presence (Hussey 1957), or the personal experiences of Euro-Americans (e.g. Cox 1957; Franchere 1967). Some of these (e.g. Franchere 1967; Ronda 1990) have noted the presence of the Hawaiians as employees in the western coastal and interior fur trade. None have focused specifically on the Hawaiians in the fur trade. Even in a review of Hawaiian contributions to the history of the Pacific coast (Duncan 1972a) the numbers and the distribution of the Hawaiians employed in the fur trade were derived from anecdotal sources. Similarly, the archaeology of historic fur trade sites has focused on the architecture and material culture of the commercial enterprise (e.g. Caywood 1948, 1953; Larabee 1966). Archaeological studies that included peripheral communities (e.g. Caywood 1954; Thomas and Hibbs 1984) expected a localized expression of a standardized Euro-American material culture. When artifacts and features did not derive from the industrially based material culture of the fur trade, they were interpreted as evidence of indigenous Native American cultures. Archaeological studies of ethnicity and cultural interaction (e.g. Kardas 1971; Pysczyk 1989) also assumed this technological dichotomy. I review the fur trade and its material culture from a different perspective. Instead of Euro-American culture, I examine the material record of the fur trade for evidence of the Hawaiian culture.I assume that acculturation is not necessarily implied by material culture. 2 I propose that the Hawaiians employed by the northwest fur trade between 1810 and 1845 were the bearers of a strong and vibrant cultural system that maintained their ethnic identity.I propose that this ethnic identity is discernable in the archaeological record of the Pacific Northwest.I further propose that cultural changes, primarily religious and political, in Hawaii during this time are reflected in a diachronic change in the material culture and demographics of the emigrants. These propositions can be tested by integrating the historical, ethnographic and archaeological records relevant to this population. Chapter 2 is a brief review of the history, religion, and material culture of Hawaii. Chapter 3 integrates a review of the culture of the Northwest Coast and Columbia River fur trade and a study of the Hawaiians employed by the fur trade. Chapter 4 re-examines the archaeological record of the fur trade for evidence of ethnic material culture associated with traditional Hawaiian culture. In Chapter 5, the results of these examinations are integrated to test a model for the recognition of uniquely Hawaiian components of the material culture record of the Pacific Northwest. The recognition of such features requires, as does the study of all non- European cultures, a suspension of the Euro-American world view. The economic basis for a complex socio-cultural group is not restricted to market exploitation. By suspending the concept that man adapts nature to culture, systems that are adapted to natural cycles become more understandable. Interpreting the purpose or assigning the cultural or ethnic origin of an archaeological feature requires knowledge of the range of probable creators and their motivations as well as the context of the creation. The context of the fur trade requires an understanding of the market forces which encouraged its rapid expansion. Historically, three agents of mercantile state expansionism were most active in the eastern Pacific during the fur trade era. Colonial exploitation of this region expanded markets and extracted resources in some places by the simple expedient of complete replacement of traditional socio-religious complexes. In many places expansion was accomplished by pernicious mercantilism and aggressive agrarian displacement of non-agrarian peoples. Pernicious mercantilism, or the conversion of native economies from relative self-sufficiency to dependence on foreign products was the most significant technique of the fur trade. New symbols of wealth and power were 3 introduced to indigenous American cultures. Symbols that were classically composed of the exotic goods available only through long distance inter- group exchange. In a manner akin to the modern images of the illegal narcotics trade, the fur trade carried the addicting steel knife, gunpowder, and the iron boiling pot to the unaware. Gifts to the trendsetters ["The firstone is free." or "Here, this is especially nice. Give it to your wife. "] caused dissonance among the followers. Clothing, beads, and metal objects previously unavailable or even undreamed of were suddenly present. This is a study of the Hawaiians who participated in the fur trade era exploration and exploitation of the drainage basin of the Columbia River and the northwest coast of North America. This era opened with two discoveries by Captain Cook during his third voyage in 1778 and 1779. First, the discovery of the Hawaiian Islands and second, the discovery of the high interest in sea otter furs by the Chinese. Until this time, the sea otter and its Chinese market had been concealed from Europe by the Russians (Barbeau 1958). The specifics of this study are confined to the period of the English and American Northwest Coastal and Columbia River fur trade (Figure 1), from 1810 through 1845. Though the Russians also employed Hawaiian laborers (Duncan 1972:96), they are reserved for future investigation. The Columbia River fur trade era closed with the increased immigration and settlement of Americans and the end of the Hudson's Bay Company's control of the commerce of the lower Columbia River in the late 1840's. In the body of the text America is defined as the United States of America and Canada is the area now politically described as Canada. During the period of this study, neither had completed their western expansion. The Northwest is the Pacific Northwest, generally meaning the Columbia River and its associated drainages but often including Puget Sound and the Pacific Coast of North America from north of San Francisco to southern Alaska.
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