John Baird: Canada's freedom agenda - Diplomat Magazine

DELIGHTS|canadianaThe big Pig WarBy Laura Neilson BonikowskyBellevue Sheep Farm’s “Home Prairie” establishment on San Juan Island was a gathering place for British and Americans alike in the1850s. An artist’s depiction shows a San Juan Island camp in its heyday in September 1859, at the height of the Pig War crisis.The boundary between Canada andthe United States was a matter ofdispute between 1783 and 1872,when the issue was arbitrated by GermanEmperor Wilhelm I. The last portionof the boundary had been ambiguouslydetermined by the Oregon Treaty of 1846,which extended the 49th parallel “to themiddle of the channel which separates thecontinent from Vancouver’s Island, andthence southerly through the middle ofsaid channel, and of Fuca’s Straits, to thePacific Ocean.”However, the “middle of the channel”could have applied either to RosarioStrait, to the east of San Juan, Orcas andLopez islands, or to Haro Strait, to thewest of the islands. San Juan Island, whichwas claimed by both Britain and the U.S.,was a strategic military position; the countrythat owned the islands would dominatethe waterways connecting the Strait66of Juan de Fuca with the Strait of Georgia.The Hudson’s Bay Company hadclaimed San Juan Island in 1845 and establishedsalmon curing stations alongthe western shoreline by 1851. In 1853,the U.S. claimed the three islands aspart of the new Washington Territory. Inresponse, the Hudson’s Bay Companyestablished Bellevue Sheep Farm in December1853. In only six years, it grewfrom 1,369 sheep to more than 4,500 onstations across the island. A boundarycommission established in 1856 failed toresolve the issue satisfactorily for bothsides. By the spring of 1859, Americantroops had been stationed on the islandand 18 Americans had staked claims onprime sheep-grazing land. The British consideredthem squatters and their claimsillegal.On June 15, 1859, the tense situation exploded.An American farmer, Lyman Cutlar,found a big pig rooting in his garden,eating his potatoes. Cutler shot and killedthe pig, which was owned by CharlesGriffin, who ran Bellevue Farm. Cutlaroffered Griffin $10 in compensation, butGriffin wanted $100. Cutlar argued thathe shouldn’t have to pay for the pig at allbecause it had trespassed on his property.When British authorities threatened toarrest Cutlar and evict his countrymen,American settlers demanded militaryprotection from Brigadier-General WilliamHarney, in command of the Departmentof Oregon. The anti-British Harney dispatched64 soldiers to San Juan Island toprevent British ships from landing. JamesDouglas, governor of Vancouver Island,concerned that American squatters wouldoccupy the island if not kept in check, sentthree warships and ordered Rear AdmiralRobert Baynes to land marines on theisland and engage the Americans. BaynesWINTER 2012 | JAN-FEB-MAR