Fort Nez Perce

Fort Nez Percés
Fur Trade Outpost
Fort Nez Percés in 1818.
Constructed:	1818
Company built:	North West Company
Location:	Wallula, Washington
Continent:	North America
Later Ownership:	1821, Hudson's Bay Company
Abandoned:	1857

Fort Nez Percés (or Fort Nez Percé, with or without the accent), later known as (Old) Fort Walla Walla, was a fortified fur trading post on the Columbia River on the territory of modern-day Wallula, Washington. Despite being named after the Nez Perce people, the fort was in the traditional lands of the Walla Walla. Founded in 1818 by the North-West Company, after 1821 it was run by the Hudson's Bay Company until its closure in 1857.

During David Thompson's 1811 voyage down the Columbia River, he camped at the confluence with the Snake River on July 9, 1811. He erected a pole and a notice claiming the country for Great Britain and stating the intention of the North West Company to build a trading post at the site. North West Company managers during an annual meeting in Fort William, gave instructions for a fort to be created near the mouth of the Walla Walla River, a few miles south of the confluence of the Snake and the Columbia.

Begun in July 1818 under the direction of traders Donald MacKenzie and Alexander Ross, the fort was constructed by 95 NWC employees. The company officials secured daily provisions for the laborers by trading with visiting Nez Perce. The surrounding area lacked a forest, so workers had to cut timber 100 miles away and send it down river to the planned fort site. Relations with the Nez Peces quickly deteriorated as construction continued, as Ross recalled.

"Soon after our landing the tribes began to muster rapidly; the multitudes which surrounded us became immense, and their movements alarming. They insisted on our paying for the timber we were collecting. They prohibited our hunting and fishing. They affixed an exorbitant price of their own to every article of trade, and they insulted any of the hands whom they met alone. Thus they resolved to keep us in their power, and withhold supplies until their conditions were granted."