Kanaka Village - Hawaiians first here in 1788!

Compiled from The Columbian, Fort Vancouver Historical Society and local historian Kapulani Silvia.

During the mid-1800s reign of Fort Vancouver, while the English were cashing in on Pacific Northwest trade, there was a clan of about 200 Hawaiians who kept the fort running. Some of them helped trap; many of them were said to be great cooks. An unpublished manuscript by Judge Matthew P. Deady states that the Hawaiians were excellent cooks, and added: "What few cooks there were, were Hawaiians." They lived in a tight little community called Kanaka Village, pronounced Ka-KNOCK-a, meaning Hawaiian. Kanaka Village which included French Canadians, and half-breeds, was just west of the fort and continued down to the waterfront, historians say, about where Interstate 5 is now.

The honor of being the first Hawaiian to set foot on North America, a generation before American missionaries invaded his homeland, probably goes to a chief named variously Teanna, Tianna and Kaiana, since at the time there was no written language. He had pleaded with Captain John Meares, the English fur trader, to allowed to see the world on his ship. Meares took him to China, and from there the young chief sailed with Captain William Douglas in 1788 on the Iphegenia to Nootka Sound on the west side of Vancouver Island, and joined Meares, who was trying to establish a permanent trading post there.

It was not uncommon for Hawaiians to hop aboard trading ships and seek adventure. The Hudson's Bay Co., which ran Fort Vancouver, took the Hawaiians as indentured servants through a deal with the Hawaiian king, according to historical accounts. These arrangements were spelled out in contracts signed by the Hudson's Bay agent and the proper royal authority. Three years was the maximum term of service. Compensation was in merchandise and cash, but there wasn't much money left over after having to buy warm clothing for the cold winters. The contracts were very vague which left little protection for the Hawaiians.

Life for the Hawaiians at Fort Vancouver was not, by modern standards, a pleasant one. The system of western morals was new to them and strong drink offered an escape from their homesickness. Both drunkenness and immorality were frowned upon by their masters, who provided severe penalties for the former and marriage services for the latter.

Illness was rampant amount the islanders. Many died crossing the ocean, either from seasickness, exposure, hunger, or all three. The transition from a climate where it seldom got below 60 degrees to dank, subfreezing winters at Fort Vancouver was as hard on morale as on outer flesh and inner lung tissues. Yet for all their suffering and ignominious treatment, the Hawaiians were a kind, fun-loving, frolicking lot who entertained with music and mimicry, worked hard at occupations they enjoyed, were intensely loyal.

Many who came to the mainland chose not to return, despite weather and brutal treatment. Apparently permanent settlers came later with their own women, and at one time 300 to 400 were in the employ of the Hudson's Bay Company as servants, laborers, sawyers, millers, sailors, gardeners, cooks (some of the best in the Northwest), divers and even as spies who were able to befriend the Indians and detect plots to murder the whites or steal their goods.

The Hudson's Bay Company quickly developed a lively trade with the Sandwich Islands after relocating its headquarters at Fort Vancouver. The company's sawmill several miles east of the fort employed 28 men, mostly Hawaiians, and lumber from this mill was the first ever exported from North America to the Hawaiian Islands. As one writer put it: "It is probably safe to say that Honolulu and other growing Hawaiian towns of the middle of the last century were built largely with lumber from the Columbia River and Puget Sound." The company also shipped wheat, pork, beef, flour, smoked salmon and other surplus goods to the islands from Vancouver, Fort Langley and other posts. In return, coffee, molasses and sugar were shipped back to the West Coast.

In 1834 the company opened a store in Honolulu and appointed George Pelly their agent. Pelly then became the recruiter of Hawaiian labor for the mainland, and the company store quickly earned the nickname of aienui, the "big debt," because so many Hawaiians ran up charge accounts there.

Kanaka William was sent over in 1844 from Honolulu by George Pelly at the request of Dr. McLoughlin, who had written for a "trusty educated Hawaiian of good character to read the scripture and assemble his people for public worship." He was to get a salary of ten pounds a year. William used a structure just inside the gate which was formerly designated as a school and as the chaplain's kitchen, for a church. He himself lived in the Kanaka Village.

He continued to use the improvised church until 1848 and between 20 and 40 natives attended his sermons every Sunday. The building became dilapidated and was pulled down between 1855 and 1858. The preacher continued to live in his little house in the "Kanaka Village" until 1860 when the company abandoned the fort to the American military and moved to British Columbia. Nobody seems to know what happened to Kanaka Williams.

As the first permanent foothold of European civilization in the Pacific Northwest, Fort Vancouver is immensely important to our community's identity. And as the people whose toil and sacrifice was essential to the fort's existence, the Kanakas are due far more recognition than they have received in the past century and a half. Though their names and stories are mostly lost, the residents of Kanaka Village were as important to our community identity as were George Vancouver and John McLoughlin.