Fort Cowlitz

In the RAC-HBC Agreement, the Russian-American Company received at Novo-Arkhangelsk grain and dairy products from the PSAC along with manufactured goods.

Agricultural areas established by Fort Cowlitz were increasingly claimed by arriving American immigrants in the 1840s, beginning contentious legal battles.

A settlement with the United States for the sale of PSAC property occurred on 10 September 1869, the company to be paid $200,000 in gold coins (equivalent to $4,580,000 in 2023}).

[4] James Douglas in 1839 ordered farming equipment, heads of cattle and nine employees to the Cowlitz plains,[5] where around 3,000 acres (1,200 ha) of fertile soil existed.

[6] John Tod, Chief Trader in the party, found farming "a new experience for me, and agreeable for a time, but devoid of incidents, with any personal bearing.

"[7] The buildings that composed Fort Cowlitz over time included residencies for employees, a granary with two levels,[8] 2 storehouses, stables and 14 barns.

[9] Housing for the presiding officer was made "of hewed logs framed in the French style, clap-boarded on the outside, and lined and papered on the inside; the windows were from the Old Post at Fort George..."[10] The granary had the dimensions of 25 by 20 feet,[9] with three stories and was "framed of large hewed timber and boarded on the outside..."[10] Employees of the Company labored over 1839 under Chief Trader John Tod to sow almost 300 bushels of wheat, and plow 200 acres (81 ha) of land at the Cowlitz farm.

[10] As the illnesses spread among the neighboring natives during the winter of 1848, Fort Cowlitz provided medical aid and food to the afflicted: "We have to feed & assist all the Indians about us, draw fire wood for them &c. 3 died to day.

A former clerk that ran Fort Cowlitz, George Roberts, leased the remaining 160 acres (65 ha) held by the post in 1859, agreeing to maintain the buildings as rent.