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.

Begun in July 1818 under the direction of traders Donald MacKenzie[1] and Alexander Ross, the fort was constructed by 95 NWC employees.

[2] 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.

The tribal leaders at first insisted that all members of their tribe be given gifts, though a less expansive settlement was adopted, ending "many anxious days and sleepless nights".

Donald MacKenzie intended to open up the Snake River country, adding another operation converging on the area where Fort Nez Percés was built.

The location of Fort Nez Percés at the eastern end of this trunk line to the ocean made it the most important post in the interior.

In addition, increasing tensions from occupying the homelands of the local Native Americans necessitated a permanent fortified post.

Not only was it a major meeting and trading ground, but it was where Lewis and Clark had first met the indigenous peoples of the Columbia River and had made an informal treaty of friendship.

[5] Soon after the post was built, Alexander Ross said it was "the strongest and most complete fort west of the Rocky Mountains, and might be called the Gibraltar of the Columbia.

The sage brush, willow and grease-wood had been cut and cleared away for a considerable distance around, to prevent any Indian getting near the fort without being discovered.

"[6]In September 1818, Donald MacKenzie left his new base at Fort Nez Percés to lead a large fur trapping party into the Snake River country.

The Snake country expeditions from Fort Nez Percés became an annual affair and regularly produced a large portion of company's entire fur export west of the Rocky Mountains.

Shortly after a visit by the American Charles Wilkes' expedition (which lost one of two ships on Columbia River bar); the fort was destroyed by fire on October 5, 1841.

The fort was rebuilt a second time, but was eventually abandoned in 1857 when the Hudson's Bay Company gave up its declining commercial business in the Oregon Territory.