Ebey's Landing Administrative History

Chapter Three:
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF CENTRAL WHIDBEY ISLAND

The American empire grew rapidly in the 1840s. Believing that the nation was destined by Providence to occupy and civilize the continent, some Americans expected aggressive expansion into disputed territories. Negotiations over Oregon country between Britain and the United States accelerated as American expansionists renewed their demands for all of the area.

In 1846 the international conflict was finally settled. Recognizing that the fur trade was dying in the Northwest and that their presence there was minimal, Britain agreed to settle the international boundary at the 49th parallel. Congress credited this agreement in part to American settlers, whose presence had bolstered the government's claim to the lands north of the Columbia. [13] Incentive for Americans to migrate to the Northwest increased when Congress formally recognized the Territory of Oregon in 1848.

In the nineteenth century Americans tended to migrate west gradually, moving more than once in their bid for a profitable farm or permanent home. Often men left their families to reconnoiter new territories or to join a land or gold rush. On Whidbey Island, the first attempt at Euro-American settlement was Thomas Glasgow's farm established in 1848 on Ebey's Prairie. But he did not stay long. At a council meeting of local Indian leaders in 1848, Chief Patkanim of the Snoqualmies argued that Euro- Americans should be driven from the area while their numbers were still small. Other leaders insisted that the "Bostons" were an important deterrent to Haida incursions, but Glasgow, who had attended the meeting, needed no further warning. He was gone within two days. [14]

Following Glasgow came Samuel B. Crockett, and he, too, stayed on Whidbey Island only a short time. The California gold rush of 1849 had enticed Crockett to follow the Oregon Trail west. When California did not pan out, he traveled north to take stock of the Puget Sound area. He soon sent enthusiastic reports about Whidbey Island to family and friends, including his close friend Isaac Neff Ebey in Missouri. Native hegemony on Whidbey Island was about to end. [15]