Clark County has always been hard at work. The reason this community exists at all is because natural resources and commerce beckoned to people hungry for riches — or just to make a simple living.
Looking for something truly meaningful to do over the long Labor Day weekend? Try this tour of historic (and ongoing) local labor sites — places where hard work has made all the difference. Up for that job?
First base
Nearly two centuries ago, drawn by East Coast investors and the booming fur trade, hundreds of laborers for the Hudson’s Bay Company, based at and around Fort Vancouver, made up the European population center of the Pacific Northwest. “Company employees, their wives, and children supported the fort’s extensive operations including several hundred square miles of agricultural land, a shipyard, distillery, tannery, sawmill, gristmill, and dairies,” the fort’s website says.
But natural resources do get depleted — surprise! — and as fur trapping went dry, settlers shifted over even more to farming and small business. Native Hawaiians, significant to the fur trade, became an even larger part of the busy working village outside the fort, which was called “Kanaka,” the Hawaiian word for person. The ethnically diverse village was also home to French Canadians, Scots, English, Métis, and members of many different Native nations.
