There is a small shared island along the Rockies and Pacific coastline which has turned as a bone of contention between the US and England. Both the countries have actually indulged into a heated, full-fledged confrontation over the small island. It is also known that land disputes were very common in North America during the 19th century.
The explorers were very active during those days and they were in habit of entering new territories. And, with that, boundary disputes between countries were inevitable. The famous Oregon Treaty was formulated to address the dispute between the US and Britain.
Image Source: allthatsinteresting.com
The point of dispute was an area along the Rockies and the Pacific Coastline at the border of Oregon. The place now falls in Canada. As per details, the treaty was successful in dividing the land area fairly and evenly at the 49th parallel west. But, there was one exception too.
Image Source: www.visitsanjuans.com
There was a lot of chaos and disagreement between the US and Britain over the San Juan island which fell in the middle of the San Juan Channel. Both the countries claimed the sovereignty of San Juan island.
Image Source: www.tripadvisor.com
The dispute continued for many years. It was precisely 13 years that both American and British citizens lived on the San Juan island. The people from both the countries lived there with some kind of animosity.
Image Source: www.pacificnorthwestyachtcharters.com
The Britishers were successful in setting Hudson’s Bay Company which is a successful salmon curing and sheep ranching company. Americans were also settled on the island and they did farming.
Image Source: www.pickettsociety.com
People from both the countries were somehow living together on the island until the year 1849 when the boundary dispute turned into a troubled affair. The trouble started because of a pig.
Image Source: bdb.co.za
Everything was going normally till June 15 when an American farmer with the name of Lyman Cutlar spotted a pig eating his potatoes at the farm and he immediately shot the pig. Later, it was found that the pig belonged to a British employee of Hudson’s Bay Company, Charles Griffin.
Image Source: www.historic-uk.com
Charles lost his cool over the news that his pig was shot dead by an American. Charles decided to take action against the American. He complained about the incident to the British authorities. They threatened to arrest the American.
Image Source: peterpappas.com
Seeing the Britishers gearing up against an American, the other Americans extended support to Cutlar. They drafted a petition to get US military protection for the American. The petition was received by General William S. Harney who was a commander of the Department of Oregon. General Harney was always against Britishers.
Image Source: greatriverarts.com
General Harney decided to send 66 American soldiers to protect Cutlar at the San Juan Island. The Britishers got offended by this show of aggression from the American side. Soon, they decided to send three warships to the San Juan island. With all these kinds of aggression from both the sides, there was a little standoff. Both the countries were busy in strengthening their arsenal at the San Juan island. The situation escalated when Britishers had five warships and Americans had over 400 soldiers deployed with cannons at the San Juan island.
Image Source: www.skagitriverjournal.com
The situation escalated to such a level that officials sitting in London and Washington also heard about this. They tried to pacify the situation immediately. To control the situation at the San Juan island, they immediately reduced the number to only 100 people from both the sides.
Image Source: www.riveted-blog.com
The officials sitting at London and Washington decided to separate the people belonging from both the countries. They gave the top part of the island to the Britishers and the southern part to the Americans. The arrangement was made until the time a formal agreement was formulated regarding the sovereignty of the island.
Image Source: www.youtube.com
Finally, in 1872, Germany came in to arbitrate the disagreement of the island. After a lot of confrontations which happened on the San Juan island, the land was formally handed over to America. However, the island is still known because of the confrontations and also because of the fact that Britain and America had almost gone into war over the death of a pig. This was a unique incident in the world history which will be remembered for a long time.
Image Source: www.visitsanjuans.com