| In 1792 the
Spanish first sighted Point Roberts and called it Zepeda Island. When close
scrutiny revealed the Fraser River delta joined the "Island" to the mainland
on the north, they charted it as Punta Zepeda. That summer, Captain George
Vancouver gave the area its present name in honor of his friend, Captain
Henry Roberts.
The large Indian population, dating
prior to 500 B.C., called the area Teeltenem. Their many middens provided
a wealth of information for anthropologists and archaeologists from many
countries.
Point Roberts is separated from the
rest of Whatcom County, Washington by a portion of British Columbia's lower
mainland and is generally accessible by land only by a 23 mile drive through
Canada from Blaine. If it were not for this connection to British Columbia,
it would very likely be considered one of the San Juan Islands.
A first glance at the map often inspires
the comment that "The Point" became a U.S. Territory through error or oversight.
This was not the case. After years of joint occupation of the disputed
area between the Columbia River and Alaska known as the Oregon Territory,
James K. Polk was elected president of the United States on the campaign
slogan "Fifty-Four Forty or Fight". |
While his
government asserted that the title of America to the entire territory unquestionable,
Polk and his secretary, James Buchanan made a definite offer of a boundary
at 49 degrees with the line straight across Vancouver Island, with no commercial
privilege to be granted to the British south of the line, with the exception
of free ports on the Island. This offer was rejected and withdrawn.
 On
April 18, 1846, notice was forwarded to London that the U.S. Congress had
adopted a joint resolution abrogating the treaty of 1827 which provided
for joint occupancy.
The British emissary, Richard Packenham,
had previously been advised that the last concession which could be expected
of America was in bending the boundary at 49 degrees around the lower end
of Vancouver Island. The English had come to look upon Fort Victoria as
the future center of their settlements on the coast and were willing to
give up territory on the mainland to keep Vancouver Island.
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