"Fifty-Four Forty or Fight"

 

Point Roberts, Washington is one odd-ball location for an American community.  If you plan on driving there the only route in and out of the community is through Canada.  There is ferry service from several Washington locations, but, driving, its in and out through Canada. Point Roberts is an unincorporated U.S. community located in Whatcom County attached to the Canadian mainland, not the US mainland.

 

First established as part of the Oregon Country by the United States on June 15, 1846, after years of joint occupation by the British and Americans, Point Roberts is located just a tad south of latitude 54°40'N. 

 

Latitude 54°40'N had been pressed for as the official boundry between Canada and the U.S. By expansionists like U.S. Senator Edward A. Hannegan of Indiana who urged US President James K. Polk to annex the entire Oregon Country up to latitude 54°40'N, as the Democrats had been elected on the slogan "Fifty-Four Forty or Fight".

 

On April 18, 1846, the British were given notice by forwarding documents to London that the US Congress had adopted a joint resolution abrogating the Treaty of 1818 which provided for joint occupancy. 

 

The first Europeans to encounter Point Roberts were members of the Francisco de Eliza Expedition in 1791.  Maps produced as a result of this expedition showed Point Roberts as "Isla de Cepeda" or "Isla de Zepeda."  In 1792 two different on-going expeditions encountered each other near Point Roberts.  The British expedition was commanded by George Vancouver and the other expedition was commanded by Dionisio Alcalá Galiano of Spain.  On the morning of June 13, 1792 they sailed into Boundary Bay and verified Point Roberts was not an island.  Not being an island it was renamed “Punta Cepeda.”  The British, after sailing around Pt. Roberts encountered their second ship,  HMS Chatham, and with the Spanish decided to work together and share each other's information in mapping the Strait of Georgia.

Point Roberts acquired its present name from George Vancouver who named it after his friend Henry Roberts.  Henry had originally been given the command of the expedition.

 

Point Roberts Today