San Juan Island Adventures

San Juan Island's historic claim to fame was the Pig War of 1859. The war started when a pig owned by Britain's Hudson Bay Company got into an American farmer, Lyman Cutler's, farm digging up his potato plants and eating his potatoes. Cutler got his shotgun and shot, killing the pig. When asked why he shot the pig, he said, "It was eating my potatoes." Englishman, Charles Griffin responded, "It is up to you to keep your potatoes out of my pig." When Cutler offered to pay $10 for the...
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San Juan Island's historic claim to fame was the Pig War of 1859. The war started when a pig owned by Britain's Hudson Bay Company got into an American farmer, Lyman Cutler's, farm digging up his potato plants and eating his potatoes. Cutler got his shotgun and shot, killing the pig. When asked why he shot the pig, he said, "It was eating my potatoes." Englishman, Charles Griffin responded, "It is up to you to keep your potatoes out of my pig." When Cutler offered to pay $10 for the pig, Griffin was enraged and the British threatened to arrest Cutler. Fellow Americans called for help from the military who dispatched 66 American soldiers who were under the command of Captain George Pickett. The British responded by sending three warships commanded by Captain Geoffrey Hornby.Though no shots were ever fired, the tensions ran high and by August 10, 1859, 460 American soldiers armed with 14 cannons stood opposed to five British warships with 2000 men and at least 70 guns. This dispute to settle the boundary between Canada and America went on for 12 years until Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany was appointed as the International Arbitrator. Finally, on October 21, 1872, the commission voted in favor of the United States by setting the boundary via the Haro Strait. In November, all of the troops were quietly withdrawn. The pig was the only casualty of that long war.