Abstract:
George W. Bush was one of the few black pioneers to head to the far Northwest. He, his wife, their five sons, four other American families and two bachelors-nearly thirty people-arrived on Puget Sound in 1845. They settled at Bush Prairie, near the British-owned Fort Nisqually and made their homes there, carving a living out of the wilderness. The Royal Navy wanted the Puget Sound area but in June 1846, a boundary settlement was reached and all of Washington State north and west of the Columbia River officially became American Territory.