Room 210 -
Welcome to the San Juan Island Room

San Juan Island is the second largest and most developed of the San Juan chain, and contains the seat of the San Juan county government. The Island is spread over 55 square miles, with a population of 6,000. San Juan was known as "Pig War Island" because of conflict between Britain and America that came to a head in the so-called Pig War of 1859, and resulted in a joint military occupation of 12 years. (The language defining the border between Canada and United States was unclear, so both nations claimed jurisdiction over the Island.) The conflict began when an American settler, Lyman Cutlar, shot and killed his neighbour’s pig, which belonged to an employee of the Hudson Bay Company.

When British authorities attempted to arrest Cutlar, United State troops intervened. Soon U.S. reinforcements were sent in and British warships appeared off the San Juan coast; a war appeared imminent. Eventually the two governments agreed to joint occupation until the dispute could be settled, which it was, in 1872, by Kaiser Wilhelm 1 of Germany, in favour of the United States. Wilhelm's decision ended the last territorial conflict between United States and Great Britain. San Juan Island’s main town is Friday Harbour.

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