The Puget Sound Agricultural Company (PSAC), commonly referred to with variations of the name using Puget Sound or Puget's Sound, was a joint stock company formed around 1840 as a subsidiary of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) to operate in the Columbia Department. The purpose of the company was ostensibly to promote settlement by British subjects in the Oregon Country. The primary company operations were centered at Fort Nisqually and Fort Cowlitz in modern Washington state. At Fort Nisqually (near present-day Olympia, Washington) due to poor soil, the station focused on pastoral operations, including flocks of sheep for wool, cattle herds for beef and cheese manufacturing. Fort Cowlitz was the company's primary center of agricultural production. The company also operated many large farms i