Fort Vancouver Cultural Landscape Report

HISTORIC CHARACTER DEFINING FEATURES (continued)

SMALL SCALE FEATURES

Numerous small-scale features such as fences, wells, gates, flagstaffs, and belfries were historically found within the stockade and in the surrounding developed landscape.

Fences

Stockade interior fences

Throughout the historic period, numerous fences associated with individual structures were constructed in the stockade. Research indicates there were twenty-one fence lines constructed in the stockade. Only two have been located archaeologically, one extending from the northwest corner of the Chief Factor's House to the stockade wall, and one in front of the Chief Factor's House on the east side. Most of the fences were connected to the back of a building and extended to the stockade wall. The only historic depiction of a fence in the stockade is from an 1860 Boundary Commission photo. This photo shows a vertical board fence extending from the Chief Factor's House to the north stockade wall. The fence is about six feet tall, with eight to ten inch wide boards. In front of the Chief Factor's House there was a low white, wood picket fence which enclosed flower beds.

Sketch of the reconstructed historic white picket fence enclosing the garden beds in front of the Chief Factor's house.

Garden fences

The garden was enclosed by a wooden fence on all sides, but illustrations do not agree if the fences are zigzag (common rail, Virginia rail), post and rail (pole), or a combination of the two styles. The majority of the drawings show post and rail (pole) fences are constructed around the garden. Based on the historic illustrations, the fences have three or four rails, the posts are eight to ten feet apart on center, and the fences are four to five feet tall. These dimensions coincide with details for other nineteenth century American fences. [26]

Sketch of the post and rail fence depicted in the 1846-47 Stanley painting.

Orchard fences

The fence around the orchard extended west from the southwest corner of the stockade, along Lower Mill Road to the river road, where it continued north to Upper Mill Road, then east to the west edge of the garden. The type of fence surrounding the orchard in 1844 is unknown. Illustrations and maps from the mid-1850s provide the only clues to what styles existed in the historic period. The majority of the maps and illustrations show the north and south fences as post and rail (pole) fences, and the west fence zigzag style.

It is also difficult to reach a consensus on details about the orchard fences. Illustrations suggest the posts are eight to ten feet apart on center, the fences are four to five feet tall, and there are three to four rails. Zigzag fences are depicted with either three or four rails per panel. The zigzag fence in the Covington drawing has four rails per panel plus a top rail resting between the diagonal members.

Sketch of the zigzag (or Virginia rail, or common rail) fence depicted in the 1855 Covington illustration.

Cultivated field fences

As with the garden and orchard, illustrations were not consistent in terms of fence styles used to enclose cultivated fields. Some illustrations show post and rail, some zigzag, and others a combination of the two.

The use of a combination of zigzag, post and rail, and picket fences, was an established pattern on the eastern seaboard that moved west in the nineteenth century. Generally, more ornamental fences were used around key structures, and less ornamental and more utilitarian fences used as you move away from the structure. For example, in nineteenth century Oregon, picket fences were used immediately around dwellings, post and rail fences around adjacent fields, and zigzag fences in outlying areas. This pattern, which was shown in illustrations of Fort Vancouver in the 1850s, may also have been used during the historic period.

Kanaka Village fences

According to the 1846 Covington maps, several of the dwellings in Kanaka Village are enclosed by fences. The Gibbs sketches from 1851 show structures enclosed by post and rail fences. Fences were used as enclosures to keep livestock from wandering freely through the area. The corral near Upper Mill Road is shown as a zigzag fence in the Gibbs sketch (remnants of this structure were located during archeological excavations).

River front area fences

According to the 1846 Covington map, there are several connected enclosures in the area east of the pond. Two dwellings, Scarth's and Robert Johnson's were located in an enclosure. There is also a triangular shaped enclosure east of the tan pits, and a large enclosure extended from the cooper's shop, around McLean's house, to the hospital.

The type of enclosure or fence remains unclear. Archeological excavations from 1975 and 1977 uncovered a three sided enclosure near the projected location of the hospital and cooper's shop. The enclosure was a stockade-like structure with six to seven inch posts or pickets, and a gate located forty-seven feet from the northeast corner, along the east side. Research suggests that the configuration of this structure differed from the 1846 map by extending south of Robert Johnson's and enclosing the cooper's shop, rather than beginning at the cooper's shop. The excavated fence may have reflected a different time period than the 1846 map.

Gate

According to the 1846/47 Stanley painting and 1846/47 Kane sketch, there was a large gate, consisting of two vertical posts and a horizontal beam, located west of the stockade. It appears to be located near the intersection of Lower Mill Road and the river road, spanning Lower Mill Road from north to south. The location of a gate at this site is highly conceivable. It may have acted as a formal entry to the stockade from the river, the main access to the stockade, and possibly as a dividing point between the stockade and Kanaka Village. While not indicated on the two 1844 maps, or illustrations and maps after 1846/47, it probably existed in this location in the mid-1840s.

Conceptual drawing of the entry gate, based on the 1846 Stanley painting.

Garden cold frames

The four or five small, gable-roofed structures on the east edge of the garden, were probably the cold (or hot) frames referred to in the literature where dahlia seeds and melons were grown. It is likely other flowers, fruit, and vegetables, such as the early frame cucumber found on a HBC Columbia Department seed list, were also grown in these frames. The frames appear in both the 1846 Stanley and the 1855 Sohon illustrations, but details about the complete number of frames, sizes, and type of construction, is not known.

Privies

Archaeological studies have revealed that, throughout the stockade's history, privies were located between the back sides of buildings and the stockade walls. A total of thirty-three privies spanning the life of the stockade, have been found. Sixteen of these appear to have existed in 1844-46. An 1860 Boundary Commission photo, showing two privies, provides the only clues on the construction of these structures. The privies, built along the eastern wall of the stockade, were small wood structures with horizontal timbers on the front and vertical timbers on the sides, and shed roofs. The northernmost structure had two doors.

Wells

Presently, five wells have been discovered by archaeologists in or near the stockade. Of the four wells located in the stockade interior, the first, second, and third wells all existed in 1844/46. The first well was south of the beef store. The second well, north of the beef store, was apparently covered with a well house that measured twenty-four by eighteen feet. A 1952 excavation revealed a pit, fifteen feet deep by fifteen square, with rounded corners. There was no evidence of walls or other structural elements until the bottom of the pit where a well shaft, less than five feet square and cribbed with six inch by eight inch timbers, was discovered. The third well was in the northeast corner near the wash house, and was also excavated in 1952. It is a circular shaft, 5.2 feet in diameter, lined with boulders averaging 13 inches in thickness. The fourth well dated from between 1854 and 1860 and was located near the center of the stockade. [27] In 1991, a feature preliminarily identified as a fifth well, was discovered along the southern edge of the garden near the north stockade wall. The date of this well and type of construction is unknown.

Two reconstructed privies located north of the reconstructed third bakery, 1992. Pacific Northwest Region photo file.

Belfries

Three belfries existed during the stockade's history. The location of the first belfry, noted in the 1830s, is unknown. The second belfry existed from 1841 to about 1855, and was located due north of the new office. According to the Coode watercolor it was a tall pole, with short horizontal boards (probably foot supports) spaced at equal intervals, with a bell on top. It was rung by pulling a rope that was attached to a projection on the bell. The third belfry was located approximately in the center of the stockade and existed from about 1855 to 1860. The bell was used to signal work, church services, and other daily and weekly activities. [28]

1860 British Boundary Commission photograph of Chief Factor's house. Note small-scale features such as the vertical board fence, white picket fence, cannons, and privies. Fort Vancouver N.H.S. photo file.

Flagstaffs

There were three flagstaffs built in the stockade during its existence. The location of the first flagstaff is unknown. In 1844-46, a second flagstaff was located southeast of the second fur store. This flagstaff, according to 1840s sketches, was a simple one-piece mast. The third flagstaff was a hypothetical flagstaff possibly located under the porch of the Chief Factor's House.

Cannons

Two "Governors guns" or eighteen-pounder cannons and carriages, were located in front of the Chief Factors house from about 1837/38 to 1860.

Unidentifled wooden structure

A wooden structure in an 1851 sketch, located in the vicinity of the stockade, has tentatively been identified as a hitching post. The structure consisted of a horizontal pole (or rail) on top of three wood posts. The center post was twice as tall as the other two posts, and twelve small wood vertical posts extended from the horizontal pole at regular intervals.

Small-scale Features Summary and Analysis

Historically, there were numerous small-scale features present in the cultural landscape that, served functional needs for the fort (wells, privies, belfries, cannons, and flagstaffs), aided in the overall organization of the landscape (fences and gates), and provided ornamentation (fences and cannons).

Today, other than the third well (1845-1860) in the northeast corner of the stockade, there are no extant historic small-scale features present at Fort Vancouver. However, in situ remnants of features such as the privies, wells, flagstaffs, belfry, smudge pits, and fences, as well as undiscovered features, are significant archeological resources.

Several small-scale features have been reconstructed for interpretive purposes such as wood post and rail fences enclosing various areas of the park, board fences inside the stockade, replicas of the two eighteen pounder cannons and carriages, and the white picket fence in front of the Chief Factor's House.

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