Fort Vancouver

Those who traveled to Oregon City by water from The Dalles came first to Fort Vancouver, a Hudson's Bay Company fort and trading post. Fort Vancouver was the headquarters for the Hudson's Bay Company's Columbia Department, embracing present-day British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. The trading post also represented Britain's business and governmental interests in competition with the United States.

The fort's warehouses stocked supplies for the fur brigades, Indian and settler trade, and the 20 to 30 other Company posts in the Department. Most Indians were shrewd traders, so trade goods were carefully chosen. Almost all of the trade items were imported from or through Britain, so there was a two-year lapse between ordering and receiving. The fort's shops bustled with activity, manufacturing as many items as possible. The fort echoed with the sounds of carpenters hammering and sawing, of blacksmiths making tools and repairing old ones, and of coopers making barrels. Carts rumbled through piled high with supplies and with firewood for the bakery's large brick ovens. Indians arrived continually to trade. Passing farmers and herders tended crops and livestock. Company clerks bent over their account books figuring out how much who owed whom. Frequent visitors were welcomed and eagerly quizzed for news and gossip of the outside world.

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Last modified on: January 31, 2004