Fort Vancouver Historic Structures Report

Construction details

The stockade which enclosed and protected the major structures at Fort Vancouver was formed of logs which were ranged vertically as pickets or pales. Archeological excavations have confirmed conclusions that can be drawn from the natural distribution of forest trees and from historical evidence to the effect that the palisade logs were all or nearly all Douglas fir. [26]

According to an employee who resided at Fort Vancouver for a number of years only "very choice" logs were used for pickets. When the palisade was first constructed in 1829 there probably was a sufficiency of suitable timber within a reasonable distance of the building site; but in later years, when rotted timbers were replaced or when new walls were built during the periodic fort enlargements, it was necessary to go "a great distance from the fort" to obtain satisfactory timber. The logs were cut, dragged by oxen to the Columbia, rafted downstream, and then hauled again by oxen to the post. [27]

Three visitors who were at Fort Vancouver in 1836, 1841, and respectively, described the pickets as being about eight or ten inches in diameter. [28] Ends of posts found in the ground during the 1947 excavations measured between five and thirteen inches, with the larger posts being situated at the stockade corners. [29] In 1966 careful archeological salvage work was conducted along the outermost north palisade wall, which probably was constructed during January and February, 1845. The pickets in this line ranged from five to ten inches in diameter, the average being 7.2 inches. There were about 120 posts in every 100 feet of wall. No evidence of bark was found but gaps between palisade butts averaged 2.8 inches, a fact which led archeologists to speculate that the posts may have been installed "unskinned" and that the bark may have decayed quite rapidly and completely. [30]

On the other hand, there seems to be no historical evidence concerning whether the pickets at Fort Vancouver were installed with the bark on or with it peeled off. Existing photographs and drawings of the establishment are not sufficiently clear to throw light upon this matter, nor do pictures of the original stockades at other Pacific Coast forts of the Hudson's Bay Company permit a positive conclusion as to the general practice in this regard (see plates XXXI, XXXII, XXXIII, XXXIV). On the whole, however, the pictorial evidence seems to show peeled pickets more often than unpeeled.

If events at Fort Chimo, in Ungava on the eastern side of Hudson Bay, are true indicators, the Company's employees on the East Coast ordinarily peeled the pickets before installing them. During the spring of 1832 the men at that recently established post spent several weeks "peeling the bark off piquets" prior to setting them in place. After the skinning was well under way, entries in the fort manager's journal indicate that the carpenter was set to work "pointing piquets." [31]

Thus, on the basis of the pictorial evidence and of the practice elsewhere, it would not have been uncharacteristic for the pickets at Fort Vancouver to have been peeled.

The length of the posts appears to have varied according to the date at which they were cut. Visitors to the depot prior to the winter of 1844-1845 generally give the height of the stockade as between 20 and 25 feet, although Captain Edward Belcher of the Royal Navy, who visited the fort in August, 1839, stated that the pickets were 18 feet high, "composed of roughly split pine logs. [32]

Those describing the palisade in 1845 and later give figures which range from 12 to 20 feet, with 15 feet as the most frequent estimate. Lieutenant Mervin Vavasour of the Royal Engineers, who made a rather careful plan of Fort Vancouver late in that year, specifically stated that the pickets were 15 feet high. [33] Since Vavasour was a trained observer carefully assessing defensive features, his figures must be accepted unless more convincing evidence to the contrary is revealed at some future date. It seems evident that when much of the stockade was renewed during the winter of 1844-1845, the posts were not cut as long as they had been previously.

Seemingly this decrease in the height of the walls continued progressively during the years between 1845 and 1860. A photograph taken during the latter year apparently shows that the stockade was only eight or nine feet high in places, although at least part of the west wall seems to have been ten or twelve feet in height (see plate XXXIV).

Much of this decrease was due to the method of repair employed, particularly during the years of declining economic activity between 1850 and 1860. A stockade post ordinarily lasted for about four or five years. By the end of that period it would be so rotted at the surface of the ground that it would have to be replaced. As a consequence, new pickets were inserted in the walls nearly every year. [34] But occasionally such repairs were neglected for considerable lengths of time. It was said, for instance, that between 1850 and 1854 the palisade was "about rotted down." Repairs were made during that period simply by cutting off the existing posts and resetting them in the ground. [35]

In addition to the length of the logs exposed above ground, several feet were buried in the earth. It was the usual custom at Hudson's Bay posts west of the Rockies to plant pickets about four feet in the ground, and several visitors to Fort Vancouver say this same procedure was followed at that establishment. [36] But Lieutenant Emmons in 1841 noted that the posts were buried only two or three feet in the ground. [37] Evidently Emmons was a more accurate observer than the other witnesses, for archeological excavations confirm his report. Mr. Caywood in 1947 found the posts planted to a depth of between two and three feet, exactly as reported by Emmons. [38] Mr. John D. Combes, who dug along the north wall in 1966, reported that the posts extended from 2-1/2 to 3 feet below the historic ground surface. [39]

According to at least one witness and in accordance with what one long-time employee considered the usual Company practice on the West Coast, the logs, after being cut to size, were prepared for use as pickets by being sharpened to a point at one end. [40] And, indeed, pickets with pointed tops were used at forts on the Pacific Slope. They clearly show in an 1860's drawing of Fort St. James (see plate XXXV) and in an early photograph showing the outer stockade of Fort Rupert (see plate XXXVI). Further, one of the best-known and seemingly most accurate views of Fort Vancouver, the lithograph by Henry J. Warre showing the establishment as it appeared in 1845, depicts the palisade posts as being conspicuously and fiercely pointed (see plate IX). [41] Ordinarily such a drawing by an eyewitness would be considered conclusive.

Yet, it must be admitted that an impressive case can be made for the thesis that the palisade posts at Fort Vancouver in 1845 were not pointed but were cut off flat or with a slight tilt toward one side, most probably toward the inner edge. In the first place, the use of pointed pickets was by no means a standard practice at Company posts on the West Coast or, for that matter, across North America. Photographs of the stockades at Fort Langley and at Fort Victoria clearly show that the posts were flat on top, at least during the 1860's (see plates XXXI and XXXII). [42] The main stockade at Fort Rupert was not only level on top but was protected by a cap of horizontal timber or logs (see plate XXXVI). [43] According to widely held but undocumented theory, pointed posts fell into disfavor because pilferers or hostile natives could easily loop ropes over them and thus scale the walls.

In the second place, there is specific evidence that the pickets at Fort Vancouver were not pointed at least at certain periods. Lieutenant George Foster Emmons of the United States Exploring Expedition made e careful examination of the fort walls during July, 1841. The following sketch which he made on the spot clearly shows that the pickets were cut off slightly on the bias, with the flat tops sloping slightly towards the inside of the fort.

Figure 1.

(From Emmons, Journal, MS, III, entry for July 25, 1841. Courtesy of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.)

The next clear view of flat-topped palisade posts at Fort Vancouver is provided by a photograph taken by the British Boundary Commission party in 1860 (see plate XXXIV). No known view of the establishment between 1841 and 1860, except the Warre lithograph already mentioned, is sufficiently detailed to throw light upon the subject. But in view of the periodic rebuildings of the stockade, one would be rash to assert that because the posts of 1841 and those of 1860 were both flat-topped, there were no periods in between when the pickets were pointed, particularly in view of the Warre drawings. [44] On the other hand, it would seem reasonable that a practice once started would be continued, particularly since cutting the posts across with a saw undoubtedly was easier and less time-consuming than pointing the ends.

The crucial evidence as to the situation in 1845, then, would appear to be the Warre lithograph with its clearly defined pointed pickets. The original pencil sketch upon which the lithograph clearly was based seems also to show pointed posts, although the representation is not as precise as one would wish.

However, the water color which evidently was prepared by Warre as e guide for the lithographer is preserved in the Public Archives of Canada; it shows not the slightest sign of pointed palisade posts. Rather, the top of the pickets is shown as a perfectly level line (see plate X). Therefore, there is the possibility that the pointed pickets were among a number of changes and "improvements" made during the engraving process. These alterations may have been guided by Warre personally or they may simply have represented the engraver's idea of how a proper fur-trading post should look.

On the basis of present knowledge it is impossible to say positively whether the Fort Vancouver palisades were pointed or unpointed in 1845.

If general Hudson's Bay Company practice was followed at Fort Vancouver, the tops of the posts alternately came on the thin and thick ends, so that when placed side by side in the palisade with the pointed or slanted ends up, the pickets would fit together without large gaps, as would have been the case if all the thin ends had been placed up or down. At many Company posts it was ordinary procedure to square two sides of each log so that the pickets would butt together tightly. [45]

There were other methods of assuring that there would not be gaps between the posts. In 1834, shortly after the palisade at Fort Nisqually was completed, it was recorded in the post journal that "Betwixt each Picket of the Fort small poles were put in order to stop the Indians from looking inside." [46]

It is not known whether any of these practices were followed at Fort Vancouver. On November 21, 1845, Clerk Thomas Lowe noted in his diary: "Some men set to dress pickets for the front of the fort." [47] These words clearly indicate that the logs were given some sort of processing before being set in place, but it would be rash to draw from them any conclusions as to the type of treatment given the pickets.

According to evidence uncovered during the 1947 excavations, the ends of the stockade posts which were buried in the ground were saw-cut and were not sharpened. [48] If the Company's lawyers were correct in statements made in the 1860's, however, the buried ends were not put into the ground without any preparation. The usual practice, as intimated by their cross-questioning, was to strip the bark from the ends to be planted and to char them thoroughly on the outside. This procedure evidently helped to preserve the posts from rotting. [49]

After the posts were fully prepared, the next step in stockade construction is not entirely clear. According to the reminiscences of one old employee, the usual Company practice was to attach the pickets to cross pieces or girths which ran horizontally around the inside of the wall about four feet from the top. The posts were fastened to this girth by wooden pegs or by means of an "oblique notch", as illustrated below:

Figure 2.

(After Compton, Forts and Fort Life in New Caledonia, MS, 6.)

The ends of the cross pieces, which were about 15 feet long, were mortised into larger pickets called "king posts." [50]

According to entries in the Fort Nisqually Journal of Occurrences, as nearly as they can be interpreted, the sequence of events by which this assemblage was obtained was about as follows: after dressing and sawing the pickets, the laborers were engaged in "mortising and laying" them; then they apparently were busy "arranging the pickets on the ground," in "arranging the pickets," and in "arranging & boring the pickets." When the "arranging and boring of the pickets" was completed, the next entries record the digging of the "trench in which the pickets are to be placed" and then the "erecting of the pickets." [51]

These entries unfortunately do not answer all the questions that could be raised. For instance, were the mortised, arranged, and bored pickets erected individually or were they first fastened to the girths and raised in sections? Because of the great weight of the green logs, the former procedure probably was employed. Present-day architects believe the construction sequence was about as follows: posts notched for girths and bored for pegs; king posts erected and connected by girths; posts raised to position in the fort wall and notches fitted to girths; posts trenailed to the girths.

Evidently it was common practice to insert wedges in the ends of the wooden pins by which the pickets were fastened to the girths. At Fort Nisqually in 1849, for instance, the post journal noted that on May 14 two laborers named Keva and Kalama were busy "wedging and sawing off ends of picket pins." [52]

That this general type of wall construction -- one line of girths about two to four feet below the top of the pickets -- was widespread at Hudson's Bay Company forts west of the Rocky Mountains is amply demonstrated by drawings and photographs of the stockades at a number of establishments. Pictures of Fort Victoria, Fort Langley, and Fort Rupert clearly illustrate this point (see plates XXXIII, XXXVI, and XXXVII) [53]

This same general type of construction was followed at Fort Vancouver, but with certain important variations. When Lieutenant Emmons examined the stockade there in 1841, he noted that there were two sets of horizontal girths running around the inside of the palisade, one three to four feet above the ground and the other a foot or two below the tops of the pickets. For additional support, necessary because the posts quickly rotted at ground level, diagonal bracing timbers ran at intervals from the upper girth to the ground. [54]

Joel Palmer, an emigrant from the United States who reached Oregon very late in 1845 and left the next year to return east, found conditions much the same during his brief visit. Describing the stockade at Fort Vancouver he said: "A notch is cut out of each log near the top and bottom, into which a girth is fitted, and mortised into a large log at each end, the whole being trenailed to this girth." [55]

In view of this evidence, it seems clear that at least as late as November or December, 1845, or early 1846, the stockade at Fort Vancouver, or a significant part of it, was characterized by a double set of girths as shown in Emmons's 1841 diagram. But very shortly thereafter the construction of at least part of the stockade had changed to the more usual Hudson's Bay type. A water color sketch of the interior of the Vancouver stockade found in the London archives of the Hudson's Bay Company distinctly shows a small portion of the south palisade. There is only one girth, and that is located near the top of the wall, evidently about two feet or less below the tops of the posts (see plate XII).

It has generally been though that this picture might have been drawn in the early 1850's. [56] It seems very probable to the present writer, however, that this picture can be dated between June 18, 1846, and May 3, 1847. [57] If this surmise is true, it seems evident that when the new south or front wall was constructed early in 1846 only one girth was used. [58]

The use of the one-girth construction is confirmed by one of the 1860 photographs of Fort Vancouver (see plate XXXIV). This picture clearly shows that on at least part of the stockade there was but one set of girths and that this line of horizontal cross pieces was four or five feet below the tops of the pickets.

Archeological excavations have thus far not provided clear evidence of the use of king posts or indicated how such posts were spaced. [59] Yet the photograph of 1860 shows that king posts, into which the girths were mortised, were at that time employed at Fort Vancouver. There is some question as to how the king posts were placed since the use of larger posts at regular intervals is not evident on drawings and photographs of the exterior faces of stockade walls at Company posts. This fact brings up the possibility that the king posts may have been set back of the line of palisades (see plates XXXIII, XXXVI, and XXXVIII), though in view of the absence of confirming evidence, such a possibility seems remote.

As far as is known to the present writer, no list of materials used in the construction of a Hudson's Bay Company post stockade on the Pacific Slope is extant. In the fall of 1800 Alexander Henry, of the North West Company, built a fort on the Park River, a tributary of the Red River. Although we know nothing of the appearance of this post, his list of "Wood used in our Establishment at Park River" may be some use to architects working on the proposed restoration of Fort Vancouver. The materials used in constructing Henry's fort walls and bastions were as follows: