Fort Vancouver Historic Structures Report

Construction details

Very little is known about the construction of the gates at Fort Vancouver or at any other western Hudson's Bay Company post for that matter. In one of the few general descriptions available, a long-time Company employee, speaking principally of the posts in the present British Columbia, said that the gates were "massive structures" about six or seven inches thick and heavily studded with large nails. There was usually a small door cut in one side of each gate so that a single person or a small party could enter without the necessity of opening the entire gate. [14]

If this description was applicable to the gates at Fort Vancouver, they must have been constructed much like the gates at the restored military post of Fort York in Canada. The latter gates were made of heavy vertical planks, about three inches thick, on the outer face, backed by similar planks placed horizontally on the inner face. Both faces of the gate were studded with very heavy, broad-headed nails or spikes. Plate XL provides a good view of both sides of the Fort York gate. An interesting feature is the fact that the gate had heavy iron straps across the width of the outer face as well as the inner.

This use of straps on the outer face has not been followed at any of the restorations of Hudson's Bay Company posts observed by the writer. Yet it is known that the firm employed this type of gate construction at one western fort at least. A traveler in 1868 drew a sketch of Fort Simpson on the Northwest Coast. Small and crude though it is, this picture clearly shows iron bands extending nearly across the width of each gate leaf near the top and near the bottom, though on the leaf containing the postern the lower band only extended as far as that doorway. [15]

On the other hand, a photograph of a gate at Fort Victoria seems to show no exterior bands. The outer face, the only one visible, seems to be composed of vertical planks without studding nails (see plate XXXIII).

There is no exact information as to the height of the gates, but based on available drawings and photographs of gates at Fort Vancouver and elsewhere, eight feet seems the most reasonable figure. It will be remembered that in the list of materials for the stockade at Henry's post on Park River in 1800 were eight-foot planks for the gates.

Such a conclusion seems to be supported by a description of the gates installed at the rebuilt Fort Walla Walla during the fall of 1843. "I think there were two wooden gates," testified W. H. Gray in 1866, "one in the front and one in the rear; my impression is that those gates were from eight to ten feet wide -- double gates; they may have been eight feet high." [16]

The gates at Hudson's Bay Company forts were generally described as "folding" or "double" gates, indicating that there were two leaves which swung inward when opened, one hinged to each gatepost. No gate hardware from Fort Vancouver has yet been found. Since Vancouver was a main depot, there was no shortage of iron, and therefore it may be assumed that the hardware was heavy, after the style of that at Fort York (see plate XL). [17]

No direct testimony has been found as to the type of locks employed on the Fort Vancouver gates. It is known, however, that padlocks were used at Fort Nisqually. [18]

The Eld and Warre drawings of Fort Vancouver clearly show that the openings for the gates were, in effect, cut out of the palisade wall. The pickets continued in an uninterrupted row across the top of each gateway opening (see plates IV and IX). The construction technique employed to achieve this result is clearly illustrated by an early photograph showing the interior of a gate at Fort Victoria (see plate XXXIII).