Fort Vancouver Historic Structures Report

Construction details

a. Dimensions and footings. All versions of the Vavasour ground plan drawn during the fall of 1845 indicate that the Owyhee Church measured about fifty by twenty-five feet (Plates VI, VII, VIII, vol. I). The same dimensions are given for the "Schoolhouse" in the 1846-47 inven tory of Company property. [65]

Archeological excavations conducted on the site of the Owyhee Church in 1948, 1950, and 1952 uncovered only four footings of the south wall of this structure and a few "very fragmentary remains" of those along the east wall. The findings appear to confirm the historical data insofar as the fifty-foot length of the building is concerned. In the text of his report Archeologist Caywood stated that the "actual measurement" of the east side was about twenty-four feet, but his excavation drawing shows the width as being about twenty-seven feet. [66] Probably the fifty by twenty-five-foot dimensions given by the historical sources were approximately correct.

The few footings found appear to have been spaced at about ten-foot intervals along the lines of the exterior walls. Their "powdery condition" made it impossible to be sure of their size and shape.

b. General construction. The historical record contains very few facts about the physical structure of the Owyhee Church. Having evidently been built as a kitchen, it probably was of rather rough and massive construction, and it must have contained a large fireplace and heavy chimney. The footing pattern would indicate that it was built in the Canadian style.

Such surmises are partly confirmed by what little of the school house can be discerned in several drawings and paintings made between 1846 and 1854. The Paul Kane pencil sketch of 1846-47 (Plate XIV, vol. I), the 1847-48 painting by an unknown artist (Plates XV and XVI, vol. I), the Gibbs drawing of 1851 (Plate XVIII, vol. I), and the 1854 view by an unknown artist (Plate XX, vol. I) all show the Owyhee Church as a rather low, gable-roofed structure, with the eaves below the top of the palisade and the ridge line running east and west.

Rather strangely, none of these pictures portrays this schoolhouse as having a chimney, except possibly the Paul Kane sketch. In that drawing, the third building from the east along the inside of the stockade wall is shown with what appears to be a large chimney rising from the center of the ridge line. By count on the Vavasour map, this structure with the chimney should be the Owyhee Church. However, it definitely appears to be east of the gate instead of west, thus throwing doubt upon the identification. To confuse matters still more, the Big House kitchen must have had a similar chimney, making identification of the structure as the Owyhee Church even more hazardous. Still, it is difficult to explain away the fact of the count, and the writer is inclined to believe that the building shown with the chimney was intended to represent the Owyhee Church.

Walls. It is safe to assume that the walls were of Canadian-type construction. The wall timbers probably were hand-hewn. Almost surely there was no weatherboarding.

Because there was a garret, the walls must have risen eleven or twelve feet above the sills. At the gable ends the walls above the plates could have been formed of vertical boards or horizontal infill timbers. Be cause the window in the east gable, at least, was centered in the wall, it is known that there was not a center upright timber extending to the ridge.

Roof. There is no good evidence as to how the gabled roof was covered. The Gibbs drawing of 1851 (Plate XVIII, vol. I) is not as precise as could be desired on this point. Evidently he intended to show the roof as covered with vertical planks or with very long shakes as described in Chapter IX on the Jail.

Chimney. If the building with the chimney in the Kane pencil sketch was actually the Owyhee Church, the chimney was a massive structure with a cap around its top. Such a design would probably indicate that the chimney was of brick, although perhaps not necessarily so. The drawing seems to show the chimney as being centered on the ridge line (Plate XIV, vol. I).

In any case, having been built as a kitchen, the Owyhee Church or schoolhouse undoubtedly contained a large fireplace and chimney. Perhaps future archeological excavations will reveal the location and dimensions of the base.

Doors. The Emmons ground plan of 1841 (Plate III, vol. I) shows the Owyhee Church with only a single door, centered in the south wall. Because the structure was erected as a kitchen, the entrance could very well have been closed with a simple plank door as was customary for shops and warehouses. It is also possible, however, that due to the higher status of the building as a school, a panel door was in place by 1845. There seems no way of telling if there was a transom over the door.

Windows. The 1847-48 painting by an unknown artist (Plate XV, vol. I) clearly shows a window centered along the plate in the east gable of the Owyhee Church. Nothing is known about the other windows in the structure, but it may be safely assumed that the east and west walls each contained at least two and that there were several in the north and south walls. In view of the early date of the building, these could well have been casement windows.

Exterior finish. Undoubtedly the Owhyee Church was not painted on the outside except for the doors, the door and window trim, and the window sash. The painted elements were Spanish brown. The building almost surely was not weatherboarded.

c. Interior finish and arrangement. The inventory of 1846-47 is not clear as to whether the Owyhee Church or schoolhouse was lined and ceiled. But because the building was listed as a "dwelling" and because, according to the later testimony of Thomas Lowe, most of the dwellings in the fort were ceiled with "tongued and grooved dressed boards," it is perhaps safe to assume that the Owyhee Church was lined and ceiled, particularly after it came to be used as a school. [67] The floors were probably rough planks.

In general the building, inside as well as out, must have presented a crude appearance. The mere fact that it was dilapidated by 1851 or 1852 would indicate rather hasty construction. Undoubtedly the situation at Fort Vancouver mirrored that at Fort Victoria, where the squared logs of the walls were so poorly fitted that they did not exclude the winter cold nor even the "rats which overran the school." [68]

Apparently there is no evidence concerning the arrangement of the rooms in the Owyhee Church. One can only surmise that an entire end of the structure was left open to form a large room about twenty-five feet square in size. Even in such a room the fifty or sixty scholars the school contained at its most flourishing point would have been highly crowded. Perhaps the girls, who constituted about one third of the enrollment, were taught in a separate room.

The remainder of the ground floor may have been divided into two or even three rooms. Among them would have been one of the "kitchens" mentioned by Lieutenant Wilkes.

Another may have been the "small apartment attached to the school" where, on October 2, 1838, the Reverend Mr. Beaver said that the master and some of the younger boys slept. At one time as many as fourteen boys shared the dormitory with the teacher, though it is not certain that the room at that time (March 19, 1838) was either the same one mentioned in October 1838 or the "apartments" mentioned by Wilkes in 1841. [69] It is also possible, though not too likely from Beaver's use of the word "attached" with reference to the dormitory, that the boys and master slept upstairs in the garret.

The fact that the Owyhee Church also served as a "dwelling" has already been made evident. The use of this word to describe the schoolhouse evidently implies that persons other than the students and master lived in the building. Who, if anyone, resided there during Outfit 1845 is not certain. William R. Kaulehelehe was, as we have seen, a probable tenant. The possibility that Clerk George B. Roberts and his wife lived in the schoolhouse has also been mentioned. Lacking any definite information, it would seem best to design at least one room as a sleeping apartment of the type assigned to clerks.