Fort Vancouver Historic Structures Report

Construction details

a. Dimensions and footings. The Fur Store (Building No. 8 on the present site plan) scales out on the Vavasour ground plan of late 1845 to measure about thirty-eight feet by ninety-eight feet or about thirty-nine feet by one hundred feet, depending on which version is employed (see Plates VI and VII, vol. I). The 1846-47 inventory lists two warehouses, "Stores Nos. 3 & 4" (of which Building No. 8 certainly was one), as measuring forty by one hundred feet. [82]

Archeological excavations under the direction of Louis R. Caywood in 1952 located three of the corners of the Fur Store and most of the footings under the exterior walls. These findings supported the inventory measurements of forty by one hundred feet almost exactly. [83] These dimensions were confirmed when National Park Service archeologists made more extensive excavations at the same site during the summer of 1972. [84]

Apparently all of the footings found by Mr. Caywood were placed with their longest sides at right angles to the axes of the walls. They were, as usual, spaced about ten feet apart between centers.

The 1972 excavations revealed a third line of footings midway between the north and south walls of the Fur Store. These footings were "offset from those of the exterior walls" and undoubtedly served as a base for a beam supporting the joists. The archeologists interpret their findings to indicate that all main footings were installed at the same time, though "supernumerary" or "occasional repair footings " were of a later date. Also, the original footings were set below the 1840s ground surface, leading the archeologists to speculate that the framing sills were on or very close to the ground. Evidence of "mortice cuts and/or tenon depressions " in the footings suggested to the archeologists that the upright framing timbers were tenoned through the sills and "partially rested either in or on the footings." [85]

Such may have been the case, but to tenon the upright framing timbers into the footings does not appear to have been a common Hudson's Bay Company construction technique, at least as far as this writer has been able to determine. A much more usual practice was to place a block or section of a tree trunk under the sill beneath each upright and to rest this block on a footing. Such blocks might account for the depressions found in the sills. Probably when the final report of the 1972 excavations becomes available the situation will be clearer. Architects preparing drawings for the reconstruction of the Fur Store should study the archeological findings very closely and analyze them in the light of measured drawings made by the Canadian National and Historic Sites Branch of actual surviving Hudson's Bay Company structures.

The 1972 excavations also revealed a "large and unusually shaped wooden foundation" within the southeast corner of the fur store. If this structure was actually a part of the warehouse, it appears to have been a supporting base for some type of heavy equipment that rested on or pierced through the floor of the lower story. As matters stand at present, neither the date nor the function of this assemblage of timbers is known. [86]

b. General construction. The Fur Store was a large warehouse of the same basic design and construction as the Sale Shop, the New Store, and the Receiving Store already described in detail in Chapters XI and XII of volume I of this report. There is no need to repeat those descriptions here. Thus the present discussion will be confined to those known features that distinguish the fur store from its companions.

The earliest known view of Fort Vancouver to show the 1845-period Fur Store is a pencil sketch drawn by Lt. Henry J. Warre in late 1845 or early 1846. In that picture the hipped roof of the Fur Store appears above the south palisade. The eave line of the building is visible as are very short portions of the south and east walls. On the other hand, no parts of the walls of the neighboring Receiving Store to the west are visible, and the ridge line appears slightly lower. The impression left by this sketch is that the Fur Store was a bit higher than the Receiving Store. [87]

The Coode watercolor view of 1846-47 seems to show the Fur Store and the Receiving Store as being about the same height (see Plate XI, vol. I). On the contrary, the oil painting by an unknown artist, probably about 1847-48, appears to represent the Fur Store as being slightly lower in outline than its neighboring warehouses (see Plate XVI, vol. I). This same impression very definitely is conveyed by an 1851 pencil drawing by George Gibbs (see Plate XVIII, vol. I). The other known views of Fort Vancouver either do not show the Fur Store at all or are so lacking in precision when it comes to detail as to shed no valid light on the question at hand.

In view of the conflicting evidence, it seems impossible to make a positive determination as to the relative heights of the Fur Store (Building No. 8) and the Receiving Store (Building No: 7). But because of Gibbs's almost photographic accuracy, the present writer would favor making the reconstructed Fur Store two or three feet lower than its mate to the west. Bearing in mind the Warre pencil sketch, however, this result should be achieved not by reducing the wall height but by lowering the pitch of the roof.

Walls. Although no written or pictorial evidence appears to exist to indicate whether or not the exterior of the Fur Store was weatherboarded, almost certainly it was not. Like the other main warehouses, the Fur Store undoubtedly was a full two stories in height. A very clear and only recently utilized version of the British Boundary Commission's 1860 photograph of the northwest angle of the Fort Vancouver courtyard plainly shows that the walls of the New Store rose about twenty feet above the ground and that the second story had quite as much headroom as did the ground floor (see Plate XIV). [88]

Archeological excavations in 1972 demonstrated that there were ten original footings each (counting the corner footings) in the north and south walls and five original footings each (counting the same corner footings) in the east and west walls. [89] Thus the north and south walls each had ten upright posts, forming nine bays. These posts, if all were spaced equally, must have been centered about 11-1/9 feet apart. The east and west walls had four bays each, with posts centered about ten feet apart.

Roof. Thomas Lowe's journal does not mention the shingling of the Fur Store, but as there are long gaps in his record, this omission by no means indicates that this work was not performed after June 15, 1843, the date of his arrival at the post. Also, it could have been performed earlier. The several versions of the view by Lieutenant Warre, 1845-46, appear to show the building with a shingle roof, and no extant pictures indicate a board roof, so it may be assumed that a shingle roof was in place during the period to which the post is to be reconstructed. As with the other warehouses, there were no chimneys.

Doors. The only known reliable picture that gives a clear view of any of the walls of the Fur Store is the Coode sketch of 1846-47 (Plates XI and XII, vol. I). This view shows three large doors, surely double, with arched tops, evenly spaced at ground-floor level across the front (north) face of the structure The only other wall visible is the east wall, and it is shown with no doors or windows whatever. Unless archeological excavations produce irrefutable evidence of the existence of one or more doors in the south or west walls, this writer suggests that these walls be left without doors when reconstruction plans are drawn. Probably the Company would have desired that all doors giving access to the precious fur returns should be in full view from the courtyard.

After the completion of volume I of this report, this writer encountered a very clear version of the 1860 photograph of the northwest corner of the fort in the Provincial Archives of British Columbia. This photo provided a much better view of the New Store (Building No. 5) than had hitherto been available (see Plate XIV). At the extreme left of this print about one-half of the arched double door in that structure is visible.

Upon close examination, it is evident that the arch was carved into a single huge timber which served as the top frame or header over the door opening. Or, possibly, the arch is formed by two large timbers carved in the shape of knee braces and joined together at the apex of the arch. At any rate, the curved top frame around the exterior of the arch over the entry to the Fort Nisqually granary seems to be absent (compare Plate XIV, vol. II, with Plate CXI, vol. I. See also measured drawings by Historic American Buildings Survey, Fort Nisqually Granary, Point Defiance Park, Tacoma, Washington, 2 sheets, in Library of Congress).

Probably the framing of the Fur Store entries was similar to that on the door to the New Store. The doors themselves were undoubtedly of very heavy construction and formed like the doors in the other warehouses.

The Coode watercolor is not sufficiently detailed to permit a judgment as to whether there were ramps or steps in front of the doors. An examination of the "original" sketch and the colored version of it reproduced in The Beaver Outfit 301 (autumn, 1970), p. 52, however, leads this writer to suspect that access to the building was by ramps.

Windows. The warehouses at Fort Vancouver impressed some visitors as being dark and gloomy inside. [90] Certainly the Fur Store must have been among the least cheerful, for the Coode watercolor shows it to have possessed few windows. Of the two sides of the building visible in that sketch, the east side is represented as having had no windows at all (see Plates XI and XII, vol. I). [91] On the entire 100-foot length of the front or north wall only three windows are depicted, all on the second floor. Seemingly they were centered over the three doors. The ground floor appears to have had no windows, at least in front. [92]

No pictures showing the south wall of the Fur Store have yet been found, and the only one depicting the west wall (Plate XX, vol. I) is so filled with errors as to be without value for the purpose at hand. Thus it seems most reasonable to assume that the general pattern of window placement shown in the Coode sketch was repeated on the south and west walls: Such reasoning would result in there being no windows in the west wall and six--three on each floor--in the south wall. It must be remembered that the walls were primarily places on which to hang furs. Light appears to have been a secondary consideration.

There seems to be no way of judging the sizes of the windows with any certainty. Probably, however, they were small, like those shown in Plate XIV depicting the New Store. Those windows had nine panes set in a single sash, which undoubtedly opened inward from one side. Window glass at Fort Vancouver ordinarily was received from England in three standard sizes: 7 by 9 inches, 7-1/2 by 8-1/2 inches, and 8 by 9 inches. [93] Careful analysis of the windows shown in Plate XIV by techniques known to architects probably would reveal the size used in the New Store.

At Fort Vancouver the windows in the warehouses for which adequate pictorial representation exists seem universally to have been centered between the wall uprights. At a number of posts the storehouse windows adjoined these uprights (see Plate LXXVIII vol. I, for an example). In view of the abundant evidence as to the prevailing practice at the Columbia depot, the windows in the Fur Store almost surely were of the former type.

The Fur Store windows undoubtedly were protected by solid wood exterior shutters. Plate XIV so well shows the construction of the typical warehouse shutters at Fort Vancouver that no comment is necessary, except to note that a careful examination of the original print seemed to show that the hinges, though external, were not of the strap type. Hinges at Fort Vancouver, incidentally, seem at that time to have been attached largely by nails and not by screws. [94] All windows on the ground floor probably were guarded by interior iron bars.

Exterior finish. The Coode watercolor shows the Fur Store as being unpainted except probably for the doors and windows, which are reddish brown and darker than the walls. In the picture the windows appear to be covered by the shutters, which thus must have been painted also. It is impossible to determine if the door and window frames are shown as being painted, but probably they were not. Undoubtedly the paint was the ubiquitous "Spanish brown," which was kept in stock at Fort Vancouver. [95]

Since the completion of volume I of this report more information has been obtained concerning the nature of this "Spanish brown" color that was widely used at fur trade posts across the breadth of the continent. National Heritage Limited, a Toronto-headquartered organization that is conducting the reconstruction of Fort William on Lake Superior, has sent staff members to Britain to determine exactly what shades were meant by the paint colors listed in early nineteenth century fur-trade inventories and other documents. One of the colors investigated was "Spanish brown," and British museum experts found that the paint of that name known to the fur traders was much more red than brown. [96] This finding perhaps is confirmed by the fact that a man who spent some time at Fort Vancouver as a youth later recollected that the gates were "red." [97]

c. Interior finish and arrangement. The historical record provides no information whatsoever concerning the interior of the Fur Store. The structure is not described in the 1846-47 inventory as being lined and ceiled. Ordinarily the inference to be drawn from this fact would be that the Fur Store was not lined with deal siding on the inside. However, every picture of the interior of a Company fur store seen by this writer has shown the walls lined with either vertical or horizontal siding, and the surviving Company stores at Fort St. James and Lower Fort Garry are finished in the same manner. In view of the great lengths gone to by the Company to preserve its returns in good condition, it would seem logical to expect that the Fur Store at Fort Vancouver would have been lined. Vertical deal siding appears to have been the most usual form of interior lining.

As with the New Store, one end of the ground floor may have been partitioned off to make a baling room, but otherwise the Fur Store probably was without interior walls. The plank floors, exposed beams, ceilings, and open-tread stairs without handrails undoubtedly were as described in Chapter XI on the Sale Shop (see pp. 204-8, vol. I). Probably penciled lists of furs were placed on the walls by the clerks from time to time as described on page 256 of volume I of this report. In view of the interior line of footings uncovered by archeologists, there could have been a line of center posts on the first floor supporting the ceiling beams. It is most likely that a trapdoor in the first floor ceiling facilitated the hoisting of furs to the second floor.

d. Connections with the stockade. Two versions of the Vavasour ground plan of late 1845 (Plates VII and VIII, vol. I) show the Fur Store as being linked at both its west and east ends to the south palisade wall by barriers of some type. These barriers are extensions of the lines of the west and east walls of the building. A third, and contemporary, version of the Vavasour plan shows only the west end of the Fur Store thus linked to the stockade wall (Plate VI, vol. I). The "Line of Fire Map" of September 1844, however, also depicts the links at both ends of the building (Plate V, vol. I). There remains little doubt, therefore, that both of these connections, which almost surely were lines of pickets, existed during the 1845-46 period. They surely were intended to safeguard the furs from the gaze of the merely curious as well as from the depredations of thieves.