Fort Vancouver Historic Structures Report

Furnishings

As was the case with the other warehouses, the principal "furnishings" of the Fur Store were the items housed there. The number of furs in store varied widely, of course, according to the season of the year. There were also fluctuations in total returns from outfit to outfit and, as has been seen, noticeable declines beginning in the summer of 1845 with the shift of the main depot to Victoria.

Given more time for research in the Company's archives and in other repositories, it probably would be possible to determine exactly how many furs passed through Fort Vancouver on their way to Victoria during each of the years 1845 and 1846. All that would be necessary would be to ascertain the returns of all the posts and vessels that shipped their furs directly to Victoria and then subtract the numbers of each type from the known total departmental returns. Or, better yet, it might be possible to find the invoices of furs from Vancouver to Victoria for those years. Thus far this writer has not located this type of information.

In point of fact such a determination, while of much interest, would be of little practical value for the proposed restoration project. Given the prices of furs, the present feelings for the preservation of wildlife, and the huge cost of protecting about 60,000 pelts from insects and other dangers, there seems little possibility that anyone will seriously propose "refurnishing" the Fur Store with the maximum number of skins on hand at any time during the period to which the post is to be restored. The most practical solution would be a display in a limited section of the warehouse of a representative, and generous, sampling of the types of furs handled at Fort Vancouver.

Fortunately there is an abundance of information upon which to base such a sampling. The invoices and/or bills of lading for the shipments of the entire departmental returns from Vancouver to London are available for a number of years prior to 1845. They present a fine picture of the numbers and types of skins and other returns that passed through the depot Fur Store. As examples, two of these lists are reproduced below:

[Shipped from Vancouver, November 20, 1843]

I, John McLoughlin of Fort Vancouver, Columbia River, in British North America, Shipper of the following Goods on board the Ship Vancouver, William Brotchie Master, now about to sail from Columbia River, aforesaid, for the Port of London, vizt.-

Number
523	Badger
14820	Beaver
1828	Bear
2161	Deer
4	Elk
668	Fisher
756	Fox
72	Goat
551	Lynx
9449	Marten
7671	Mink
17438	Musquash [muskrat]
1028	[Land] Otter
214	Sea Otter
1663	Raccoon
169	Seal
4	Panthers
1904	Wolf
195	Wolverine
[61,118 whole skins total]
236-1/2 lbs.	Castorum [sic]
177 lbs.	beaver Coating
341 lbs.	Feathers--Goose & Partridge
325 lbs.	Islinglass [sic]
35	pieces Fisher, Marten, Otter, & fox Skins
46	otter Tails [damaged]
1	Sea Otter [damaged]
10	land Otter [damaged]
2	Martens [damaged]
19	Foxes [damaged]
3	Lynx [damaged] [98]

---

[Shipped from Vancouver, November 13, 1844] [99]

Recapitulation of Furs &c Shipped on board the Bque Columbia 1844

---

	[Returns of Out. 1843]	[Returns of Out. 1844]
Badgers	202	37
Bears
Black	555	375
Brown	193	89
Grizzly	176	72
Beaver
large	9448	3982
small	2707	1143
lbs. cut[tings]	35-1/2	100
Castoreum lbs.	259	5
Feathers lbs.	---	168
Fishers	332	243
Foxes
Blue	---	11
Cross	97	66
Red	158	127
Silver	37	11
Deer Hides	306	---
lbs. Isinglass	136	388-1/2
Lynxes	178	239
Martens
p. skin	5020	2506
In Robes	238	137
	[Returns of Out. 1843]	[Returns of Out. 1844]
Minks	1544	2451
Muskrats	14982	6254
Gns Whale Oil	---	---
Otters
Land	272	683
Sea Small	35	54
Sea Pup	7	9
Sea Tails	4	17
Raccoons	326	1102
lbs Whalebone	---	690
Wolverines	99	66
Wolves	637	373	[100]

In addition to the types of furs contained in these two lists, the pelts of a few other species of animals or of other grades appeared in the returns from time to time. Thus the returns shipped from Victoria in 1845 also included calf hides, ox hides large sea otter pelts, common hair seal pelts, and fur seal skins. [101]

The methods used for storing skins have already been treated in sufficient detail. But in addition to the piles of furs on the floors and the clusters of pelts hanging from the walls and beams, the Fur Store was "furnished" with a number of other highly necessary items.

Most conspicuous, perhaps, were rows of empty puncheons, pipes, kegs, and casks waiting until needed for packing the small furs, isinglass, castoreum, and certain other products. Evidently such containers were sometimes in short supply, and they, particularly the used rum puncheons, were carefully husbanded. [102]

Then, as with the other warehouses, there was an assortment of articles required for the operation of the Fur Store. Such items would include a baling press, one or more large weighing scales, pack cords or line, equipment for marking bales, writing paper and various types of account books for the numerous records that had to be kept, a supply of staves upon which the bale marks were placed (if staves were used at Fort Vancouver in 1845-46), perhaps a desk and stool for the clerk, blocks and tackle, barrows for moving bales, and sticks for beating furs.

Unfortunately, no separate accounting of "articles in use" in the Fur Store was made at Fort Vancouver. The annual depot inventories of "articles in use" contained a subheading, "In Stores," and evidently all the equipment employed in all the depot warehouses was lumped together in that single category. Thus the annual inventories are practically useless as guides to the refurnishing of the Fur Store. But for what they are worth the lists for 1844 and 1845 have been reproduced on pages 258-59 of volume I of this report. Even the fact that "1 wood packing press" is listed does not help much, since there must also have been such a press in the warehouse where trade goods were packed for shipment. The presence of "2 Jack Screws," however, might indicate the existence of a large baling press for furs.

For some unknown reason the inventory made in the spring of 1848 at Fort Vancouver seems to have been much more detailed than the others available. Thus, though it reflects conditions somewhat later than the 1845-46 period, there seems merit in reproducing below the section relating to the warehouses:

—Articles in Use—

--In Stores--

2	large square headed Axes
650	Osnaburgh wheat Bags
1	travelling Basket complete
4	sets Blocks & tackle
7	doz empty Wine bottles
3	hand Brushes
34	fire Buckets
1	spring Cart
1	travelling Case complete
1-1/6	doz Cherries pr ball moulds
10	brass Cocks assd. sizes
3	steering Compasses
1	large fire Engine
1	small fire Engine old
1	fort Flag
1	sheeting Frock
7	tin Funnels assd. sizes
1	wheat Gage [sic]
6	small Gimlets
5	spike Gimlets
2	claw Hammers
2	bronzed Lamp stands
1	Parsonn's new planing Machine
1	Payne's patent salting Machine
1	Marryat's weighing Machines
6	half bushel wooden Measures
3	setts [sic] tin Measures
1	copper bullet Mould
46	Muskets, old
5	Wyeth's seine Nets
2	boarding Pikes
1	Pillow Case
1	Chinese flower Pot
1	large fur Press
1	small baling Press
1	copper spirit Pump
1	Warp Rope
2	cross cut Saws
3	hand Saws
2	prs double jack Screws
6	cotton bed Sheets
3	large iron [weighing] Beams w[ith] scales
2	small iron Beams w copper scales
1	pr blacksmiths Bellows
1	single purchase Block p heaving down
6	double purchase Block
2	large leading Block
1	large snatch Block
6	large treble Block
4	Shovels
2	Spades
3	prs beam Steelyards
2	copper Stills with worms
1	Tellescope [sic]
1	sheeting Tent
3	sets brass Weights f[ro]m 1 lb to 1/2 oz
24	iron Weights fm 56 lbs. to 2 lbs.
1	rope Winch [103]

Among the items in this list, the following could very well have been in the Fur Store:

1 large fur Press

1 large iron [weighing] beam with wooden scales

1 or more sets of blocks and tackle

several fire buckets

1 pair beam steelyards

1 set of brass weights [for scales]

assorted iron weights [for scales]

It is not known, of course, whether some of these articles, those that do not appear on the 1844 and 1845 inventories, were present at Fort Vancouver as early as 1845-46. Even assuming that all were present, it will be seen that a number of items mentioned above as being necessary to the operation of the Fur Store were not included in the inventory. This same situation has been found with regard to the inventories of other structures, and it can only be assumed that "country-made" items such as desks, chairs, stools, etc., were some times not inventoried. The reason for omitting certain imported items, though, is not clear.

It cannot be a function of this report to describe in detail the various furnishings that may have been in the Fur Store. As an assistance to the curators who may be faced with the task of re-creating the interior of the structure, however, a few notes concerning sources of further information are appended below.

Fur press. As far as this writer is aware, only two of the larger, original, screw-type presses operated at Hudson's Bay Company depots are still in existence: one at Moose Factory on Hudson Bay (Plate V), and the other in the restored trade shop at Lower Fort Garry, Manitoba (Plates IV and XV). Whether the "large fur Press" at Fort Vancouver was similar to either of these is not known. It would be a relatively simple matter to make measured drawings of the Fort Garry press and reproduce it.

Little concerning the specifications for fur presses has thus far been found in the records of the Company. The following paragraph from a letter written by Gov. George Simpson from York Factory to the Governor and Committee in London on September 11, 1822, is enlightening, but it would be more so were there a McGillivray on the scene today to explain it:

The packing presses at this place are extremely inconvenient and out of repair, the machinery complex and the operation tedious, eight men being required to pack twenty Bales in one day; we have therefore taken the liberty of Indenting for two new Presses on an improved or more simple principle. The dimensions of the one 5 ft. inside by 30 Inches with two screws to work from the top with double levers; the other 2-1/2 feet by 1-1/2 ft. with one Screw for packing inland Bales--each press to have a spare Screw. There was a press on the principle of the former in the Warehouse at Montreal which was found very convenient, we cannot describe it accurately but if Mr. Willm. McGillivray happens to be in Town it is probable he would point out to the Tradesman the article required. [104]

Scales. Because weight was such an important factor in processing furs for shipment, and because the items to be weighed ranged from half pounds of castoreum to 175-pound bales, more or less, it is quite probable that there were at least two scales in the Fur Store. One may have been a simple weighing beam or balance of the type long used in the fur trade. Given a proper set of weights, this type of scale could weigh items from very light ones to those as heavy as the weights would balance. Plate XVI illustrates such a weighing beam with wooden scales. It must be much like the "large iron Beam with wooden scales" listed in the 1844 and 1848 inventories.

For the heavier bales it is more likely that a steelyard was employed. This device utilized the principle of unequal arm balance, or the lever, and could weigh very heavy items. In the early nineteenth century, steelyards (pronounced "stilyards" in Britain) were hand-forged and generally stamped with the capacity of the scale. [105] A pair of the type used by the Hudson's Bay Company is shown in Plate XVII.

It will also be noted that the inventories of stores from 1844 to 1848 list "1 Marryat's weighing Machine." This writer has not yet found a description of this device, but if it was a type of platform scale it could well have done service in the Fur Store, because it would have been much simpler and much easier on the cords to weigh bales by this means.

Miscellaneous furniture. Plate XVIII shows a corner of the fur loft in the recently restored trade shop at Lower Fort Garry. The table is of a type frequently depicted in nineteenth-century views of the interiors of fur trade and French-Canadian dwellings. Such a table could well have been used as a desk or work surface in the Fort Vancouver Fur Store. Although it is not known that staves were used to carry the marks on outgoing fur bales at the Columbia depot, incoming packs may well have been marked by that means, and the staves may have been kept on hand, possibly for reuse on "pieces" of trade goods. As with the other warehouses, there were no stoves or other means of heating in the fur store.