Fort Vancouver Historic Structures Report

1. This site is the same as, or is reasonably close to, that designated as Building No. 7 on the present "Site Plan, Historic Fort Area, Fort Vancouver National Historic Site" (see Plate II, vol. I).

2. Thomas Lowe, "Private Journal Kept at Fort Vancouver, Columbia River [1843-1850]," typescript, in Provincial Archives of British Columbia, Victoria, p. 11.

3. J. J. Hoffman and Lester A. Ross, Fort Vancouver Excavations--V: Flagstaff and Belfry (Vancouver, Washington: National Park Service [Fort Vancouver National Historic Site], October 1973), p. 4.

4. In addition to the evidence provided by the Lowe diary entry of December 21, 1844 (which is not necessarily conclusive as regards 1845 and subsequent years), the identification of Building No. 8 as the 1845-period Fur Store rests on a process of elimination, because the remaining three of the four major fort warehouses apparently can be definitely identified as to name and function. See pp. 185-87, 237-39, in vol. I of this report.

5. For a discussion of the evidence on these points, see pp. 185-87 in vol. I of this report.

6. The so-called "Line of Fire Map" of September 1844 (Plate V, vol. I) shows the two warehouses along the western portion of the south palisade wall essentially as they appear on the Vavasour plan of 1845, but due to the small scale of the map and the lack of structure identification, it is not possible to state that the buildings are identical. Very probably, however, the "Line of Fire Map" indicates that the 1845-period Fur Store was standing by the early fall of 1844.

7. H.B.C., Fort Vancouver, Miscellaneous Items, in Hudson's Bay Company Archives (hereafter cited as H.B.C.A.), B.223/z/4, MS, in Beaver House, London. Materials in the Company's archives are used with, and quoted with, the kind permission of the Hudson's Bay Company; E. E. Rich, ed., The Letters of John McLoughlin from Fort Vancouver to the Governor and Committee, Second Series, 1839-44, Publications of the Champlain Society, Hudson's Bay Company Series, vol. 6 (Toronto, 1943), pp. 141-42 (hereafter cited as H.B.S., 6).

8. See pp. 240-41 in vol. I of this report.

9. E. E. Rich, ed., The Letters of John McLoughlin from Fort Vancouver to the Governor and Committee, Third Series, 1844-46, Publications of the Champlain Society, Hudson's Bay Company Series, vol. 7 (Toronto, 1944), p. 87, fn. 3 (hereafter cited as H.B.S., 7).

10. H.B.S., 7:89.

11. Ibid., pp. 85, 143, 145-46, 152; The shipment on board the Cowlitz included furs from Outfits 1842, 1843, 1844, and 1845, with an estimated value of L46,881.9.3. H.B.C., Fort Vancouver, Account Book, 1838-1860, H.B.C.A., B.223/d/212, MS, fol. 94.

12. John A. Hussey, The History of Fort Vancouver and Its Physical Structure ([Tacoma:] Washington State Historical Society, [1957]]), p. 92. The use of a land route in 1848 was due to the Cayuse War, which posed a threat to the regular Columbia River transport. The brigade of that year brought the furs out to Fort Langley.

13. The history of the Columbia District fur trade after the 1845-46 period is outside the scope of this report. See Hussey, History of Fort Vancouver, pp. 97-98; It might be remarked, however, that the flow of furs did not completely cease. In February 1860, Chief Trader James A. Grahame announced that he was preparing to ship to Victoria "what furs we have on hand here" at Fort Vancouver. The returns belonged to Outfits 1858 and 1859 and were worth about £1,600 "at the country valuation." J. A. Grahame to G. Simpson, Vancouver, February 1, 1860, in H.B.C.A., B.223/b/42, MS, fols. 163d-164.

14. Hussey, History of Fort Vancouver, pp. 101-2.

15. H.B.C., Fort Vancouver, Miscellaneous Items, 1845-1866, in H.B.C.A., B.223/z/5, MS, fol. 72; U.S., Congress, House, 31st Cong., 2d sess., Exec. Doc. No. 1, pt. 2 (Serial 595), p. 289.

16. H.B.C.A., B.223/z/5, MS, fol. 74.

17. Ibid., fol. 77.

18. "Proceedings of a board of officers, which convened at Fort Vancouver, W. T., June 15th, 1860," MS, in U.S., War Department, Adjutant General's Office, Oregon Department, Document File 212-S-1860, in War Records Division, National Archives, Washington, D.C. (hereafter cited as A.G.O., Ore. Dept., Doc. File).

19. See sources cited in Hussey, History of Fort Vancouver, pp. 185-86. The map referred to is Plate XVII in that work.

20. H.B.C.A., B.223/z/5, MS, fol. 77

21. "Proceedings of a board of officers, Fort Vancouver, June 15, 1860," A.G.O., Ore. Dept., Doc. File 212-S-1860, in National Archives.

22. The destruction of the fort structures has been treated in Hussey, History of Fort Vancouver, pp. 157-60.

23. "Occurrences at Nisqually House," in Told by the Pioneers, a Washington Pioneer Project, 3 vols. ([Olympia,] 1937-38), 1:56-57.

24. Burt Brown Barker, ed., Letters of Dr. John McLoughlin, Written at Fort Vancouver, 1829-1832 (Portland: Binfords & Mort, 1948), p. 338; Lowe, "Private Journal," pp. 1A, 1, 18.

25. Ninety pounds was for decades the standard weight of fur packs, though for certain occasions and at certain times a weight of eighty pounds was specified, and occasionally packs weighed as much as one hundred pounds. See E. E. Rich, ed., The Letters of John McLoughlin from Fort Vancouver to the Governor and Committee, First Series, 1825-38, Publications of the Champlain Society, Hudson's Bay Company Series, vol. 4 (Toronto, 1941), p. 49 (hereafter cited as H.B.S., 4). See also Martin Hunter, Canadian Wilds: Tells About the Hudson's Bay Company, Northern Indians and Their Modes of Hunting, Trapping, Etc. (Columbus, Ohio: A. R. Harding, Publisher, 1935), p.77, and H. M. Robinson, The Great Fur Land or Sketches of Life in the Hudson's Bay Territory, 5th ed. (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1879), p. 339.

26. Hunter, Canadian Wilds, pp. 77-78.

27. Archibald McDonald, Peace River: A Canoe Voyage from Hudson's Bay to Pacific, by the Late Sir George Simpson . . . in 1828: Journal of the Late Chief Factor Archibald McDonald, ed. Malcolm McLeod, Facsimile ed. (Toronto: Coles Publishing Company, 1970), pp. 57-58; Hunter, Canadian Wilds, p. 81.

28. Isaac Cowie, The Company of Adventurers: A Narrative of Seven Years in the Service of the Hudson's Bay Company during 1867-1874 on the Great Buffalo Plains, with Historical and Biographical Notes and Comments (Toronto: William Briggs, 1913), p. 277.

29. For the use of a wedge press at Fort Simpson in 1835 see Henry Drummond Dee, ed., The Journal of John Work, January to October, 1835, Archives of British Columbia, Memoir no. 10 (Victoria, 1945), pp. 52, 67; The use of a lever press during the early 1860s at Fort Colvile is mentioned in [John Keast Lord], At Home in the Wilderness, Being Full Instructions How to Get Along, and to Surmount All Difficulties by the Way, by "the Wanderer" (London, 1867), p. 62; The presence of a screw press at Fort Vancouver will be documented later in this chapter.

For more information on fur presses, see Charles E. Hanson, Jr., "Robe and Fur Presses," Museum of the Fur Trade Quarterly 3, no. 2 (Summer, 1967), and Carl P. Russell, Firearms Traps, & Tools of the Mountain Men (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1967), pp. 156-60.

30. H.B.S., 4:59-60. McLoughlin said at that time that buffalo the only Animal on this side of the Mountains from whose hide we can make any [cords]."

31. Dee, Journal of John Work, pp. 62, 66. The pack cords used in the New Caledonia District were imported annually from east of the Rocky Mountains and may have been of moose hide.

32. J. Douglas and P. S. Ogden to W. F. Tolmie, Fort Vancouver, April 20, 1848, in Fort Vancouver, Correspondence Outward, 1845-1849, Letters Signed by Peter Skene Ogden and James Douglas, MSS, in Provincial Archives of British Columbia.

33. Hunter, Canadian Wilds, p. 80.

34. Lord, At Home in the Wilderness, p. 62. See also Robinson, Great Fur Land, p. 339, where it is stated that at certain posts during the 1870s the outer covering was "buffalo-hide or rawhide."

35. "The Minutes of the Council of the Northern Department of Rupert's Land, 1830 to 1843," in Collections of the State Historical Society of North Dakota, vol. 4 (1910—1912), pp. 789-90; Hunter, Canadian Wilds, p. 78; Pictures of this type of pack, but with the more modern burlap top and bottom covers, may be seen in Plate XI.

36. Hunter, Canadian Wilds, p. 81.

37. Cowie, Company of Adventurers, pp. 277-78.

38. Fort Nisqually, Invoice Book, Feb. 1853-Sept. 1856, FN1263, MS, vol. 1, in Fort Nisqually Collection, in the Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery, San Marino, California, p. [48]. This and all subsequent quotations from manuscripts in the Huntington Library are reproduced by permission of the Huntington Library and Art Gallery; How these marks were applied to the packs in the Columbia Department in 1845-46 is not known for certain. By the 1860s, at many Company posts, all or part of the marks were branded with a hot iron on a wooden slat affixed to each pack. Cowie, Company of Adventurers, p. 278. What appears to be this branding process is shown in a remarkable photograph found in Freeman Tilden, Following the Frontier with F. Jay Haynes, Pioneer Photographer of the Old West (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1964), opp. p. 318.

39. Cowie, Company of Adventurers, p. 278.

40. H.B.C., Account Book, Fort Vancouver, 1838-1860 H.B.C.A., B.223/d/212, MS, fol. 168.

41. For pictures and descriptions of seals recovered at Fort Vancouver and other Columbia District sites, see Louis R. Caywood, Final Report, Fort Vancouver Excavations, mimeographed (San Francisco: National Park Service, July 1, 1955), frontispiece and p. 50; G. F. Grabert, The Astor Fort Okanogan: A Final Report on Salvage Archaeology in the Wells Reservoir--Part II, University of Washington Department of Anthropology, Reports on Archaeology no. 2 (Seattle, August 1968), fig. 1 and p. 38 (reported specimen 3.8 cent, in dia.); J. J. Hoffman and Lester A. Ross, Fort Vancouver Excavations--I (Vancouver, Washington: National Park Service [Fort Vancouver National Historic Site], May 1972), figs. 14f, 16a, and p. 56; Hoffman and Ross, Fort Vancouver Excavations--III: 1845 Harness Shop (Vancouver, Washington: National Park Service Fort Vancouver National Historic Site], February 1973), fig. 7m-n and p. 45; Susan Kardas, "The People Bought This and the Clatsop Became Rich": A View of Nineteenth Century Fur Trade Relationships on the Lower Columbia between Chinookan Speakers, Whites, and Kanakas (Ann Arbor: University Microfilms, 1971), p. 308.

42. Also, when furs had to be taken down the Columbia River in boats for one reason or another to be loaded aboard the homeward bound vessel near the mouth of the river, they were put up in eighty pound packs. See John McLoughlin to Governor and Committee, Fort Vancouver, April 11, 1827, in H.B.S., 4:49.

43. George Simpson McTavish, Behind the Palisades: An Autobiography (Victoria: Colonist Printers Limited, 1963), p. 101; In a directive that perhaps applied only to the depot at York Factory, the Council of the Northern Department in 1840 resolved that to prevent "a recurrence of the inaccuracies found of late years in the Depot Fur Packing Accts.," a commissioned gentleman or clerk placed in charge "of that branch of the Depot duties" should in the future "check the accounts of his subordinate by passing every skin through his own hands." "Minutes of the Council of the Northern Department," p. 791.

44. Edward Taylor to George Simpson, Hudson's Bay House, London, May 20, 1840, in H.B.C.A., D.5/5, MS, fols. 275-276.

45. H.B.C.A., D.5/5, MS, fols. 312-312d. See also the instruction of the Council of the Northern Department for 1840, in "Minutes of the Council of the Northern Department," pp. 789-90.

46. H.B.C., Correspondence Book, Fort Vancouver, 1834-1835, H.B.C.A., B.223/b/10, MS, fols. 25-25d.

47. Cowie, Company of Adventurers, p. 277; For a picture of furs airing in a fort yard see Plate X. During the airing and cleaning operations a close watch had to be kept on the furs, because the small and more valuable pelts like marten and mink were a great temptation to Indians and whites alike. Terry Pettus, "Frolic at Fort Nisqually," The Beaver Outfit 292 (Summer, 1961): 12; The poles used for beating, at least at certain posts and at certain times, were about 1-1/2 inches in diameter.

48. Lowe, "Private Journal," pp. 1, 41.

49. H.B.S., 4:106.

50. H.B.C., Account Book, Fort Vancouver, 1844, H.B.C.A., B.223/d/154, MS, fols. 2d—l1.

51. Emil Teichmann, A Journey to Alaska in the Year 1868: Being A Diary of the Late Emil Teichmann, ed. Oskar Teichmann (New York: Argosy-Antiquarian Ltd., 1963), p. 108.

52. Alaska Herald (San Francisco), July 1, 1869, p. 2.

53. John Dunn, The Oregon Territory, and the British North American Fur Trade. With An Account of the Habits and Customs of the Principal Native Tribes on the Northern Continent (Philadelphia: G. B. Zieber & Co., 1845), pp. 103-4; In 1825 McLoughlin said that the furs were "repeatedly" beaten during the summer, "particularly before Baling." H.B.S., 4:15; John Kirk Townsend, who reached Fort Vancouver in 1834, recorded that the furs were taken from the warehouses once a week for beating. Narrative of a Journey Across the Rocky Mountains, to the Columbia River, and a Visit to the Sandwich Islands, Chili, &c with a Scientific Appendix, in Reuben Gold Thwaites, ed., Early Western Travels, vol. 21 (Cleveland, 1905), pp. 297-98.

54. H.B.S., 6:171.

55. Lowe, "Private Journal," p. 4.

56. Fort Vancouver, Correspondence Outward, 1850-1858, Letters Signed by Dugald Mactavish, MSS, in Provincial Archives of British Columbia.

57. J. A. Grahame to Thomas Fraser, Vancouver, April 6, 1859, in H.B.C.A., B.223/b/42, MS, fols. 121-122A. It will be noted later in this chapter that jack screws were regularly on inventory in the Fort Vancouver warehouses during 1844 and subsequent years.

58. H.B.C., Account Book, Fort Vancouver, 1844, H.B.C.A., B.223/d/154, MS, fols. 2d-10.

59. H.B.S., 4:30. This weight may have been less than usual because McLoughlin was not able to obtain deerskins for wrappers.

60. H.B.C.A., B.223/d/154, MS, fols. 2d-3; Because eight large and four small bearskins together weighed about eighty pounds, a single large skin weighed perhaps seven or eight pounds. Hunter, Canadian Wilds, p. 78.

61. Barker, Letters of Dr. John McLoughlin, p. 22; H.B.S., 4:31, 59-60, 74.

62. McTavish, Behind the Palisades, p. 101; H.B.C.A., D.5/5, MS, fols. 275—276.

63. H.B.S., 4:59 fn.

64. H.B.C.A., D.5/5, MS, fols. 275-276.

65. Ibid. Beaver pelts were not to be used as wrappers, however. Ibid., fols. 312—312d.

66. H.B.C., Account Book, Fort Vancouver, H.B.C.A., B.223/d/172, fol. 10d.

67. J. Douglas and P. S. Ogden to W. F. Tolmie, Fort Vancouver, April 20, 1848, in Fort Vancouver, Correspondence Outward, 1845-1849, Letters Signed by Peter Skene Ogden and James Douglas, in Provincial Archives of British Columbia.

68. For example, see H.B.S., 4:80; Robinson, Great Fur Land, p. 340.

69. Robinson, Great Fur Land, p. 340; See also George W. Ebbert, "A Trapper's Life in the Rocky Mountains & Oregon, from 1829 to 1839," MS, in the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, p. 40.

70. H.B.S., 4:70, 80. Tobacco was put in the casks in 1829.

71. H.B.C.A., D.5/5, MS, fols. 275-276.

72. For example, see Lowe, "Private Journal," p. 41.

73. H.B.C.A., B.223/d/154, MS, fols. 2d—6.

74. H.B.C.A., B.223/d/154, MS, fols. 2d—11.

75. Lowe, "Private Journal," p. 8. Incidentally, the fact that it was raining "very hard" that day serves to strengthen the hypothesis that the press was located indoors, unless, of course, the otters were being put up in puncheons; The furs sent to Sitka were by no means inconsiderable in number. Each year 2,000 seasoned land otters traded on the west side of the Rockies had to be paid as rent. In addition, up to an additional 2,000 "west side" otters, if available, had to be sold at fixed prices to the Russians, and 3,000 prime "east side" otters were sent across the mountains each fall by the express to be sold at Sitka. "Minutes of the Council of the Northern Department," pp. 772, 788, 820, 853-57.

76. H.B.C.A., B.223/d/154, MS, fols. 2d-10.

77. J. McLoughlin to Captain [Robert] Royal, Fort Vancouver, August 2, 1833, in H.B.C.A., B.223/b/9, fols. 10d-11. Captain Royal on this occasion was taking on the cargo at Fort George instead of at Fort Vancouver, but the procedure undoubtedly was the same.

78. Ibid.; H.B.S., 4:106.

79. See H.B.C., Fort Vancouver, Miscellaneous Items, H.B.C.A., B.223/z/4, MS, passim.

80. For example, see H.B.S. 6:162; H B.C.A., B.223/b/32, MS, fols. 86d-87.

81. For the performance of such service by Thomas Lowe, J. A. Grahame, and William McBean, as well as by Roberts, see Lowe, "Private Journal," pp. 4, 8, 41.

82. British and American Joint Commission for the Final Settlement of the Claims of the Hudson's Bay and Puget's Sound Agricultural Companies, [Papers,] 14 vols. (Washington, D.C. and Montreal, 1865-69), [2:]118—19 (hereafter cited as Br. & Am. Joint Comm., Papers). For the reasoning leading to the identification of Building No. 8 as one of these "Stores," see pp. 238-39, 251-52, in vol. I of this report.

83. Caywood, Final Report, pp. 10-11, and Map of Archeological Excavations, sheets 2 and 5.

84. J. J. Hoffman, Memorandums to Regional Archeologist, Pacific Northwest Region, National Park Service, Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, July 3 and September 1, 1972, MSS, in files of Pacific Northwest Regional Office, Seattle; The exact lengths of the walls, as measured on footing centers in 1972, were: north wall, 99.55 ft.; east wall, 39.35 ft.; south wall, 98.70 ft.; and west wall, 37.85 ft. Because of the size of the corner footings, about 1.0 to 1.5 ft. wide and 4.0 to 4.5 ft. long, Mr. Hoffman is confident that the actual structure was no less than 40 by 100 ft." J. J. Hoffman to J. A, Hussey, Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, January 29, 1973.

85. J. J. Hoffman, Memorandums, July 3 and September 1, 1972; J. J. Hoffman to J. A. Hussey, Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, December 5, 1973, in possession of the writer.

86. J. J. Hoffman, Memorandum, July 3, 1972.

87. Henry J. Warre, Sketches in North America and the Oregon Territory, By Captain H. Warre, with introd. by Archibald Hanna, Jr. (Barre, Massachusetts: Imprint Society, 1970), Plate 40. The same condition shows, but not as clearly, in the Warre watercolor sketch reproduced as Plate X in vol. I of this report.

88. During the late 1860s, while testimony was being gathered for the adjudication of the Company's claims against the United States, the firm's lawyers attempted to persuade one witness, W. H. Gray, to admit that the upright timbers in the storehouse walls were twenty-two feet long, but he refused to concede that they rose beyond sixteen feet. Br. & Am. Joint Comm., Papers, [8:]184.

89. J. J. Hoffman to J. A. Hussey, Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, January 29, 1973.

90. See sources cited in Hussey, History of Fort Vancouver, p. 185.

91. A portion of the east face of what seems to be the Fur Store is shown in the Paul Kane pencil sketch of 1846-47 (Plate XIV, vol. I). What appears to be a single window is visible in the center of the second floor wall. Because this evidence contradicts that by Coode and is not supported by the oil painting of ca. 1847-48 (Plate XVI, vol. 1) that shows no window, it must be discounted.

92. The 1854 view by an unknown artist (Plate XX, vol. I) shows at least five windows on each floor across the front of the Fur Store and at least two on the second story of the west wall: This drawing is so unreliable, however, that it cannot be accepted as valid evidence.

93. See sources cited on p. 118 in vol. I of this report.

94. In the requisition of goods for the Columbia District for Outfit 1845, signed on March 19, 1842, Chief Factor Douglas requested from England "4 doz. prs. wrot. iron Hinges & Hold fasts, 24 ins. long, Eye 3/4 ins, in Diam. w[it]h hold fasts whose Dia. will of course suit the Hinge eye, with a sufficient number of nails to fasten the hinges." H.B.C.A., B.223/d/207, MS, fol. 88. Hinges of other sizes, with nails, were also ordered. However, Fort Vancouver inventories reveal that "wood screw Nails" and "wood Screws" were regularly stocked at the depot.

95. For example, see inventory of 1848 in H.B.C., Account Book, Fort Vancouver, 1848, H.B.C.A., B.223/d/181, MS, fol. 37.

96. J. A. Hussey, interview with staff of National Heritage Limited, 322 King Street West, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, May 14, 1973. A color sample was not available at that time, but it is suggested that architects working on the restoration of Fort Vancouver get in touch with National Heritage Limited on this subject.

97. James Robert Anderson, "Fort Vancouver, Oregon: Description of Interior of Fort by J. R. Anderson, Victoria, B. C., Presented to Mrs. A. H. Cree," typescript, in Provincial Archives of British Columbia, p. 1.

98. H.B.C.A., B.223/z/4, MS. The items in this shipment represent partial returns from Outfits 1842 and 1843 that had a valuation of L36,348.16.2. H.B.C., Account Book, Fort Vancouver, 1838-1860, H.B.C.A., B.223/d/212, MS, fol. 69.

99. H.B.S., 7:52.

100. H.B.C., Account Book, Fort Vancouver, 1844, H.B.C.A., B.223/d/154, MS, fols. 10d-11. The valuation of the furs in this ship ment was L35,896.17.1. Ibid., fol. 13.

101. H.B.C.A., B.223/d/212, MS, fol. 94; The term "ox" as used in invoices of returns evidently was synonymous with "cattle" or " cow," because 5,729 of them were included in the returns of Fort Vancouver for 1843, and most of them were from California. Fort Vancouver, Fur Trade Returns, Columbia District and New Caledonia, 1825-1857, MS, in Provincial Archives of British Columbia, n.p. However, such large shipments of hides were not counted as furs on the usual invoices. Whether or not they were stored in the Fur Store is not known.

102. See requests from depot personnel to London and subsidiary posts to return or send empty puncheons and casks. H.B.S., 4:80; H.B.C., Correspondence Book, Fort Victoria, 1844-1845, H.B.C.A., B.226/b/1, MS, fol. 31d.

103. H.B.C., Account Book, Fort Vancouver, 1848, H.B.C.A., B.223/d/181, MS, fol. 81-81d.

104. R. Harvey Fleming, ed., Minutes of Council Northern Department of Rupert Land, 1821-31, Publications of the Champlain Society, Hudson's Bay Company Series, vol. 3 (Toronto, 1940), p. 380.

105. For general descriptions of weighing beams and steelyards, with references to additional sources of information, see John A. Hussey, Historic Furnishings Report, Bakery, Fort Vancouver (Denver: National Park Service [Denver Service Center], December 1973), pp. 103-5.