Fort Vancouver Historic Structures Report

1. H.B.C., Correspondence Book, Fort Vancouver, 1825, H.B.C.A., B.223/b/1, MS, fols. 13d—15d, 21d—22d.

2. E. E. Rich, ed., Part of Dispatch from George Simpson, Esqr., Governor of Ruperts Land, to the Governor & Committee of the Hudson's Bay Company, London, March 1, 1829 Publications of the Hudson's Bay Record Society, vol. 10 (London: Hudson's Bay Record Society, 1947), pp. 67-68 (hereafter cited as H.B.S., 10).

3. H.B.C., District Statements, York Factory, 1830-1832, H.B.C.A., B.239/l/4, MS, pp. 12, 68.

4. H.B.C.A., B.239/l/7, MS, pp. 79, 85.

5. H.B.C.A., B.239/l/15, MS, p. 69; H.B.C.A., B.239/l/16, MS, p. 66; H.B.C.A., B.239/l/17, MS, p. 51; The Southern Party was discontinued after 1843, In 1844, at least, furs collected by the Company at Willamette Falls and by the Puget's Sound Agricultural Company at Cowlitz Farm were transferred to the "Fort Vancouver Indian Trade." H.B.C.A., B.223/d/158, MS, pp. 128-29. Perhaps furs collected at the Champoeg post were handled in the same manner.

6. For examples, see H.B.C.A., B.239/l/5, MS, pp. 104, 141; H.B.C.A., B.239/l/7, MS, pp. 79, 85. It should be realized, however, that the clerk in the Indian shop was usually also the depot surgeon and received a higher salary for that reason.

7. For a statement concerning the practice of engaging the firm's "medical gentlemen" in the double capacity of surgeon and clerk, see Margaret Arnett MacLeod, The Letters of Letitia Hargrave, Publications of the Champlain Society, vol. 28 (Toronto: The Champlain Society, 1947), p. 244 fn.

8. Unfortunately, the fascinating story of the physicians as fur traders at Fort Vancouver cannot be dealt with in this report. For summary treatments, see A. G. Harvey, "Meredith Gairdner: Doctor of Medicine," British Columbia Historical Quarterly 9 (April, 1945): 89-111; and O. Larsell, The Doctor in Oregon: A Medical History (Portland: Binfords & Mort, 1947).

9. H.B.C., Correspondence Book, Fort Vancouver, 1829-1830, H.B.C.A., B.223/b/5, MS, fols. 30—31d.

10. George B. Roberts, "The Round Hand of George B. Roberts," Oregon Historical Quarterly 63 (June-September, 1962): 197.

11. For a discussion of the problems with the Emmons plan, see Hussey, History of Fort Vancouver, p. 125. For reasons there explained, the fact that Emmons showed Building No. 21 abutting the palisade, while Vavasour did not, seems of little significance in determining the relative positions of the 1841 warehouse and the 1845 Indian shop. The "Line-of-Fire" map of 1844 seems to support Vavasour as far as the location of Building No. 21 is concerned.

12. See pp. 2-3 in vol. I of this report for a discussion of this enlargement.

13. The only picture that seems not to be in agreement on this point is the Warre drawing of 1845-46 (Plates IX, and X, vol. I of this report, and Plate 40 in Warre, Sketches in North America and the Oregon Territory). This writer has found it impossible to relate the structures shown in the southeastern quadrant of the fort in Warre's picture with all of those shown on Vavasour's ground plan of the same time period. If the building shown by Warre as being in the extreme southeastern corner of the fort is intended to be the Indian shop, that structure is shown as a low building but with a hipped roof. If one of the two gable-roofed buildings to the west of that in the corner is intended to be the Indian shop, it is too short and too high to be the structure shown in the other post-1845 views.

A. D. Lee and J. H. Frost, Ten Years in Oregon (New York: J. Collord, Printer, 1844), p. 147.

15. Ibid., p. 231.

16. W. H. Gray, who arrived at Fort Vancouver in 1836, testified years later that he thought the fort enclosure was doubled in size "about" 1836, and he listed the "Indian trading shop" among the structures built in the new section. These words apparently tend to support the hypothesis that the Indian shop had existed since shortly after the enlargement and was not a new structure built on the site of an earlier warehouse. Br. & Am. Joint Comm., Papers, [8]:184.

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

18. I. I. Stevens to W. L. Marcy, Washington, June 21, 1854, in Br. & Am. Joint Comm., Papers, [11:]220-21.

19. For information on general practices concerning admitting Indians to forts and trading shops see, for example, Hunter, Canadian Wilds, pp. 48-49; Lord, At Home in the Wilderness, pp. 56-57; "Occurrences at Nisqually House," p. 24; Robinson, Great Fur Land, pp. 85-86, 199-202; and Charles William Wilson, Mapping the Frontier: Charles Wilson's Diary of the Survey of the 49th Parallel, 1858-1862, While Secretary of the British Boundary Commission, ed. George F. G. Stanley (Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, 1970), p. 37.

20. Townsend, Narrative, pp. 297-98. See also Dunn, Oregon Territory, p. 103.

21. George M. Douglas, "Royal Navy Ships on the Columbia River in 1839," The Beaver Outfit 285 (Autumn, 1954): 40, quoting Sir Edward Belcher's Voyage of the Sulphur.

22. W. S. Wallace, ed., John McLean's Notes of a Twenty-Five Years' Service in the Hudson's Bay Territory, Publications of the Champlain Society, vol. 19 (Toronto, 1932), p. 137.

23. Robert Michael Ballantyne, Hudson Bay; or, Everyday Life in the Wilds of North America, During Six Years' Residence in the Territories of the Hon. Hudson Bay Company (London: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1908), pp. 185-86.

24. Ibid., pp. 61-62.

25. Robinson, Great Fur Land, pp. 97-98; see also ibid., pp. 331-36, for a longer account but one that adds few details to those given in the excerpts from Ballantyne's writings. One of those details, however, is of particular interest: the use of "steelyard and weighing-balance" to measure out stated values in tea, sugar, and other items sold by weight. This was a process completely incomprehensible to the Indians. Also mentioned is the habit of many Indians of trading only one skin at a time, a very slow process. This same habit predominated at Fort Colvile in the early 1860s. See Lord, At Home in the Wilderness, p. 55.

26. Silas Holmes, "Journal Kept by Assistant Surgeon Silas Holmes During a Cruise in the U. S. Ship Peacock and Brigs Porpoise and Oregon, 1838-1839-1840-1841-1842 Exploring Expedition," 3 vols., MS, in Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven Connecticut, 2:228. For still another general description of Indian shop operations, see The Fur-Trade and the Hudson's Bay Company (London: W. & R. Chambers, 1854), p. 24.

27. George T. Allan, "Copies of Letters and Journals of George T. Allan, Written at Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River, 1841," typescript, copy in files of Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, Vancouver, Washington, p. 7. See also Robinson, Great Fur Land, pp. 331—36.

28. James D. Miller, "Early Oregon Scenes: A Pioneer Narrative," Oregon Historical Quarterly 31 (March, 1930): 64.

29. E. E. Rich, The History of the Hudson's Bay Company, 1670-1870, Publications of the Hudson's Bay Record Society, vols. 21 and 22 (London: Hudson's Bay Record Society, 1958-1959), 21:75.

30. Hudson's Bay Company Trade Tokens and Promissory Notes--A Special Exhibit, mimeographed leaflet ([Boise Idaho:] Idaho Historical Museum, 1959), pp. 2-3. The text of this leaflet is said to have been provided by the Hudson's Bay Company and thus may be considered authoritative, though no sources are cited.

31. H.B.S., 3:lxxi.

32. Teichmann, A Journey to Alaska, p. 109.

33. Fur Trade Papers, FN1245, MS, in Fort Nisqually Collection, Huntington Library. To simplify tabulation, certain items have been rearranged in the list reproduced above.

34. Fort Vancouver, Correspondence Outward to 1845, Despatches from McLoughlin to Simpson, 1844, MSS, in Provincial Archives of British Columbia.

35. Fur Trade Papers, FN1245, MS, in Fort Nisqually Collection, Huntington Library. The term plus at the head of the price columns was a commonly used name in the fur trade for a prime beaver pelt, particularly when considered as a unit of value. Hiram Martin Chittenden, The American Fur Trade of the Far West, 2 vols. (New York: Barnes & Noble, Inc., 1935), 1:40.

36. John McLoughlin to John Dease, Fort Vancouver, July 23, 1825, in H.B.C.A., B.223/b/1, MS, fols. 13d—15d.

37. Allan, "Copies of Letters and Journals," p. 1.

38. Rich, History of the Hudson's Bay Company, 1:76.

39. Ibid.

40. Hudson's Bay Company Trade Tokens and Promissory Notes, pp. 2-3. Perhaps the best statement of the reasons for the selection is to be found in a manuscript account of the fur trade that seems to be dated 1770: "Beaver being ye chief Article Traded for is made ye Standert [sic] Whereby all other furrs and Comodities are Rated." "Thoughts on the Furr Trade with the Indians in North America . . . Extracted from Some Papers of the Late Mr. John Gray of Quebec," MS, in William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, [p. 26].

41. Rich, History of the Hudson's Bay Company, 1:76; The Mountain_Light, The Newsletter of the Idaho Historical Society 4, no. 11 (December 9, 1959): 2.

42. K. G. Davies, ed., Northern Quebec and Labrador Journals and Correspondence, 1819-35, Publications of the Hudson's Bay Record Society, vol. 24 (London, 1963), p. 163.

43. About fifty N.W. Co. tokens, "issued about 1820," have been found in the Columbia Basin. Kardas, "The People Bought This," p. 86.

44. McTavish, Behind the Palisades, p. 212. A photograph of such a wooden counter is in Larry Gingras, "Medals and Tokens of the HEC," The Beaver Outfit 299 (Summer, 1968): [40].

45. Gingras, "Medals and Tokens of the HBC," [p. 40]. For further information on counters and tokens, in addition to the sources already cited, see Chris Harding, "The Monetary System of the Far Fur Country," The Beaver 1, no. 9 (June, 1921): 2; and Hudson's Bay Company Trade Tokens and Promissory Notes, pp. 2-3.

46. Fort Nisqually, Blotter, February-December, 1844, FN1247, MS, vol. 3, in Fort Nisqually Collection, Huntington Library, pp. 5-[37]. Examples of other types of Indian shop records are in the same collection.

47. Lord, At Home in the Wilderness, p. 55; Robinson, Great Fur Land, pp. 332-33. In the description of single-skin trading given by Robinson, counters seem to have been employed.

48. Rich, History of the Hudson's Bay Company, 1:75.

49. [John Stuart], "Journal of Daily Occurrences, Fort Simpson, September 6, 1832-March 22, 1835," MS, n.p., in [John Stuart], Five Letter Books and Journals Relating to the Operations of the Hudson Bay Company, 1822-1835, in The Bank of Scotland, The Mound, Edinburgh. For permission to consult and to quote from these manuscripts the writer is indebted to The Bank of Scotland, owner of the papers.

50. W. M. Conn, "New Fur Commissioner Famed as Trader and Organizer," The Beaver 1, no. 2 (November, 1920): 2-3.

51. Samuel Parker, Journal of an Exploring Tour Beyond the Rocky Mountains, under the Direction of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, in the Years 1835, '36, and '37, 2d ed. (Ithaca, 1840), p. 174.

52. Fort Vancouver, Fur Trade Returns, Columbia District and New Caledonia, 1825—1857, [pp. 1, 3].

53. Ibid. It is not clear whether these figures were strictly for the business of the Indian Trade Shop at Fort Vancouver or for the entire "Fort Vancouver Fur Trade," which would have included also returns from Fort George and Fort Umpqua.

54. William Fraser Tolmie, The Journals of William Fraser Tolmie, Physician and Fur Trader (Vancouver, B. C. : Mitchell Press Limited, 1963), p. 170.

55. Ibid., pp. 172—73.

56. Ibid., p. 170.

57. For an account of the hospital outside the pickets, see Hussey, History of Fort Vancouver, pp. 220-21.

58. Allan, "Copies of Letters and Journals," pp. 7-8.

59. Forbes Barclay to George Simpson, Fort Vancouver, March 28, 1844, in H.B.C.A., D.5/10, MS, fols. 541-542.

60. [Lewis] Love, "Manuscript of Captain Love," typescript, in files of Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, p. 6.

61. John Sebastian Helmcken, "Reminiscences of John Sebastian Helmcken," MSS, 6 vols., in Provincial Archives of British Columbia, 3:43.

62. John McLoughlin to Sir George Simpson, Vancouver, March 20, 1844, in Fort Vancouver, Correspondence Outward to 1845, Despatches from McLoughlin to Simpson, 1844, in Provincial Archives of British Columbia.

63. Barclay to Simpson, Fort Vancouver, March 28, 1844, in H.B.C.A., D.5/10, MS, fols. 541-542.

64. P. W. Crawford, "Description of Fort Vancouver As it Was in 1847," typescript, in Provincial Archives of British Columbia, p. 1.

65. Fred Lockley, History of the Columbia River Valley from The Dalles to the Sea (Chicago, 1928), pp. 352-54. Certain elements in Lockley's description, the sources for which are not evident, are inaccurate, casting a shadow on the whole. But certain other elements, which can be checked from information not generally available when Lockley wrote, are accurate.

66. Anderson, "Fort Vancouver, Oregon," p. 1. The time referred to in these recollections is not clear.

67. United States, 7th Census, Population Schedules . . . 1850, Oregon, MS, from Roll 742, Microcopy 432, National Archives, Micro film Publications, p. 73.

68. H.B.C., District Statements, York Factory, 1850-1851, H.B.C.A., B.239/l/21, MS, pp. 41, 46.

69. J. J. Hoffman to J. A. Hussey, Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, February 12, 1974.

70. Larsell, Doctor in Oregon, p. 88.

71. H.B.S., 6:386-87; John Sebastian Helmcken, "Reminiscences, 1824-1920," MS, in Provincial Archives of British Columbia, pp. 2-3; Glendwr Williams, ed., London Correspondence Inward from Sir George Simpson, 1841-42, Publications of the Hudson's Bay Record Society, vol. 29 (London: Hudson's Bay Record Society, 1973), p. 84.

72. G. P. de T. Glazebrook, The Hargrave Correspondence, 1821-1843, Publications of the Champlain Society, vol. 24 (Toronto: The Champlain Society, 1938), p. 371. Pambrun left nine children ranging in ages from about twenty years to less than one month. It is almost certain, however, that the eldest, Andre, was at Red River in 1841, and the second, Pierre C., may also have been absent.

73. The schedules of the 7th Census, 1850, indicate that there were no Pambruns living at or near Fort Vancouver when Meek made his enumeration on October 30.

74. In addition to the sources already cited, this sketch of Dr. Barclay and his family is based on Hubert Howe Bancroft, History of Oregon, 2 vols. (San Francisco: The History Company, 1886-1888), 1:39-40; Clifford Merrill Drury, Marcus and Narcissa Whitman and the Opening of Old Oregon, 2 vols. (Glendale, California: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1973), 1:411-12; H.B.S., 7:43 fn.; and Mikell de Lores Wormell Warner, trans., and Harriet Duncan Munnick, ann., Catholic Church Records of the Pacific Northwest: Vancouver, Volumes I and II, and Stellamaris Mission (St. Paul, Oregon: French Prairie Press, 1972), Vancouver, 1:18; and Vancouver, 2:67, 81, 106, A-4, A-37, A-61-63, A-65.

75. Br. & Am. Joint Comm., Papers, [2:]118-19.

76. Caywood, Final Report, p. 17, and Map of Archeological Excavations, sheet 6.

77. J. J. Hoffman, Memorandums to Regional Archeologist, Pacific Northwest Region, National Park Service, Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, August 31 and October 1, 1973, MSS, in files of Pacific Northwest Regional Office, Seattle.

78. See sources cited in Hussey, History of Fort Vancouver, pp. 163, 184, 187-88.

79. For examples of these construction techniques see Plate LXXXI in vol. I and Plate XIX in this vol. An example of notching the lintel into the uprights will be found illustrated in HABS, Fort Nisqually Granary, Tacoma, Washington, 2 sheets of measured drawings. See also Plate XXI in this vol. At Fort Vancouver the 1860 photograph of the Bachelors' Quarters (the low building on the right in Plate XXVII, vol. I) seems to reveal that at least two methods of setting the ceiling beams were employed in this single structure.

80. For an example, see the granary at Fort Nisqually. HABS measured drawings are available in the Library of Congress. See also the center structure in Plate LVII in vol. I of this report.

81. Canada, National Historic Sites Service, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, National and Historic Parks Branch, Engineering and Architectural Division, As-Found Measured Drawings, Riel House, St. Vital, Manitoba, Drawing No. 12 (Exterior Elevations), February 1970 (hereafter this agency is cited as Canadian National and Historic Parks Branch).

82. Testimony of J. W. Nesmith, in Br. & Am. Joint Comm., Papers, [9 ]:37.

83. Erwin N. Thompson, Grand Portage National Monument, Great Hall, Historic Structures Report, History Data Section, multilithed (Washington, D. C.: National Park Service [Office of History and Historic Architecture], May 1970), p. 60, quoting Sherman Hall to Aaron Hall, Jr., Lac du Flambeau, September 30, 1832, MS, in Sherman Hall Papers, 1831-1875, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul.

84. The use of this type of roof construction at Fort Langley is well described in J. Calder Peeps, "A Preliminary Survey of the Physical Structure of Fort Langley, B. C., 19th November 1858," typescript ([Vancouver:] University of British Columbia, June 30, 1953), pp. 17-18 and Plates 2 and 3. For roof construction at Fort St. James, see Plate LXXX in vol. I of this report. For that at Fort Nisqually, see the two sheets of HABS measured drawings, Fort Nisqually Granary, Tacoma, Washington.

85. Lowe, "Private Journal," p. 30.

86. A careful examination of the clearest available prints of the Sohon drawing seems to show that one of the two lower-story "windows" in the west wall may have been a door; also, the westernmost bay in the front or north wall may have contained a window, while the most easterly seems not to have had any opening. Because none of the available pictures seem entirely reliable, a somewhat different arrangement, based partly on the 1841 Emmons plan, has been suggested in Fig. 1.

87. See colored version of the Coode sketch as printed in The Beaver Outfit 301 (Autumn, 1970): 52.

88. Robert Michael Ballantyne, The Young Fur-Traders: Snowflakes and Sunbeams (London, Melbourne, and Toronto: Ward, Lock & Co., Limited, n.d.), p. 72.

89. "Plan of Fort William, 1803-1820, as Reproduced from Lord Selkirk's Original Sketch of 1816, Drawn by R. L. Moffat" (n.p.: McIntosh & Associates, February 1962), MS, copy at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site.

90. John Sebastian Helmcken, "A Reminiscence of 1850," typescript, in Provincial Archives of British Columbia, pp. 1-2.

91. Ballantyne, Young Fur-Traders, p. 73.

92. Robinson, Great Fur Land, p. 85.

93. In the version of the journal printed in Tolmie, Journals of William Fraser Tolmie, p. 172, this last sentence reads: "Anterially there is a small & neater, painted shelf." This rendition seems more logical.

94. William Fraser Tolmie, "Journal of William Fraser Tolmie--1833," Washington Historical Quarterly 3 (July, 1912): 236; supplemented by extracts given in Larsell, Doctor in Oregon, p. 74. The alternative words in brackets are from the version in Tolmie, Journals of William Fraser Tolmie, pp. 172-73. They seem preferable. Paragraphing has been supplied in the above quotation.

95. Ballantyne, Hudson Bay, p. 185. An almost word-for-word repetition of this description, without credit, is found in Robinson, Great Fur Land, p. 85. Robinson's only important addition was to note that articles of trade also hung from the ceiling.

96. Ballantyne, Young Fur-Traders, p. 74.

97. Teichmann, A Journey to Alaska, pp. 109-10.

98. H.B.C., Account Book, Fort Vancouver, 1844 [Inventories], H.B.C.A., B.223/d/155, MS, pp. 241-42.

99. H.B.C.A., B.223/d/155, MS, pp. 237-41. Prices and total value figures have been omitted as not germane to this study. No attempt has been made to correct spelling, but certain explanatory material has been added in brackets.

100. H.B.C., Account Book, Fort Vancouver, 1844-1845, H.B.C.A., B.223/d/158, MS, p. 104. Prices are omitted. The goods listed here were on hand about June 1, 1845.

101. H.B. C., Account Book, Fort Vancouver, 1845, H.B.C.A., B.223/ d/160, MS, pp. 180-84. Prices are omitted.

102. H.B.C., Account Book, Fort Vancouver, 1845-1846, H.B.C.A., B.223/d/161, MS, fols. 65d—66.

103. H.B.C., Account Book, Fort Vancouver, 1840-1841 [Country Produce Inventories], H.B.C.A., B.223/d/137, MS, p. 17.

104. Lowe, "Private Journal," p. 5.

105. H.B.C., Account Book, Fort Vancouver, 1848, H.B.C.A., B.223/d/181, MS, fols. 85-85d.

106. H.B.C., Account Book, Fort Vancouver, 1844, H.B.C.A., B.223/d/155, MS, pp. 146-47.

107. H.B.C., Account Book, Fort Vancouver, 1845, H.B.C.A., B.223/d/160, MS, pp. 137—39.

108. H.B.C., York Factory Indent Books, 1823-1838, H.B.C.A., B.239/n/71, MS, fols. 163—164.

109. H.B.C.A., B.223/d/155, MS, pp. 135-41. The inventories for 1845 and 1846 are very similar, but after the list of medicines for 1846 appears the following (H.B.C.A., B.223/d/165, MS, p. 46): "pr.Sheep, 9 lbs Muriate of Mercury, 135 lbs Mercurial Ointment, 40 lbs powdered Sulphur, 50 lbs Venice Turpentine."

110. H.B.C.A., B.223/d/155, MS, p. 48.

111. H.B.C.A., B.223/d/160, MS, pp. 139-40.

112. Larsell, Doctor in Oregon, pp. 61-62.

113. Ibid., p. 62.

114. H.B.C., Account Book, Fort Vancouver, 1844, H.B.C.A., B.223/d/155, MS, pp. 144—45.

115. Adapted from Larsell, Doctor in Oregon, pp. 82-83.

116. Tolmie, Journals of William Fraser Tolmie, pp. 323, 325, 333.

117. "News and Comment," Oregon Historical Quarterly 38 (June, 1937): 239; Warner and Munnick, Catholic Church Records, pp. A-4, 1-2. The Stanley portrait of Barclay shows that the doctor wore glasses. The oil painting of Mount Hood, which Stanley painted for Dr. Barclay, is now in McLoughlin House National Historic Site, Oregon City.

118. Barker, Letters of Dr. John McLoughlin, p. 159. These chests were called "China trunks."

119. Tolmie, Journals of William Fraser Tolmie, p. 331.

120. "News and Comment," Oregon Historical Quarterly 36 (September, 1935): 301.