Fort Vancouver Historic Structures Report

Furnishings

Probably the only "furnishings" in the magazine were the barrels and kegs of gunpowder stored there. Various indents and inventories from Company posts scattered across present-day Canada show that at different times the firm imported a fairly wide range of types of gunpowder. If we confine our attention to the Columbia District, however, the matter is somewhat simplified.

For Outfit 1838, for instance, the indent, or requisition, for the district called for only:

15 lbs. [barrels?] battle Powder
50 Bls. TPF Powder ea. 100 lbs.
44 half Bar. Cannon Powder ea 50 lbs. [32]

The inventory of goods on hand at the Fort Vancouver depot in the spring of 1844 listed the following types and amounts of gunpowder:

20/100 bbls. Canister Gunpowder
13-1/2 bbls. Cannon Gunpowder
97-15/100 bbls. TPF Gunpowder
27 Kegs TPF Gunpowder each 66-2/3 lbs. [33]

Thus, it will be seen that powder was received and stored in 100-pound barrels 50-pound half barrels, and 66-2/3-pound kegs. During November 1840 John Lee Lewes, in charge of Fort Simpson on the Mackenzie River, complained of certain defective powder kegs that had been shipped to him from Norway House. Other kegs, he said, those "bearing the Tower mark on them and copper fastened," were satisfactory, and he asked for only those in the future. [34] Probably the "TPF" powder kegs at Fort Vancouver were of this latter type.

Because, on the average, 62.4 pounds of gunpowder occupy only one cubic foot of space, it will be seen that none of the kegs and barrels stored in the Vancouver magazine were very large. Powder barrels made for the British Army around the 1840s had the following dimensions:

Undoubtedly the structure, small as it was, could accommodate the stock of powder kept on hand for use in the Columbia District, although it seems to have been Company practice to keep some powder in the sale shops and warehouses. [36]