Last updated: September 8, 2020
Place
Indian Trade Shop & Hospital
NPS Photo
Quick Facts
Location:
Fort Vancouver National Historic Site
Amenities
1 listed
Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits
This building served many purposes. It contained the fort's Indian Trade Shop, hospital and dispensary, and the residence of the fort's surgeon.
Most Hudson's Bay Company employees and their families lived outside the stockade walls, but company officers, such as the post surgeon and his family, lived inside - in buildings such as this one. More than simply a family house, though, this building primarily served as the post surgeon's place of work. From 1840 to 1850, the occupant of this building would have been Dr. Forbes Barclay and his family.
Many of the HBC's officers held responsibilities not captured in their job title. The role of post surgeon serves as one of the better examples. He prepared, packaged, and dispensed medicines for this fort and the other two dozen forts in the Columbia Department. He also operated both the hospital inside this building, and another hospital in the fort's employee Village. In addition to expected levels of sickness and accident, the post surgeon contended with large-scale seasonal outbreaks of "fever and ague" - likely malaria - that killed many American Indians and debilitated the fort's work force.
The post surgeon also carried on many essential duties besides treating the sick and injured. From an adjacent room, he manged the Indian Trade Shop, taking in "country made" goods and furs from local American Indians and trading them for items imported by the Company. He issued provisions to the Chief Factor's House kitchen and distributed weekly rations to the fort's nearly two hundred employees. He rcorded weather phenomena and, when requested, obtained and sent scientific specimens of plants, animals, and minerals to HBC officers and interested scientists in Great Britain.
The Indian Trade Shop and Hospital at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site is a modern reconstruction built on the archaeological footprint of the structure that stood here in the 1800s. Today, this building includes a reconstruction of the Indian Trade Shop on the west (right) side of the building. At the eastern (left) end of the building, the hospital and dispensary have been reconstructed, along with the residence of Dr. Forbes Barclay, his wife Maria, and their children.
Most Hudson's Bay Company employees and their families lived outside the stockade walls, but company officers, such as the post surgeon and his family, lived inside - in buildings such as this one. More than simply a family house, though, this building primarily served as the post surgeon's place of work. From 1840 to 1850, the occupant of this building would have been Dr. Forbes Barclay and his family.
Many of the HBC's officers held responsibilities not captured in their job title. The role of post surgeon serves as one of the better examples. He prepared, packaged, and dispensed medicines for this fort and the other two dozen forts in the Columbia Department. He also operated both the hospital inside this building, and another hospital in the fort's employee Village. In addition to expected levels of sickness and accident, the post surgeon contended with large-scale seasonal outbreaks of "fever and ague" - likely malaria - that killed many American Indians and debilitated the fort's work force.
The post surgeon also carried on many essential duties besides treating the sick and injured. From an adjacent room, he manged the Indian Trade Shop, taking in "country made" goods and furs from local American Indians and trading them for items imported by the Company. He issued provisions to the Chief Factor's House kitchen and distributed weekly rations to the fort's nearly two hundred employees. He rcorded weather phenomena and, when requested, obtained and sent scientific specimens of plants, animals, and minerals to HBC officers and interested scientists in Great Britain.
The Indian Trade Shop and Hospital at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site is a modern reconstruction built on the archaeological footprint of the structure that stood here in the 1800s. Today, this building includes a reconstruction of the Indian Trade Shop on the west (right) side of the building. At the eastern (left) end of the building, the hospital and dispensary have been reconstructed, along with the residence of Dr. Forbes Barclay, his wife Maria, and their children.