Fort Vancouver Cultural Landscape Report

Operations at Fort Vancouver
(continued)

Agriculture

The farm at Fort Vancouver was the first such large-scale enterprise in the Pacific Northwest. Its establishment was a matter of economics, intended primarily to reduce the reliance of Hudson's Bay Company posts in the country west of the Rocky Mountains on imported foodstuffs, the transportation of which was expensive. John McLoughlin later wrote, "...if it had not been for the great expense of importing flour from Europe, the serious injury it received on the voyage, and the absolute necessity of being independent of Indians for provisions, I would never have encouraged our farming in this Country, but it was impossible to carry on the trade without it." [166] When Governor George Simpson visited the Columbia region in 1824-25, he realized the country had untapped potential for exploitation--not only to service the Company's fur-trading posts, but to turn a profit by exporting surplus produce, diversifying the Company's operations on the west coast. In addition, it was thought that agricultural development would eventually attract British immigrants, which would in turn bolster Great Britain's claim to the disputed territory.

George Simpson arrived at Fort Vancouver in the fall of 1828 on his second inspection trip. Highly satisfied with the progress of the Fort Vancouver farm, he wrote McLoughlin in March of 1829:

The farming operations at this Establishment are of vital importance to the whole of the business of this side of the Continent and the rapid progress you have already made in that object far surpasses the most sanguine expectations which could have been formed respecting it. That branch of our business however, cannot be considered as brought to the extent required, until our Fields yield 8000 bushels of Grain p Annum, our Stock of Cattle amounts to 600 head and our Piggery enables us to cure 10,000 lb of Pork pr Annum. I am aware that some little dissatisfaction has been occasioned by your refusing to Slaughter Cattle for the Shipping from England, but when both you and I can say that so anxious have we been to increase our Stock, that neither of us have ever indulged by tasting either Beef or Veal, the produce of Vancouver Farm, they have no cause to complain and particularly so when they get as much fresh Fish, Pork & Game as they can consume, with the run of our Gardens & Fields in fruit and Vegetables. [167]

His enthusiasm was communicated to the Board of Governor and Committee of the Hudson's Bay Company in London in a dispatch sent in the spring of 1829. London responded by commending McLoughlin for "...the success which has attended your exertions in Agricultural pursuits and raising Stock..." in a communication sent him in October of 1829. [168]

Simpson was, by this time, considering using Vancouver's agricultural production as an economic/political tool to help drive American maritime traders from the Pacific Northwest coast, where their vessels traded with Russian posts in Alaska and plyed the coast, trading with Indians for furs, in competition with the Company's operations. He told the Governor and Committee "...we could furnish them [the Russians] with provisions, say Grain, Beef and Prk, as the Farm at Vancouver can be made to produce, much more than we require; indeed we know that they now pay 3$ p. Bushel for wheat in California, which we can raise at 2/-[Shillings per Bushel]." [169] A proposal to the Russians in Sitka, where the Company would supply grain and salted meat, was refused at that time. A decade later, however, Russian trade serviced from Fort Vancouver would be a cornerstone in the development and operations of the Puget's Sound Agricultural Company.

During this historic period, Fort Vancouver became the agricultural center of the Company's empire west of the Rockies. As noted earlier, Fort Colvile, established in 1825-26, was intended to provision the interior posts of the upper Snake and mid-Fraser Rivers: by 1830 it was close to self-sufficient, and by 1834 it was fulfilling its role as provisioner of the interior, including New Caledonia. Likewise, Fort Langley, located on the flood plain of the lower Fraser in 1827, in part to provision a series of coastal forts Simpson intended to establish, eventually succeeded in raising sufficient produce to supply itself and some other posts. However, Langley became most profitable as a salmon fishing and export center, and in the 1840s a dairy center providing butter for export to Alaska. Both Colvile and Langley received their agricultural materials--especially livestock--from Fort Vancouver. [170] Later, the farms at the Cowlitz, Fort Nisqually, and, in the mid-1840s, Fort Victoria, increased the Columbia Department's agricultural production. However, Fort Vancouver was the operational hub and main production post of all the Department's agricultural production.

By 1837, George Simpson was telling London:

The fur trade is the principal branch of business at present in the country situated between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific ocean. On the banks of the Columbia river, however, where the soil and climate are favorable to cultivation, we are directing our attention to agriculture on a large scale, and there is every prospect that we shall soon be able to establish important branches of export trade from thence in the articles of wood, tallow, hides, tobacco, and grain of various kinds.

I have also the satisfaction to say, that the native population are beginning to profit by our example, as many, formerly dependent on hunting and fishing, now maintain themselves by the produce of the soil.

The possession of that country to Great Britain may become an object of very great importance, and we are strengthening that claim to it (independent of the claims of prior discovery and occupation for the purpose of Indian trade) by forming a nucleus of a colony through the establishment of farms, and the settlement of some of our retiring officers and servants as agriculturists. [171]

Environmental Impacts on Farming

The success of the Company's farm at Fort Vancouver was not steady, and uncontrollable events continuously plagued the farm throughout this period, including sickness and the weather--drought, unpredictable rainfall--often late and damaging to crops--and flooding caused by the Columbia River's spring freshets which could rise to within seventy-five yards of the south gates of the stockade, covering all low-lying fields. In 1844, the farm was damaged by a fire, which effectively destroyed one of its operational units--West Plain Farm; burned a number of outbuildings, including a large barn complex just north of the stockade, and destroyed a large quantity of produce stored in bams, and some crops in the field.

Regarding floods, Charles Wilkes observed in 1841 that:

From the circumstance of this annual inundation of the river prairies, they will always be unfit for husbandry, yet they are admirably adapted for grazing, except during periods of high water. There is no precaution that can prevent the inroad of the water. At Vancouver they were at the expense of throwing up a long embankment of earth, but without the desired effect. It has been found that the crop of grain suffers in proportion to the quantity of the stalk immersed: unless the wheat is completely covered, a partial harvest may be expected. [172]

Drought reduced crop yields in 1831, '35 and '39. Flooding due to the spring freshets was more regular. In 1830 McLoughlin reported the flood "very much" injured growing crops, although he then sowed thirty-six bushels of barley after the flooding subsided, a strategy occasionally employed during this period by McLoughlin and his assistants. [173] In 1838 Chief Trader James Douglas, in charge while McLoughlin was on leave, reported that the early rise in the Columbia was followed by a "second flush" in May; despite attempts to put up "repeated embankments," an "irresistable flood" swept over the levees, destroying eighty acres of crops. Douglas ploughed, harrowed and sowed a second crop of peas, barley, buckwheat and potatoes. [174] As farm production increased, particularly in an attempt to fulfill Puget's Sound Agricultural Company contracts, more land was put into cultivation; with limited cultivable land, it appears even the least promising land was put into production: in 1838 Douglas reported "Every acre of land about the place that could bear cropping was put under seed." [175] Even so, in 1841, McLoughlin was, because of the floods, considering turning Fort Plain, where the majority of fields were located, into meadows for grazing, and planting wheat on the upland prairies some distance from the stockade, according to visitor U.S. Army Captain Charles Wilkes. [176]

In 1830, a malaria epidemic effectively wiped out some native groups camped in the area of the fort, reducing the supply of farm labor on which the farm depended, and putting European and Canadian employees on the sick list: at one time during the year seventy-five men were reported sick; remittent fever with high casualties was again reported in 1831, '32 and '33, and with regularity throughout this period. [177] In 1844 McLoughlin told Simpson: "Last summer, our first week in harvest we had one hundred and seven men, of these seven men were in hospital; and the last week we had forty-seven in hospital, and last year was the healthiest summer we have had since 1829. I have known sixty-two men at one time off work from fever, principally in the harvest." [178]

In addition to limited manpower, flooding, fire, unseasonable rains, and drought, the site itself was somewhat limited. The soil on many parts of the farm was considered poor and "shingly," and could only be cultivated by turning the livestock out on it and tilling in the manure; even then the results appear to have been scarcely worth the effort. The actual amount of land available for easy cultivation was also limited, both by the quality of the soil and by the annual rise in the waters of the Columbia While there is evidence that areas were cleared of trees in order to plant fields during this period, there is no indication that the Company made any significant effort to push back the naturally occurring boundaries of the forests enclosing the plains of the farm.

Farm Operations

As will be discussed under the heading "Site," the Fort Vancouver farm, by 1846, actually consisted of several operating units, organized geographically. The first to be established, in so far as is known, was the Fort Plain Farm, which included the area around the stockade to the river, bounded on the east, north and west by dense forests. The second large area to be cultivated appears to have been West Plain Farm, to which James Douglas referred in 1838, located near a small chain of lakes west of the stockade; most, if not all, of its fences and barns were burned in a fire which swept the plain in the summer of 1844. The third area of operations was Lower Plain Farm, which was used primarily for pasture, at least as early as 1833, and on which, by the 1840s--possibly by 1836--several dairies and enclosed fields were located, near the river. A fourth area of operations was a succession of small openings in the forests northeast of the post, referred to as the Back Plains, at least two of which were cultivated as early as 1832: this area was never referred to as a farm in its own right, as far as can be determined, as was probably run as an adjunct of Fort Plain farm. The last farm to be established was the Mill Plain Farm, about six miles east of the stockade, in a large open prairie north of the Company's mills: it was probably in use for pasture for some years, but cultivated fields and barns did not appear until late in 1841 or early 1842. It is not known if accounts for the separate farms were kept, but at least an informal tally of production at the Mill Plain Farm was noted by clerk Thomas Lowe in the 1840s. In addition, the Company operated dairies on Sauvie Island in the Columbia River, and pastured some livestock in the Willamette Valley. Some time between 1841 and 1843 the Company erected a warehouse at Champoeg, in the Willamette Valley, where wheat grown by settlers was weighed and stored until it could be shipped to the Company's mill; later a small trade shop was also established there.

Tracing production at Fort Vancouver is complicated after the establishment of the Puget's Sound Agricultural Company in 1839. Fort Vancouver continued to operate as a post of the Hudson's Bay Company, although wages of some farm workers were paid by the Puget's Sound Agricultural Company. In addition most of the sheep at Fort Vancouver, and a large number of cattle were transferred to the new agricultural concern; and in the 1840s, most of the sheep were physically moved to the new corporation's farms, Fort Nisqually and Cowlitz. However, livestock continued to be pastured and raised at Fort Vancouver; the dairies on Sauvie Island and at Lower Plain produced butter to fulfill the Russian contract undertaken by the Puget's Sound Agricultural Company. Wheat grown at Fort Vancouver and by settlers in the Willamette Valley, under its control, was used to fulfill the new company's contracts in the 1840s.

In operational terms, the establishment of the Puget's Sound Agricultural Company affected Fort Vancouver in several ways. First, as reported by James Douglas and others, all land available for cropping was put into production, primarily in wheat, and it appears that the impetus to establish Mill Plain Farm was probably a result of the Hudson's Bay Company's increased commitment to agricultural export. Second, more agricultural specialists arrived at Fort Vancouver to oversee various agricultural operations, although many were moved on to Nisqually and Cowlitz. Third, butter production was stepped up in the Fort Vancouver--including Sauvie Island--dairies. Fourth, most of Fort Vancouver's sheep were transferred to Nisqually. Fifth, Fort Vancouver's pastures became holding areas for livestock destined for the other farms. In addition, a new, water powered gristmill was built at Fort Vancouver in 1838-39, apparently to handle the anticipated increased in flour production. [179]

Personnel

During this period, overall farm operations were supervised by a succession of clerks assigned to Fort Vancouver, assisted on occasion by their subordinates--apprentice clerks, and postmasters and apprentice postmasters, when other duties or illness prevailed upon the clerk. They were often referred to as the "gentlemen in charge of outdoor work," and were required to keep journals of daily occurrences, including how the employees were engaged, the weather, and so forth. [180] As agricultural production grew in importance and sophistication--both for supplying the Columbia Department posts and for trade--London began to hire specialists in England for specified terms of employment at Fort Vancouver, particularly dairy operators, but also general farmers and shepherds. The general farm labor was done by company employees, some of whom were more or less permanently assigned particular duties such as livestock herding, but many of whom were general laborers who performed agricultural duties when not engaged in such occupations as trading, unloading cargos, and so forth.

According to George Traill Allan, who was the clerk in charge of the farm between 1832 and 1838, "My duty as Superintendent of the farm consists mainly in seeing the wishes of the gentlemen in charge of the establishment, carried into effect, and I am therefore almost constantly on foot or on horseback during the day." In 1832, Allan estimated that farm included "...about seven hundred acres of land under cultivation, and we raise in great quantities peas, barley, Indian corn, buckwheat, wheat, oats and potatoes." [181] George Roberts, who succeeded Allan, said he was "...in charge of the men, that is all the outdoor and general work of the establishment..." and that "...it was my place to look after them--8 men the Blksmith shop 4 Bakers 4 Coopers 4 Carpenters--24 at the Saw mill 2 at the grist mill 7 draymen 1 tinsmith--gardeners 2--besides thrashing mill men ploughmen--Cooks and Stewards. There were 3 clerks in the office two or three in the stores..." [182]

Thomas Lowe, an apprentice clerk who arrived at Fort Vancouver in 1843, recorded his activities at the post between 1843 and 1845 in a private journal, which reveals that his duties included checking on the harvest at the Mill Plain Farm, and noting the arrival of the wheat transports from the Willamette Valley. [183] Probably by that time, one individual was assigned to supervise or at least check periodically on the operations of that more remote farm, which included the gristmill: in 1844 McLoughlin wrote Simpson that the post required: "2 book keepers, one to go out annually with the accounts; 1 clerk for the store; 1 do. retail shop; 1 do. farm and men; 1 do. grist and saw mill; 2 do. to write in the office; 1 do. casualties." [184]

The clerks noted in various records as supervising the farm during this period included: Francis Ermatinger (1830-1); George Traill Allan (1832-38); George Roberts (1838-1842); Adolphus Lee Lewes (1843-1845); William McBean (1845-1846); Henry Peers (1845); David McLoughlin (1845); Kenneth Logan (1846-1847). Ermatinger, Allan, Roberts and Peers were educated in Britain; Lewes, the part-Indian son of Chief Factor John Lee Lewes, had also been educated in England, as was David McLoughlin, the second son of Chief Factor John McLoughlin, who had been enrolled in the East India Company's Military Seminary at Addiscombe in 1837-38. McBean was part-Indian, and was apparently considered a man of "very common education." Kenneth Logan was a postmaster at the fort when he assumed farm supervision; he was a native of the Canadian Red River settlement. [185]

Most of the actual farm work was done by the Company's servants, predominantly French Canadians part of the depot's staff, but also men from Great Britain. But general laborers on the Company rolls performed more than agricultural work--unloading vessels and transporting goods to and from interior posts; fur-trading expeditions; other industrial activities, such as logging, lumber milling and flour milling, tanning, butchering and salting meat, and dozens of other duties were performed by laborers at the post. Dugald MacTavish, who was at Fort Vancouver off and on after 1839, said that between 1839 and 1846, the average number of Company employees at the post in all capacities--not just agriculture--consisted of "...about 200 engaged men, besides which a great many Indians, averaging over 100..." although in another statement he later said there were 150 "engaged servants of the company employed seven full years beginning with the autumn of the year 1839 in making permanent improvements at and around the post..." [186] Chief Factor James Douglas said that in 1846 the post had sixteen officers and 215 servants "plus native employes." [187] The terms of employment, according to MacTavish, were: "Laboring people engaged in the Orkney Islands or the Island of Lewis, five years and free passage; Canadians three years sent into the northwest by canoes from Montreal; red river 3 years from there to Norway house by boats; Sandwich Islanders 3 years, coming and going at Co [Company] expense; England, by ship, co [Company] expense. A good many tradesmen, such as blacksmiths, carpenters, coopers &c. Remainder would be laborers and voyageurs." [188]

Generally speaking, labor was shifted from task to task, depending on the greatest need and the season. However, James Douglas intimated in 1838 that by that time, at least, agricultural production drove the number of employees at the post: he said that the need for large crews for harvest meant there were "extra hands" at the fort even when their services were not "urgently required." The depot's system, he said, was designed to keep laborers busy at other tasks--warehousing, milling, and elsewhere, when they were not engaged on the farm. [189] McLoughlin, particularly in the 1840s, frequently wrote to Simpson and London about labor shortages. In 1841, the U.S. Exploring Expedition vessel, the Peacock, was wrecked when attempting to enter the Columbia River in 1841; the ship and its scientific collection was lost, but all hands were saved. The captain of the vessel, William Hudson,"...on learning from one of his Officers, that we were at our harvest and very busy, sent forty of his men to assist in taking the grain in, and in the same way any service we could render, we did so cheerfully." [190]

A number of farm laborers were Hawaiians--Kanakas--imported for specific terms of service, and, for a while, Iroquois Indians. Local Indians were also employed on the farm to perform such tasks as plowing and harrowing; they constituted a large portion of the farm labor by the 1840s. McLoughlin, according to George Roberts, was "...proud of having so many Indians employed & always held out to the missionaries that that was the way to civilize them to teach them to work." [191] Roberts claimed the Indians who worked in the fields were mostly Klickitats. As noted earlier, sickness plagued the post periodically, and agricultural work suffered when dozens of men were on the sick rolls; it has been posited that native labor was employed by necessity.

U.S. Navy Purser William Slacum, at the post in December of 1836, said one hundred men were employed in agriculture, "...chiefly Canadians and half-breed Iroquois." [192] The Catholic priests at the post in 1839 noted: "There are always found there [at Fort Vancouver] a large number of engages, of whom some are occupied with agricultural labor, others at the forge, and a good number at cutting timber and sawmilling..." [193] Eugene Duflot de Mofrás reported the post had a total of 125 Englishmen and French Canadian engages in 1841. In 1844 McLoughlin wrote to Simpson that in the summer the post required 120 men "...to carry on the business on a proper scale at the lowest calculation." [194]

Mactavish listed the following agricultural related occupations in which the laborers were engaged: "...ox-drivers...seedsmen, ploughmen, harrowmen, reapers of grain and harvest men generally for hay and other crops; shepherds, stockmen for cattle and horses; some seasons boating, bringing wheat from Willamette river and mouth of Cowlitz to Fort Vancouver." [195] Other accounts and records list occupations and work such as "dairyman," "sowing," "farmer," "seedsman," "cowherds," "ploughing," "harrowing," pig herds," "at the barn" and "garden." [196]

There were other laborers at the farm. As mentioned earlier, children were employed in various farming tasks to "pay" for their education. Charles Wilkes, in the spring of 1841, noted that "Some allowance was to be made for the boys [a reading and writing examination], who had been constantly in the field under their teacher for a few months past. Dr. M'Loughlin estimated the labor of four of these small boys as equal to that of a man...They were a ruddy set of boys, and when at work had a busy appearance: they had planted and raised six hundred bushels of potatoes; and from what Dr. M'Laughlin said to me, fully maintain themselves." [197] James Douglas, defending the post against allegations made by the Rev. Herbert Beaver to London, said in 1838: "I agree with Mr. Beaver that to put children of eight and ten years old to work as men is improper, I would almost say absurd. The only labour I have ever made them perform was weeding the garden, planting potatoes after the plough, pulling the potatoe flowers, and gathering pease in harvest, and I never had the least suspicion before I saw this statement that 5 entire months had been lost in these labours..." [198]

Periodically, individuals were engaged for particular farm tasks. Professionals were brought from England, but employees within the ranks were also assigned on a more or less permanent basis to specialized farming activities. Among the earliest of these was Laurent Sauve dit Laplante, who was paid extra as a cowherd in 1829. He remained on the rolls as a dairyman or cowherd until 1844. [199] A long-term Company employee, James Logie, was placed in charge of another dairy on Sauvie Island around 1839.

In 1835 the Governor and Committee in London engaged Mr. and Mrs. William Capendale, "well trained in all phases of agricultural management," to take charge of cattle breeding and raising and the dairy, "In order to give the farming establishment a fair trial." [200] They arrived at Fort Vancouver in the spring of 1836. This first experiment on the part of London with professional agriculturists was short-lived; the Capendales returned to England in November. Clerk George Roberts said they "...had been accustomed to high fanning & were quite out of their element in a new country &...couldn't get into our ways nor we into theirs." [201]

In 1839 James Steel was hired in London as a clerk and farmer; he reached Fort Vancouver that fall. Although on the Hudson's Bay Company payroll, he was primarily employed at Fort Nisqually in its role as a farm of the Puget's Sound Agricultural Company. Steel's expertise was breeding and raising sheep. The principal shepherd at Fort Vancouver was James McPhail, a Scot, who apparently had charge of the sheep at the post between at least 1842 and 1847.

Swineherders were generally Hawaiians. There were three at the post in 1833, including a John Coxe and a Towai, both of whom served in that capacity for many years. "Cox," A.C. Anderson later said, "in his way was rather a historical character for when a boy he had witnessed the death of Capt Cook at Tahiti..." [202]

In 1841 Daniel Harvey arrived from England, hired as a miller and farmer. He was placed in charge of the newly-established Mill Plain Farm and gristmill, where he lived. In 1850 he married McLoughlin's widowed daughter, Eloisa Rae. [203]

Methods and Materials

Farm production grew more or less steadily at Fort Vancouver during this period, from 120 cultivated acres in 1829 to 1,420 acres in 1846. Overall yields likewise increased, although it is impossible to accurately correlate the percentage increase in cultivated land with the increase in the various crops, due to the absence of yield figures for particular crops in different years, and limited information on the average yield per acre on the various qualities of soil found at the post. Livestock production also rose significantly, although the latter years are hard to assess, since many cattle and sheep at the post were transferred to the farms at Fort Nisqually and Cowlitz. Visitors were almost unanimously impressed with the scale and scope of the farm operations: Silas Holmes, an assistant surgeon with the U.S. Exploring Expedition noted that the post's farming operations in 1841 were conducted on "stupendous" scale.

The knowledge and skill to operate the enterprise seems to have lain chiefly in the energy and intellect of Chief Factor McLoughlin, whose library included at least two agricultural books--two volumes of "Cattle Doctors," and Loudon's An Encyclopaedia of Agriculture. Historian John Hussey points out that some of the post's employees probably had farming backgrounds, and their experience was undoubtedly called upon. It was evident, however, that by the mid-1830s, London expected the farm to be producing more than it was: the aforementioned Capendales were dispatched in 1836 "...and we hope under their management this branch of the Concern will prosper." [204] But Fort Vancouver's production capability was limited--the soil was not as fertile as it had first appeared to McLoughlin or to Governor Simpson. By 1832, as has been noted, McLoughlin was already searching for nearby areas that would increase farm production: Fort Nisqually in Puget Sound, founded in 1833, was the result of that search. Later, as has been discussed, London sent other agricultural experts to assist with the Fort Vancouver farm.

Soil Management

Despite the concern, and later criticism, expressed by London to Chief Factor McLoughlin regarding his farming practices as this period progressed, all evidence indicates farming methods at Fort Vancouver were quite progressive on the North American continent. Unlike most farmers in the States during the first half of this century--who were always ready to, and did, move further west when they exhausted the land--soil conservation and enrichment was a standard practice at Fort Vancouver, and at the farms under McLoughlin's administration. Its practice was of necessity. Fort Vancouver soils were not the best. Chief Trader James Douglas prepared an inventory of the land at the post in 1838: on Fort Plain, he reported, out of a total of 457 acres of arable land, only a little over seventeen percent was "good land," and the remainder was "poor shingly" land (thirty nine percent) or good land that was "subject to flooding" (forty-four percent). The West Plain Farm, with a total of 184 cultivable acres, about half, or 95 acres was good; of the remaining acreage, 28 percent was good land subject to flooding, and 20 percent was poor land. The back plains, only the first two of which were included in the inventory, consisted of 220 acres of poor land. [205] The Mill Plain Farm, by 1846, had almost 1,000 acres in production: its soil, according to an 1844 observer, was a mixture of clay and gravel. [206]

Selective use of the land, developed over time, was one strategy employed in maximizing production. Land subject to annual flooding was apparently not cultivated, although by the 1840s, land along the river was sown in timothy, apparently for use in pasturage. Lands near the river that were flooded during uncharacteristic rises of the waters were occasionally replanted, for a second, late crop, as in the spring of 1838, when a flood in May destroyed eighty acres of crops and James Douglas had a second crop of peas, barley, buckwheat and potatoes sown on the flooded acreage. [207] Fairly early in the farm's history, McLoughlin determined which crops required the richest soils. In 1833 he told William Tolmie that corn required the best soils, followed by barley, wheat, and then oats or peas. [208]

Another strategy used was crop rotation. In 1838 Douglas wrote, "The method hitherto most successfully pursued in the management of the Farm is a rotation of grain with occasional row crops..." [209] In 1842 he told the manager at Fort Nisqually to "...have the wheat field at the Dairy sown with Timothy seed and Clover... "a practice of crop rotation probably followed at Fort Vancouver as well. The use of clover, and certain varieties of peas and other legumes, as essential features of revitalizing the land was a recognized practice in Europe and on progressive American farms by the 1820s; the use of clover and timothy as part of a sequence of rotation with corn, oats or barley, then wheat or rye, was used in the States in the 1840s. [210] At Fort Vancouver, clover was raised: clover seed was imported from London as early as 1829, and a clover field stood next to the stockade in 1844. Also, periodically at Fort Vancouver, fields were allowed to lie fallow for a year--the fields on the back plains were allowed to rest for four years after a crop was harvested. [211]

The most important method of keeping the soil fertile was the use of livestock to manure the fields, a practice long in use in Europe, and particularly England, but infrequently applied in the United States, except among the most progressive farmers, until the 1840s. [212] James Douglas, in 1838, said, that in addition to rotation, the farm methods at the post consisted of "...keeping the soil in good heart, by fallowing and manures, the latter operation being most commonly performed by folding the cattle upon the impoverished land." [213] McLoughlin later said that by 1837, cattle were penned at night on the fields at Fort Plain to make the "poor miserable dry shingly soil" produce. [214] Chief Trader James Douglas told the manager at Nisqually to pen cattle at the dairy for later plowing. [215] Charles Wilkes noted in 1841 that the cattle at the post were "...penned in at night. The pens are movable; and the use of them is not only for security against the wolves, but to manure the ground." [216] At the Cowlitz Farm, George B. Roberts, who had been transferred from Fort Vancouver, recorded other methods of using livestock manure for fertilizing, including using Indians to cart manure, presumably from the barns, to the fields to spread, and fertilizing the land with "muck from the pig sties." Although no specific mention of hauling manure to the fields at Fort Vancouver has been found, it seems likely the practice was employed at the post. [217] In 1841 shepherds tending sheep enclosed within movable pens at Fort Nisqually were provided with prefabricated houses mounted on wheels, built at Fort Vancouver, in which they could live while following their charges. [218]

Seed

Initially, seed for crops was sent from London. The only available list of seeds sent directly to Fort Vancouver from London was in 1831. Eliminating those seeds obviously intended for garden use, the following varieties were definitely sent to Fort Vancouver: Early Green Pease (1 G.); Early White Pease (1 G.); Early White Turnip (10 lb.); Early Yellow Turnip (10 lb.); Dutch Turnip (2 lb.); Lapland Turnip (1 Lb); Yellow Swedish Turnip (6 lb); Flax (1 bu.); Hemp (1 bu.); Rye Grass (2 bu.); Timothy Grass (1 bu.); White Clover (6 lb); Red Clover (6 lb.) Early Angus oats (1 bu); Early Potatoe (1 bu); Winter Wheat (1 bu). [219] In the 1820s McLoughlin saved most of the harvested crops for seed. Also, as noted earlier, the London Horticultural Society sent packets of seeds to Fort Vancouver at the behest of David Douglas, but to date, it is not known what varieties were sent. [220] It appears, however, that as time passed, most of the seed for field crops was gathered from the previous year's harvest. In 1838, the Rev. Herbert Beaver noted, Those [potatoes] for seed, and rations for the men, were housed at the proper season, but none for the use of the dwellers in the Fort..." [221] James Douglas directed Angus McDonald at Fort Nisqually to reserve "a sufficient quantity of grain of every kind for seed, both for our own farm and to supply the settlers..." [222]

There is some evidence that McLoughlin experimented with different varieties of crops, although it is not known if it was to determine the value of imported seeds, which continued throughout the history of the post, or if it was a result of his own attempts at hybridizing. In 1841 Lieutenant George Emmons was shown a "small bed of wheat" adjoining the fort "...that Dr. McL. sowed for a sample, among this I saw 88 distinct shoots or spears of wheat springing from one seed and upon counting the kernels in one had found that they averaged about 60 making a total increase of 5279 kernels!" [223]

Planting

Generally speaking, the process for planting began with plowing the soil, sowing the seed, and then harrowing. On poorer soils, the land may have been cross-plowed, as it was at Nisqually. [224] Periodically, seed may have been sown before plowing, to plant it deeper, as it was on at least one occasion at Cowlitz Farm. [225] Plowing and sowing times depended on the weather and the crop. According to Nathaniel Wyeth, at the post in 1832-33," ploughing is commonly done all the winter," apparently as long as there was no frost on the ground. [226] In October of 1838, Chief Trader James Douglas reported "breaking up the summer fallows" to plant one hundred acres of wheat before November. [227]

Oats, peas, potatoes, barley and buckwheat, and turnips were sown in the early spring, as was the fall wheat. [228] On at least one occasion, potatoes were planted in June. [229] Turnips and colewart for seed, and timothy and clover were supposed to be planted on at least one occasion in December or January at Fort Nisqually, and that practice may have been in effect at Fort Vancouver as well. [230] Some potatoes were planted in the fall, to provide early potatoes for the table in the spring, and winter wheat was also planted then. The quantities of seed planted must have increased during this period, given the reports of yields. In the 1837 season Chief Trader James Douglas reported planting 139 bushels of wheat, 130 of oats, 51 of barley, 176 of peas, and 270 of potatoes.

According to Thomas Famham, who was at Fort Vancouver in 1839, "Twenty or thirty ploughs tear open the generous soil. the sowers follow with their seed, and pressing on them come a dozen harrows to cover it; thus thirty or forty acres are planted in a day." [231] However, George Roberts later recalled: "I don't think the number of men in the whole Columbia Department exceeded 300--we employed a great many indians at Vancouver often 8 to ten ploughs & as many harrows running with them..." [232] Perhaps Roberts was referring to just the number of plows and harrows operated by natives. Archibald McKinlay later said the farm "run about twenty ploughs during the ploughing season on all lands in the neighborhood of Vancouver." [233] By the 1840s, the company was using cast iron plows of at least two designs; plows were drawn by oxen and by horses. [234] When Daniel Harvey arrived at Fort Vancouver in 1841, he brought with him a "new kind of draining plough" for use in light soils. [235] At the Cowlitz farm a "2 Wheel plough" and a "big Norfolk Plough" were used. [236] Sowing was probably originally done by hand, but by 1843 McLoughlin had requisitioned a seed drill, probably for the grains; it is entirely possible a drill was used prior to that time--they had been available from English agricultural warehouses as early as 1821. [237]

Harvesting

Grain harvest seems to have followed typical agricultural practices of the first half of the nineteenth century. Farnham said, "sickle and hoe glisten in tireless activity to gather in the rich reward." A catholic priest at the fort in the early 1840s said the grain "is cut with scythe and cradle," so at least by this time, the cradle--used by a few farmers in the United States by 1820, but still not in common use there thirty years later--was in use along with the hand-held scythe at Fort Vancouver. [238]

In 1836 McLoughlin had asked the Company's secretary in London to obtain information about a new type of reaping machine that had undergone trials in Scotland and that he had read about in Loudon's Encyclopaedia of Agriculture. If they performed as indicated, he asked that two be sent to Fort Vancouver, even if the cost were high. There is no indication these machines were ever sent to the post. [239] The machines were probably mechanical harvesters, operated with the use of horses or oxen, performing as fast or better than the best human harvester and with a better yield of grain; however, in the 1830s, the development of reaping machines was in its infancy--it wasn't until 1834 that Cyrus McCormick in the United States patented the first of his machines. [240]

The majority of the grain harvest was typically held in the summer and fall. In 1844, Thomas Lowe's journal recorded harvest began on July 24, both "near the Fort and also at the Saw Mill plain," and that by August 18 the wheat and oats were "...all cut and carted in." [241] In 1838, George Robert's Thermometrical Register recorded the barley planted in June was high enough to mow on July 19, but it was not mown until September 19; the fall wheat was ripe on July 22, and on August 2 the oats were ripe. The spring barley was in by June 1. [242]

After cutting and binding, the sheaves were carted to barns until they could be threshed and winnowed. The barns according to George Roberts, were... "rude affairs & loss was often sustained by the wheat heating in this moist close climate." [243] The Rev. Herbert Beaver reported in 1838 that grain not processed for immediate consumption for the depot, "...after lying for several years in stack, not to reckon the quantity destroyed by vermin, becomes from dirt almost unfit for use, as our bread at sundry times has testified. If thrashed, and kept in granaries, it would not spoil in the same manner..." [244] Until 1839, there was no granary at Fort Vancouver, and with a limited labor supply, grain threshing was often delayed until the winter months when other activities at the post had slackened. This practice was not atypical in North America.

By 1829 thrashing was done with horses, "in the circus," probably a wood or dirt treading floor located in a barn. [245] By 1834 a horse-powered threshing mill was being used on the farm, probably a sweep or lever type of power, with horses walking in a circle to operate a geared arrangement. This type of machine was popular in the 1830s and '40s in the States and in Europe. [246] Thomas Farnham referred to "...a barn containing a mammoth threshing machine; and near this are a number of long sheds, used for storing grain in the sheaf," when he visited the post in 1839. [247] This was probably the same machine seen in 1834--such mills were generally not moved about because of their size. By the early 1840s, however the farm had portable machines, which were generally available by the 1830s, and typically used in large operations or by custom threshers in the States. In 1841, "...an apparatus for flailing is transported from one barn to the other immediately after the harvest in order to save the grain from a prodigious number of mice which leave only the straw in the sheaves," was reported as operating at the post. [248] By 1844 the post had two imported, four horse-powered thrashing machines from England, and one "country made," apparently at Fort Vancouver [249]

After threshing, grain, peas and grass seed had to be cleaned by winnowing. Probably at first, this was done by hand, with the wind used to carry away the chaff, dust and dirt. But fanning mills were in use in Europe prior to 1820, and it is probable this labor-saving device was used at Fort Vancouver fairly early on. By 1844 the post's inventory included a pair of "English Fanners" and another, "country made." [250] At the Cowlitz farm, the workers operating the threshing mill also passed the seeds through the fans. [251] After the Company's granary was finished in 1839, the seed was stored there.

Crops other than grains were thrashed--peas, clover, flax and timothy were processed this way at Cowlitz, and probably at Fort Vancouver. The peas had to dry after harvesting, and before thrashing.

Potatoes were generally cultivated by hand, planted in the spring and harvested in the late fall for seed and for rations for the posts. [252] Apparently those intended for use on Fort Vancouver's tables were left in the ground, and harvested just prior to use. [253] Garden peas were planted in the early spring, and ready "for the table" in May; field peas were harvested in mid-summer. [254]