Fort Vancouver Cultural Landscape Report

Site
(continued)

Fort Plain (continued)

Stockade

New Buildings

Hudson's Bay Company millwright William Crate, who returned to Fort Vancouver in 1849, claimed two new buildings--a store and a dwelling--were put up within the stockade after 1849. [930] According to historian John Hussey, three or four buildings were constructed within the stockade between 1846 and 1860. One of these was the watchman's house, located just northeast of the southeast stockade gate, which is first seen on the 1854 Bonneville map, and last seen on the sketch made by the army in 1860, labeled Porter's Lodge. The dwelling Crate referred to appears to have been this structure. The store Crate referred to may have been one of the two buildings shown in the northeast corner of the stockade in the 1854 Bonneville map: a new harness shop, or part of the old one noted on the Vavasour map of 1845, or a butcher's shop, first mentioned in an 1854 army appraisal of Company buildings. The other building constructed after 1847 was a new kitchen for the Chief Factor's house, replacing one destroyed c. 1852-3. [931]

In January of 1848, Thomas Lowe recorded the construction of a second bastion, apparently located on the southeast corner of the stockade: "A Bastion has been put up to day in front of the Fort, which the men have been working at for some time past, and they have put the two long eighteen pounders in the lower, part, but there will be little or no room to work them properly." [932] This structure, for which little archaeological evidence has yet been found, and the 1845 bastion on the northwest corner, were the only ones built at the Fort Vancouver stockade. If one looks closely at the 1854 Bonneville map, it is evident that the southeast corner of the palisade protrudes slightly to the east, an irregularity in the line of the pickets which occurs only in one other place on the map--where the bakehouse extended from the east wall. It is possible this projection was a bastion, of sorts, built into the stockade walls, probably when the south wall of the stockade was moved six feet further south, some time between February of 1848, when Thomas Lowe noted in his journal that new pickets were being erected "in front of the fort," and 1854, the date of the Bonneville map, where the east gate of the south wall has been moved west. [933] Oliver Jennings, at the fort in March of 1851, noted: "The Hudson's Bay Co.'s fort is built of Palisades, or upright posts, about twenty feet high with two bastions at opposite corners, mounted with Cannon, and also block houses by the gates and a large cannon in each, so as to rake the whole length of the Fort, outside." [934] Colonel E.A. Hitchcock, in September of 1851, noted that Fort Vancouver had "...a picket-work with block houses near the river," and Governor Isaac Stevens, said in his report to the U.S. state department in 1854, "The post is enclosed by a stockade of 200 by 175 yards, twelve feet in height, and is defended by bastions on the northwest and southeast angles, mounted with cannon. " [935]

Gradual Decay

Millwright William Crate said he was in charge of keeping the buildings at the fort "in repair," beginning in 1853. Testifying in 1865, in response to a query regarding the condition of the buildings, Crate said his work included putting new sills and blocks under buildings that needed them, and that maintenance on the fort structures employed about five men. [936] Thomas Lowe, who testified he last saw the buildings in 1850, stated that at that time they were "in good condition." [937] It is evident, however, that during this period of transition, the managers of the Hudson's Bay Company post had neither the manpower, material resources, or even much reason, to keep the assemblage of structures within the fort, built to support its fur-trading--and later agricultural--enterprises, in good repair.

P.W. Crawford, who visited the fort in 1847, noted the appearance of the stockade: "Round timbers from The natural firm Tree with the Bark all on in diameter from Twelve to fourteen even some Eighteen inches--firmly placed in The ground..." Honore-Timothee Lempfrit noted in the fall of 1849 that "The fort is built within a strong palisade of wooden timbers ten and more inches thick and over thirty feet in height." [938] Artist Paul Kane, visiting in the winter of 1846-47 said the palisade was sixteen feet high, "with bastions for cannon at the corners." [939] At this time, it is not clear when the south wall of the stockade was shifted six feet south, where archaeological investigations have revealed a second line of pickets, but documentary evidence tends to suggest it was between 1848, when the southeast bastion was built, and 1854, when the Bonneville map shows that the southeast gate was moved west. When construction of this new wall was complete, the stockade had reached its greatest dimensions, approximately 732 feet long and 325 feet wide. [940]

As previously noted, Thomas Lowe recorded the demolition of the old church in the middle of the central court within the stockade in June of 1846, and that only the (old) office remained "...to break the full sweep of the Fort Yard," but that Captain Baillie, commander of the Modeste, was living in the new office, delaying the Company's move into it. [941] It was probably not until after the Modeste departed in May of 1847, that the old office was demolished, clearing the central court of all buildings. A watercolor by Lieutenant T.P. Coode, an officer on the Modeste, shows the old office still in place within the courtyard; Coode's sketch is the earliest known three-dimensional depiction of the stockade's interior, and with the exception of the old office, presents a view of the courtyard as it appeared near the time of the Fort's greatest influence. [942]

The Coode sketch also shows, as noted earlier, a path ringing the courtyard at its west end. It is interesting to compare Coode's 1846-47 graphic with a map prepared by Lieutenants Wheeler and Dixon, under the direction of Captain George Thom in 1859. The latter depicts paths or roads within the stockade--the only known map to do so. Its accuracy is unknown, although certain features seem to conform to known archaeological and graphic evidence. The north path, extending from the sale shop east to the bachelor's quarters is also shown on the Coode drawing; it does not, however, delineate any path along the front of the provision store or the new store, as Coode shows. The map does show paths or roads where one would expect them, extending from the three gates of the stockade to the interior. The north gate stockade road, identified archaeologically between the chief factor's house and the priest's house as compacted soil, crosses the north path shown by Coode, and then apparently sweeps on an arc towards the c. 1848 southeast gate, just west of the watchman's house. A second path springs from the same intersection of the north gate road and the north inner path, and runs diagonally to the approximate location of an entrance to the Bachelor's quarters. The southwest gate road runs between the fur store and the provision store, as described by P.W. Crawford in 1847, and then splits, crossing the yard diagonally to the sale shop and to a path leading to the new office. As noted earlier, an 1860 Boundary Commission photograph shows what appears to be the remains of a planked road leading from the southwest gate abruptly terminating towards the center of the courtyard; perhaps this is where the road or path split. There is no indication on this map of a road or path leading from the earlier southeast gate, west of the missionary store building. The composition of these paths, or how they were distinguished from the general surface material of the courtyard is unknown.

Structural features within the stockade, other than buildings, during this period include at least two belfries. The first is the one referred to by Thomas Lowe in 1844, termed the "second belfry," erected in 1844, and standing until around 1855, located north of the new office and west of the jail. The third belfry, located approximately in the center of the courtyard, can be seen on two of the 1860 Boundary Commission photographs, and dates between 1855, where it seems to appear in the Covington bird's eye view, and 1860, when the photographs were taken. [943]

As noted earlier, the second flagstaff, erected in the mid-1830s, was located archaeologically; this was blown down in September of 1844, according to Thomas Lowe, and a new one was erected in the same location and lasted until at least 1855. It was situated near the middle of the south stockade wall, as it existed prior to its expansion in 1844-45, near the southeast corner of the fur store. [944]

During this period three wells were located within the stockade, all of which have been identified archaeologically. The "second" and "third" wells have already been discussed. A third well, called the "fourth" well, was located by archaeologists in 1973, in the approximate location of fire fighting equipment shown in an 1860 Boundary Commission photograph looking towards the west end of the courtyard. The well was just north of the third belfry, 147 feet north of the south wall. This "fourth well" was at least in existence by 1854, when the existence of three wells were recorded by the army. [945]

Thirty-three latrines, or privies, have been located archaeologically within the stockade and historical documentary evidence describing them is slight. The pattern of the location of privies, as noted, seems to have been to locate them between the backs of buildings and the stockade walls; as the stockade expanded over the years, the privies were apparently moved. For this period, then, privies found to date by archaeologists, which still may have been in use total around eighteen: the sale shop privy, west of the sale shop and south of the root house, against the west wall of the stockade; probably three privies north of the second carpenter's shop, one behind the Chaplain's kitchen/Owyhee Church/Schoolhouse, two behind the chief factor's second kitchen, and two or three behind the second bakehouse, along the north stockade wall; two north of the third bakehouse, and six east of the Bachelor's Quarters along the east wall, and one south of the missionary store along the south wall. Since it is probable not all privies have been found, and since it is also likely that of those found clustered in one area were not all in use simultaneously, the numbers are only rough estimates. [946]

The position and location of all fences within the stockade, like the privies, are to some extent problematic. To date, only the portions of the fencing near the Chief Factor's house have been found archaeologically; graphic and documentary evidence indicates a total of twenty-nine fence lines. Fences that may have been in existence in the late 1830s and early 1840s, may have continued to stand into at least the mid-1850s. The 1860 Boundary Commission photographs of the stockade interior show the picket fence enclosing the front and part of the sides of the Chief Factor's house, as does the Coode 1846-47 watercolor. The army's ground plan of abandoned buildings, prepared in June of 1860, shows a fence extending from the southeast corner of the new store to the south stockade wall. [947]

In the fall of 1849 Major D.H. Vinton, U.S. Army quartermaster, surveyed the fort. He evaluated the construction costs of the structures within the "Fort proper" as worth $40,000. [948] In October of that year, post Quartermaster Rufus Ingalls rented the lower half of the Company's fur store within the stockade, to serve as a storehouse for the army's quartermaster and commissary departments; the rental of this space continued until 1859, although a new army storehouse was completed near the river in 1858. [949] The building, according to Ingalls, was "never fit for the storage of valuable property." [950]

Between 1846 and 1860, at least four buildings had disappeared from within the stockade: the old office, discussed above; the beef store/general store #18 in the northwest corner of the stockade, which is missing from the Bonneville map of 1854; the Owyhee Church/schoolhouse and the second chief factor's house kitchen, both of which were demolished according to Dugald Mactavish, prior to 1858. Another structure missing from an 1860 inventory of buildings is a well house, listed in the 1846-47 inventory of buildings within the stockade; it has been postulated that this structure enclosed the "second well," discussed above. Also, one building in the northeast corner of the stockade--possibly a harness shop--may have disappeared between 1859 and 1860. [951]

Dr. Henry Tuzo, at Fort Vancouver between 1853-58, later said that on the east side was a two-story bakehouse with ovens; two-story frame kitchen, a long row of dwellings for officers and their families; store used for iron; a blacksmith's forge, and the Indian shop.

On the north, a dwelling for the "officer in charge, with extensive cellars beneath, another dwelling, also a counting house and a prison, also a large and well fitted up granary, a carpenter's shop, an excellent roots house, and a press house." To the west was a "...large two-story sale shop, a similar store, fire-proof powder magazine built of brick and stone with arched roof and copper doors..." and to the south, "two large warehouses, one of which was for some years occupied by the military as a quarter master and commissary dept store; also a watchman's house... " [952] The location of the "press house," whether a separate structure or included in one of the other buildings, is not known at present. By late 1853 or early 1854, according to Isaac Stevens, the buildings within the stockade were "...old and considerably decayed, only the repairs necessary to keep them in tenantable order having of late years been expended." [953]

By 1858, Dugald Mactavish later testified, two structures had been "pulled down" within the stockade: a kitchen, 60 by 24 feet, now known to be the chief factor's house's second kitchen, and a "dwelling house 50 x 25 feet..." which has been determined to refer to the Owyhee Church/schoolhouse, north of the priest's house, just west of the north stockade road. [954]

After the Company abandoned Fort Vancouver in June of 1860, a board of army officers was convened by General Harney to evaluate the stockade buildings. The board prepared a report and a sketch of the stockade's plan. Neither the plan nor the list mention two structures which can be seen as extant in the 1860 Boundary Commission photograph of the northwest end of the stockade: an open-sided, hip-roofed structure just north and east of the sale shop, and a gable-roofed building with eaves at or near grade; the latter has been identified as the root house.

The board did identify and list twenty-two structures still standing within the fort at the time of its abandonment. On the north, these were the granary; the carpenter's shop; the "new" office; the jail; the priest's house; the chief factor's house, the chief factor's kitchen; the butcher's shop. On the east, still standing were the (third) bakehouse, the bachelor's quarters, and the iron store, referred to as a small store house. To the south, the (second) blacksmith's shop, the missionary store/(third) fur store ("fur house"), the watchman's house ("porter's lodge"), the (second) fur store, rented by the army; the provision store, and the powder magazine. On the west, the new store, the sale shop, and, in the northwest corner, the bastion. Of these buildings, all but a few were described as "uninhabitable," "entirely out of repair," or in a "ruinous condition." Several of these were noted to have been "long abandoned by the Company:" the iron store, the blacksmith shop, the missionary store/fur house, the carpenter's shop, and the jail. Those not specifically mentioned as decayed were the watchman's house ("useless for any military purpose"), the second fur store, the provisions store and the new store ("Three large storehouses, useless for any purpose connected with the public service"); the sale shop ("unsuitable for any military purpose"); the granary; the powder magazine, and the "new" office. Of all these buildings, only the office, noted as in "tolerable repair" was noted as possibly of some use to the military, on a temporary basis. [955]

Within the next decade, and mostly within the years immediately following 1860, the buildings within the stockade, and the stockade itself, disappeared. William Crate later testified that after Grahame left in June, "I saw the soldiers taking down the buildings inside the fort, though not all." [956] Demolition was halted in late June or early July by order of the Secretary of War, who sent an order to the commander of the Department of Oregon on June 7 to suspend actions leading to the termination of the Company's occupation. By then, some structures had been demolished, and others were partially dismantled. That summer the U.S. Army lodged noncommissioned officers, the band and laundresses of the Ninth Infantry in part of the stockade buildings still standing. [957] By 1863, Crate said part of the stockade and a few buildings were still extant; that same year civilian J.W. Nesmith said in later testimony, the pickets and structures had "nearly all rotted away and fallen down." [958] By 1865-66 a fire had swept through part of the site, leaving only ruins. [959]

Structures associated with the Stockade

Exterior of Stockade's Southeast Corner

As discussed previously, archaeological investigations in this area in 1987 and 1991 indicate at least one--and probably several other dwellings were located outside the the southeast corner of the stockade before its expansion east in 1841. [960] Illustrations of the south side of the fort, post-dating 1845, are limited. Both the painting attributed to John Mix Stanley, c. 1846-47, and the Paul Kane sketch of 1846-47 show buildings on the southeast side, after the extension of the stockade. The 1846 Covington stockade area map shows three structures in a row, east of the fort, the one nearest the stockade is the largest. What appears to be the corner of this building appears in the Stanley painting, although it appears to be set back to the north. Three structures are also seen in the Kane sketch--one large gable-roofed structure, and two smaller gable roofed structures to the east. Again, in this sketch, the larger building appears set farther to the north. The Bonneville map of 1854 shows two buildings, the one nearest the stockade set back slightly to the north, and the one to the east longer than the footprint showing on the Covington map. The 1855 Topographic Sketch of Fort Vancouver shows three buildings in a north-south row along the east stockade wall, entirely at odds with any of the other graphic materials. By 1859 the configuration of the buildings has changed again, with a smaller building set well back to the north nearest the stockade, the longer or enlarged building to the east, and a smaller structure behind it. Another version of the Harney map shows another configuration of three small buildings, in a staggered east-west row. The ground plan prepared by the army in June of 1860 shows three buildings of approximately equal size in an east-west row, and a fourth, perpendicular to the row at the east end.

As noted previously, the largest and westernmost structure on the 1846 Covington stockade area map is labeled "Cooper's shed." [961] Historian John Hussey discusses the cooper's shed in detail, and indicates that coopering at the Company post ceased in 1854-55; Dr. Henry Tuzo, at the fort between 1853 and 1858, noted that there was a large cooper's shop outside the fort on the east, but he does not say how long it continued to function as such. [962] The building may have lasted through 1860, although at some point it would have been reduced in size, if the relative scale of the maps of 1859 and 1860 are to be believed. The army board inventorying the post in June of 1860 noted that there were four "hovels, outside of and near the southeast corner of the pickets, in a dilapidated condition." [963] By 1853, there were, according to Dr. Tuzo, "...three dwellings for subordinate officers... "outside the fort to the east. [964] Presumably two of these, at least, were the structures east of the cooperage, perhaps, in light of recent archaeological investigations, remnants of a larger collection of dwellings pre-dating 1841. The third dwelling's location is problematic, given the evidence from the maps, and the timing. The elongated building to the east of the cooper's shop, shown on the Bonneville map could have served as two dwellings, especially since on the map, the building has a dividing line. But there is no indication of a third dwelling, in addition to the cooper's shop, until the 1860 map, which was after Tuzo had left Fort Vancouver.

Root Houses

As noted earlier, there was one, and perhaps two structures serving as root houses in 1846-47 in the northwest corner of the field north of the stockade and west of the north stockade road. While they can be seen on two circa 1846-47 illustrations--the painting attributed to John Mix Stanley, and the Paul Kane sketch--they are not recorded on any other known sketches or maps from that date on. While it might be observed that the structures were too small to record, the garden summerhouse, which could not have been much larger than either of these, described as sixty by twenty feet, is clearly visible in several drawings and maps up to 1855. Since no reference is made to an ice house until the testimony of two men, John Work and Dr. Henry Tuzo--the latter did not arrive at the fort until 1853--perhaps one of these two structures was converted to an ice house for a brief period of time; the need for storage of seed potatoes and great quantities for employee rations would have, by that time, been much diminished. This, however, does not explain the absence of graphically-depicted evidence of these two structures in the 1850s.

Ice House

For a discussion of this structure, see the individual listings in the section "North of Upper Mill Road," below.