Fort Vancouver Cultural Landscape Report

Site
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Fort Plain (continued)

Fields and Pastures

The discussion of Fort Plain's fields and pastures is confined to the area south of Upper Mill Road and east of "river road." The history of the fields north of Upper Mill Road has already been discussed. The area west of "river road," now called Kanaka Village, is covered in the Kanaka Village section.

Cultivated Fields and Pastures

As noted earlier, in 1846 the Company had at least four locations under cultivation on Fort Plain south of Upper Mill Road. There is no record of what was specifically grown in these fields during this period. James Douglas reported harvests of wheat, peas and oats in 1847-48; after that field crop references were made primarily to wheat, or to "grain," which could include oats. As discussed earlier, oats were grown in the early '50s in a field east of the schoolhouses above Upper Mill Road. A portion of the southeast fields may have been sown in clover or timothy hay: Dr. Henry Tuzo said that by 1853 two thousand acres of land on Fort Plain and Lower Plain "...had been enclosed and sown with timothy grass by the Company..." [1038] From William Crate's later testimony, it appears that if some of the timothy was enclosed, it was in one of the fields in the southeast area of Fort Plain, and not near the stockade. [1039] William Crate later testified that just before the Company left Fort Vancouver "...the military took possession of the last field in which they grew their potatoes." [1040] It seems quite possible this was the enclosed field directly south of the fort, where potatoes had been grown in 1844; the area along the river due south of it, in 1859, was noted on military maps as "public pasture." [1041]

Whether or not timothy was actually grown in one of the enclosed fields, as Dr. Tuzo described, there seems to be no question it was grown in unenclosed areas of Fort Plain and Lower Plain by the 1850s, as noted earlier. Since livestock were probably roaming the plain in 1846, the fields indicated on the 1846 Covington farm map were probably all fenced. The 1855 Covington sketch shows the same fence enclosing the north and west sides of the field northeast of the stockade that the 1846-47 that the Stanley painting shows. It also depicts a fence extending north-south along the east edge of the field well south of the stockade, where it appears to make a turn to the west. This illustration conforms with the 1854 Bonneville and Mansfield maps, which indicate fencing around this field. The Covington illustration, however, unlike the maps, shows a fence extending east, parallel to the stockade, along what would have been the south edge of Lower Mill Road next to the stockade, terminating at the east fence line of the field. The maps do not show this extension; they show the lower field's north fence terminating near the southeast corner of the fort, enclosed by a north-south fence running to the south fence of the lower field.

An 1851 Gibbs sketch shows the zigzag fence along the west edge of the orchard site, and what appears to be the same style of fence enclosing its south boundary, extending west from the stockade. It also shows the north fence of the lower field south of the fort, which appears to be pole or rail fencing, and parts of the west and southeast edges of the same field; the south fence appears to be a zigzag fence.

The 1854 Bonneville and Mansfield maps also seem to indicate fencing of the long rectangular field northeast of the fort, and east of the north-south road between the fields which later tied in with the road parallel to Lower Mill Road, but this is not illustrated on the 1855 sketches. Both these maps seem to differentiate fencing types by the graphics used to depict the field edges; unfortunately, they are not entirely consistent with the illustrations. For example, the Bonneville map shows the field south of the fort enclosed, as the Gibbs sketch suggests, with post and rail fencing along its north and west edge, and zigzag fencing along the south and east borders. But it also shows post and rail fencing along the north and west edges of the orchard, which conflicts both with the 1855 Covington sketch and the 1860 Boundary Commission photograph. There are no known illustrations of the fields to the far southeast of the fort.

The 1851 Gibbs sketch looking towards the stockade from the village also shows five tall firs, notable in the absence of any other tall trees on the plain, which were clearly landmarks. One of these was in the fenced area of the orchard site, towards the south end of the enclosure. The other four were spaced along the south edge Lower Mill Road, between the village and the stockade. These trees were also recorded by Paul Kane (1846-47), by the painting attributed to Stanley (1846-47), on the 1846 Covington stockade area map, and on the anonymous Topographic Map of Fort Vancouver and Vicinity, dated 1855.

Structures

By 1854 squatter William Ryan--probably the same Ryan of "Ryan's dwelling" north of the stockade--had made a claim and begun improvements along the river and at the west end of the cultivated field in the southeast end of Fort Plain; it appears that he also appropriated the barns west of the field. Dugald Mactavish later testified that Ryan, "...close to the fort, ran fences across Fort Plain where the Company's stock used to pasture and which had all been sown with timothy...Some proceedings were taken by me against...Ryan but with little effect." [1042] Isaac Ebey reported in 1854 that Ryan claimed 640 acres, and "has a good farm, about thirty acres of land in cultivation." [1043] William Crate later testified, regarding the timothy seed sown by the Company, that Ryan, along with Nye--another squatter who claimed fields and pastures east of Ryan, including Mud Lake--and squatters on Lower Plain "cut large quantities of timothy hay on these lands and sold it." [1044] It appears that Nye's claim encompassed the small Company field in the southeasternmost corner of Fort Plain by 1859.

The piggery shown on the 1845 Vavasour map does not show up in the next map showing the site, although a structure is located on the 1855 Topographic Sketch of Fort Vancouver and Environs very near the same location. Since the name "Pambrum" is associated with the structure, and since Alexandre Pambrun was one of the claimants on Fort Plain, it may be the structure shown on this map is a dwelling; a structure in this vicinity was called out in the Van Vleet survey of 1860 as "Penbram's house." By 1859, there are two small structures and an enclosed field in this location, identified as Pambrun's on the 1859 Covington map. [1045] For some years Pambrun was in dispute with William Ryan over claim of the lands east of the stockade.

According to army officer Theodore Talbot, in 1849, there were "...many other houses scattered about the [Fort] plain built by officers of that [the Modeste] ship." [1046] The location of these dwellings, is, at present unknown. [1047] As mentioned earlier, there were two dwellings near the river, immediately south of the fort shown on the 1846 Covington stockade area map, which may have been built by and/or for members of the Modeste crew: one is labeled "servant's house," and the other "Drake's House." In 1849 the stables were rented by the army. By 1859 the dwellings and the Modeste stable were encompassed within the claim of squatter O.B. McFadden, who had apparently laid out a cultivated field in a long narrow strip along the river at least as early as 1855. In 1855 McFadden's claim was somewhat smaller, but he apparently waited out another claimant, a "Lovelace," to the east, and had incorporated Lovelace's strip along the river into his claim by 1859.

By around 1855, there was a new building south of the fort along the river, west of the Modeste stables and McFadden's claim. A short road ran from near this structure west, intersecting river road, and then followed the wide path or road that ran along the river south of the hospital and other Kanaka Village structures in that vicinity, across the bridge over the mouth of the pond within Kanaka Village, and terminated at the Company's wharf. In 1859, this structure and road were still in existence. It is presently unknown what this structure was.

By 1858, Dr. Henry Tuzo said, east of the fort "...several barns and sheds, Dundas Castle and what remained of old Fort Vancouver, all were in the occupation of settlers." [1048] John Work testified that when he left in 1860, all that was left of the holdings at Fort Vancouver were "...two fields east of the fort containing about 50 acres and two small enclosures of land in front of the fort, containing about 12 acres, and the garden, about 4 acres. A portion of this land was claimed by 2 parties under the donation law, and the remainder was on the military reserve..." [1049]