Fort Vancouver Historic Structures Report

Furnishings

The "furnishings" of a retail general store would, of course, consist primarily of the counters, shelves, and drawers, which have already been discussed, and of the actual goods displayed for sale or held in reserve for replenishing shelves as needed. But there undoubtedly were also at hand various items of "furniture" of a different type, articles such as scales, funnels, and ledgers used to facilitate the conduct of business.

Unfortunately, the inventories of "articles in use" at Fort Vancouver for 1844 and 1845 contain no separate listing for the sale shop. It can only be assumed that the lists of articles in use "in Stores" included the items employed in the "Shop and Store" building as well as in the other warehouses. Articles inventoried as being in the Stores which might have been found in the sale shop include the following:

Small iron Beams & Copper Scales
Tin funnels
Sets tin Measures
Sets, brass weights
Sets iron weights, of sizes. [79]

No inventory of articles in use at Fort Vancouver for 1846 has yet been found, but the inventory taken in the spring of 1848 makes amends for earlier deficiencies. It not only includes a separate listing for the sale shop, but it itemizes even such pieces of furniture as a desk and a stool. Undoubtedly the changes in shop equipment between 1845 and 1848 were few. The 1848 inventory of articles in use in the sale shop is as follows:

2 counter Beams, with copper Scales
1 small counter Beam, with copper Scales
1 small brass Scales & weights, for Specie
6 assorted tin Pans
3 assorted tin Kettles
1 set Weights, 1/4 lb. @ [to] 14 lbs.

1 desk
1 Stool
1 Table

1 ivory Folder
2 glass cone Inkstands
2 Rulers

1 old Rifle [80]

Also in evidence undoubtedly were several account books (which will be described in chapter XIX) together with the necessary pencils, quill pens, and other writing materials of the period.

There was one item of furniture, however, that was conspicuous by its absence. Due to the fear of fire, no stoves or other means of heating were permitted in the shop or in the stores at Company posts. [81]

By far the most colorful part of the "furnishings" consisted of the goods offered for sale. Enough has been said about the manner in which they were displayed to serve as a guide for refurnishing, but it now remains to examine the stock itself in some detail.

For this purpose it seems desirable to reproduce the inventory of the Fort Vancouver sale shop for one of the years during the period in which we are particularly interested. That for 1844 has been chosen simply because it was encountered first in the Company's archives. Additional scattered items from the inventories of 1845 and 1846 have been listed also in order to give a more extended view of the items carried in stock.

It should be remembered that the inventories show only the goods on hand in the spring of each year and not the entire range of products offered at the start of the Outfit. [82] But they will certainly provide adequate guidance for all practical refurnishing purposes.

More complete lists of goods which might have been found in the sale shop when stocks were full will be found in the depot inventories appended to chapter XII. Perhaps still more complete lists could be garnered from the annual indents or invoices (lists of goods ordered from London) of the Columbia Department, but there seems to be no way of knowing which of these items were to be offered at the Fort Vancouver sale shop.

The inventory for 1844 is as follows:

Extracts from "Inventory of Sundry Goods property of the Honble. Hudsons Bay Company remaining on hand in Fort Vancouver Sale Shop Spring 1845." 85

Extracts from "Inventory . . . Fort Vancouver Sale Shop," spring, 1846. [86]

It will be noted that the items in the inventories quoted above are all articles imported from England, the Hawaiian Islands, or other overseas region. Yet it is known, from inventories at other posts, from settlers' narratives, and from individual accounts such as that of James Flett quoted earlier in this chapter, that the Company's sale shops stocked and sold a considerable amount of farm produce as well as items manufactured at the posts or purchased from the Indians. Such was certainly the case at Fort Vancouver. [87]

The annual inventories of the stock in the Fort Vancouver sale shop, at least during most of the 1840's, do not seem to list the locally produced articles on hand, but in the Company's archives in London there has been preserved a separate account book containing the so-called "country produce" inventories in the Columbia District for Outfit 1840/41 [Outfit 1840]. The rather brief list relating to the Fort Vancouver sale shop is as follows:

Fort Vancouver Sale Shop Outfit 1840

Country Produce & Country made articles remaining on hand spring 1841