Fort Vancouver Historic Structures Report

Furnishings

a. General remarks. A number of visitors to Fort Vancouver made written mentions of certain items of furniture which they observed in the Big House at Fort Vancouver. In addition, there are many pieces of furniture, silveware, earthenware, and jewelry in existence today which are said, upon authority of varying credibility, to have once been used in the manager's residence. And archeological excavations on the sites of the Big House and its adjacent kitchen, as well as at nearby trash pits, have produced sundry artifacts and literally thousands of fragments of ceramic dishes, cups, and other pieces of tableware, many of which undoubtedly graced the groaning boards of the mess hall and the family sitting rooms.

Despite all this evidence, however, we really know very little about how the Big House was furnished. The existing testimony and the claimed association pieces generally raise more questions than they settle. And there are many aspects of the furnishings concerning which we have no evidence whatever.

Under such circumstances, one would ordinarily recommend refurnishing with items which might be found in a typical English or Canadian home of people of equal economic and social position during the same period. After all, Vancouver, having direct communication by ship with London, was scarcely in the same position as the inland posts, where many items had to be imported by bateau or pack animal. But to act on the assumption that imported articles of furniture were commonly found at Fort Vancouver would be to ignore certain facts about the policies and operations of the Hudson's Bay Company.

In 1836 the firm's chaplain at the post, the Reverend Mr. Herbert Beaver, complained that his furniture was rough and his rooms were uncarpeted. Chief Factor McLoughlin was indignant at these demands for what he held to be luxuries. "I consider people ought to satisfy themselves with such things as the country affords," he wrote to the Governor and Committee in London, "and I am Averse to the Introduction of any thing in the country which may lead to unnecessary Expence. Mr. Beavers house is the Best in the Fort. If he is Allowed carpets and imported furniture -- has not every Gentleman in the place a Right to the same Indulgence." [160]

The situation more generally throughout the Company's far flung posts was made clear by Henry Martin Robinson who wrote of a time somewhat later than the period with which we are concerned but whose remarks were applicable to the firm's operations over a long span of years. He said:

As to the comforts of upholstery and furniture in the messroom, and indeed, throughout the entire establishment, but little attention is paid to it. The constantly recurring changes of residence, occasioned by the necessities of their condition, render the officers of the Company as a class, somewhat careless about the accommodations afforded by their houses. At remote stations, the most simple articles of furniture are held to be sufficient, and shifts are made to adapt different objects to uses not contemplated by their makers. The strong, compact wooden trunks or travel-cases used in the country, for example, often constitute the chief pieces of furniture -- if we except, perhaps, a bedstead -- and do duty as chairs, tables, and wardrobe. At the larger posts, however, the residences are furnished with more of the appliances of civilization, and means exist whereby such as may be so inclined can render themselves very comfortable, especially as changes of appointments occur less frequently at headquarters than elsewhere. [161]

Certainly, as shall be seen in detail in the chapters on the Bachelors Quarters and the "Priests' House," the testimony of witnesses amply supports the case for simplicity, and even austerity, of furnishings at Fort Vancouver. But this evidence mainly concerns the living quarters of the clerks, the chaplains, the surgeon, and other lower-ranked "gentlemen," where the furniture was largely supplied by the Company. As a general rule, about all such persons brought with them when they reached the post was what could be contained in two or three of the ubiquitous cassettes, or small wooden trunks used to carry personal belongings throughout the area of the British fur trade, in one or two additional bundles or "pieces" for bedding, tent, clothes, and miscellaneous compressible items, and in a traveling basket for provisions and utensils. And when they left through transfer to another station or for retirement, they took with them about the same amount of baggage. [162]

At the Big House, however, somewhat different standards seem to have prevailed. In 1841 Assistant Surgeon Silas Holmes of the Wilkes expedition found McLoughlin's residence to be "well furnished." [163] Thomas Jefferson Farnham, an American traveler, had been much impressed two years earlier by the "elegant queen's ware" and the "glittering glasses and decanters" that graced the table in the mess hall. [164] It is probable then, that the chief factors did not have the same prejudice against imported items when these pertained to themselves rather than to the lesser employees.

Indeed, it was not uncommon for the chief factors at major posts and depots to live in comfortably furnished quarters. In 1840 Mrs. Letitia Hargrave, wife of the chief factor at York Factory on Hudson Bay, took great satisfaction in describing her sitting room, furnished with tables, a dark carpet, a sofa, her husband's large desk, and her piano. The curtains at the windows were held back by six curtain pins shaped "like so many sunflowers magnified." Mrs. Hargrave admitted that these pins, when they arrived in the annual shipment of invoiced goods from London, had been destined for a lady at Red River. But, she owned, "we seized them." With such autocratic authority, it is little wonder that the factors at major depots got the best of everything.

The Hargrave bedroom contained a French wardrobe painted green with black feet and "a broad stripe of palest yellow," two chests of drawers, a second wardrobe, two book cases, a screen for holding towels and drying cloths, two large mirrors, basin stands, a bed, and a night table. Even the large tin dishes on the stove were green-black and palest yellow in color to match all the other furniture except the basin stands and bed which were still in their original brown. [165], though evidently unfashionable,

With such unimpeachable testimony at hand, it is difficult and perhaps unrealistic not to go along with the romantics who have fostered the idea that chief factors lived with all the grace and elegant surroundings of wealthy West Indian planters. "A certain standard of life was observed at the posts," wrote the knowledgeable Margaret Arnett MacLeod, editor of The Letters of Letitia Hargrave. "Prominent officers usually had personal servants, and serving—men were trained for the officers' mess. Table service was important, and heads of districts usually had their monogrammed silver, and plate chests, and there was crystal on their tables. Donald Ross complained to Hargrave of the fragility of the crystal, saying, 'A man can almost blow the bottom out of the tumblers and as for the Wine glasses a person half seas over might easily swallow Glass and all without knowing any thing about the matter.' Angelique McKenzie's monogrammed silver is hallmarked 1830, and the silver tea service that graced her table at Isle a la Crosse is now in the beautiful Toronto home of a descendant." [166]

Dr. Burt Brown Barker, the great student of the life of Dr. John McLoughlin and a prime leader in the movement to refurnish the McLoughlin House at Oregon City, was a devoted exponent of the gracious living theory. "At Fort Vancouver," he wrote, "Dr. John McLoughlin could make an unusually fine display with the dining table and chairs, probably twenty-four in number, which the Hudson's Bay Company sent him from London. . . . The pair of candelabra, approximately twenty-four inches high, with silver tray and snuffer at hand, appropriately spaced on the table, flanking the sterling silver fruit dish, or castor as the occasion required, with a complete coffee or tea set at the end, supplemented by the pearl handled knives and forks with the accompanying spoons at each place, together with the dessert spoon and fork at the front of the plate, would be a setting to cheer the heart or any guest. Add to this picture . . . four decanters in silver holders on the sideboard." [167]

Undoubtedly there is much truth in these pictures. The mahogany tables, the graceful chairs, the crested silverware, and many other items of furnishings owned by a number of chief factors and other Company officers are still in existence, scattered among descendants or in public museums, restored houses, and other repositories. [168]

Unfortunately, the documentation for assertions such as "these were the dining room table and chairs, which were used originally in old Fort Victoria," or "the square desk belonged to Dr. McLoughlin at Fort Vancouver," is not always as firm as one would wish. It is possible that some of these items, even those now in the hands of, or acquired from, the factors' families, were originally purchased after the Hudson's Bay men had retired to comfortable homes in Oregon City, Victoria, or eastern Canada.

At any rate, before accepting the elegant living tradition in its entirety, it might be well to bear in mind that graceful appointments and imported furniture were far from universal in the Big Houses of the Company's establishments. Describing Christmas dinner in the mess hall at Fort Edmonton -- no unimportant post -- in 1847, the artist Paul Kane wrote: "No tablecloth shed its snowy whiteness over the board; no silver candelabra or gaudy china interferred with its simple magnificence. The bright tin plates and dishes reflected jolly faces. . . . "[169]

A visitor to Fort Simpson on the Northwest Coast as late as 1868 found the main room in the dwelling house furnished with a long table in the center. "This," he said, "with a row of chairs along the walls constituted almost the only furniture." [170] Even at York Factory, the chief depot for all of Rupert's Land, the winter mess hall, while it could boast of a mahogany table had only "country made" chairs, and the floor was uncarpeted. [171]

While it is known that Fort Vancouver had its tablecloths, candelabra, and gaily patterned china, it is virtually certain that some of the refinements of cultured domesticity had not yet reached this distant outpost by 1845. Mrs. Hargrave at York Factory wrote in 1840 that her tables, sofa, and even the desk and piano were "covered with green" while "the beds wear green blankets." She hastened to explain: "I didnt mean that all the blankets are green only the upper one. The rest are beautiful Yorkshire." [172] In other words the covers on the beds were blankets and not the elaborately worked bedspreads and quilts which are the darlings of present-day restorers of historic houses. It can be assumed that similar conditions prevailed at Fort Vancouver, if not in this exact respect then in others.

Clerk George B. Roberts probably hit upon the true explanation for at least a part of the enthusiasm with which visitors described the elegance of the Big House furnishings. "The decanters & fine English glass set off the table," he wrote in later years, "& made it look I suppose superb to those who had come across the country." [173]

Evidently most of the furniture in the Big House, except for the dinnerware and table utensils used in the mess hall, was the private property of the resident chief factors. At least the inventories of "articles in use" at Fort Vancouver do not permit the identification of such Company-owned items as may have been in the manager's dwelling. [174]

b. Mess Hall. Several eyewitnesses have left descriptions of the common dining room as it looked during Dr. McLoughlin's regime. From these we can garner a moderate amount of information about the hall's furnishings. In certain cases, the documentary data can be supplemented by what is known about actual pieces of furniture said to have been in the room, by information about similar items in general, and by comparison with what is known about the furnishings in dining rooms at other Company posts.

Stove. We have already noted Farnham's testimony that in 1839 the dining hall contained "a large close stove" in its southwest corner. [175] Although no further information seems to be available, it is most probable that this stove was manufactured by the Carron Company at Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scotland. Established in 1760, this firm "for generations" supplied heating equipment to fur traders and settlers in Canada. [176]

Carron stoves came in several sizes and shapes, but the form most favored by the fur trade was an oblong box mounted on short, curved legs. It came in six pieces, which could be disassembled for easy transport and storage. For this reason Carron stoves were found at posts throughout the Hudson's Bay Company's field of operations. [177]

A number of these stoves are still in existence. The present writer saw five or six in storage at Lower Fort Garry National Historic Park near Winnipeg in 1967, and there are several others at house museums scattered over a wide area in Canada. A very similar stove, though not bearing the name "Carron," said to have been brought from Fort Vancouver by Father F. N. Blanchet about 1839 to the Willamette Valley is now in the D. A. R. Memorial Cabin at Champoeg State Park, Oregon. [178]

Pictures of Carron stoves, or stoves of similar design, in use at various fur-trading posts will be found in plates LXIII, LXVII, LXVIII, LXIX, and LXX of the present report. From these pictures it will be noted that it was not unusual to extend the stovepipes for considerable distances. Evidently heat was considered more important than aesthetics.

It will also be observed that the stoves generally stood on a thin platform of metal or stone to protect the floors from fire. When the stoves were near walls, as evidently was the case in the Fort Vancouver mess hall, there were also protective shields or heat reflectors against the walls. At Fort Vancouver, the stoves in "the different Houses" were disassembled and stored each spring and set up again in the fall, seemingly as a further protection against the dreaded danger of fire. [179]

Dining table. In 1839 Farnham judged the table in the Fort Vancouver dining hall to be 20 feet in length. [180] Clerk George Roberts later recalled that during the 1830's and 1840's there were often from 12 to 30 persons, including visitors, taking meals in the hall. [181] If we allow 20 inches for each person along the two sides and place one person at each end, a 20-foot table would seat 26 men with some crowding. Therefore, the evidence given by Farnham and Roberts appears to be in general agreement. Presumably when some special occasion, such as the entertainment of the officers from H. M. S. Modeste, required the seating of more than 26 persons, the fort's carpenter was called in to rig an extension. [182]

Today, at McLoughlin House National Historic Site in Oregon City, the home to which Dr. John McLoughlin moved in 1846 after giving up his active role in Company affairs, there is a beautiful, solid mahogany dining table, "Georgian in style," which is said to have belonged to McLoughlin at Fort Vancouver. [183] Such may have been the case, but it perhaps was not the table from the mess hall. The existing table "when extended," wrote Dr. Burt Brown Barker, "is long enough to seat twelve persons comfortably." [184] So, despite Dr. Barker's conviction that the Oregon City table was the one the Hudson's Bay Company sent to Dr. McLoughlin from London, it scarcely can be the 20-foot table seen by Farnham in 1839.

But even if this table is not the one from the Fort Vancouver mess hall, there is no reason to deny that the common dining table was of mahogany. The winter mess room at York Factory possessed a mahogany table in 1843, and it is quite reasonable to suppose that the great western depot of the Company may have been equally favored. [185]

In addition to the large table, there was a "side table" at which visiting Indian notables were fed. Lieutenant Charles Wilkes in 1841 noted that Casenove, a local chief, could eat at the fort in this manner whenever he chose. [186] Four years later, Lieutenant Warre observed that both Casenove and a visiting chief from above The Dalles were admitted to the dining hall. [187]

Chairs. The chairs used in the mess hall present quite as much of a problem as does the table. No known source specifically mentions chairs, but it is obvious that there must have been a good number, probably as many as 30. York Factory, despite its gleaming mahogany table, had "home-made" chairs to go with it. [188] These probably resembled the locally manufactured chairs at Moose Factory illustrated in plates LXXII and LXXIII. At Fort Victoria in 1850 the dining room chairs were Windsor in design. [189] The Fort Walla Walla inventory of 1855 lists "11 Maple Chairs." [190]

At McLoughlin House National Historic site there are ten "solid mahogany" chairs of early Victorian style which, it is claimed, were sent, as was the table, from London by the Company for the Fort Vancouver dining room (see plate LXXI). These chairs originally were "probably twenty-four in number," according to Dr. Burt Brown Barker. [191]

The history of these handsome chairs is somewhat obscure. According to newspaper accounts about a century later, Dr. William Fraser Tolmie, who at one time had been the Company's surgeon at Fort Vancouver, bought the original set of 24 chairs from the Big House at that post. Presumably this purchase was made at Victoria where Tolmie was living when the movable property from the abandoned Fort Vancouver was brought there in 1860.

At any rate, the chairs for many years graced "Cloverdale," the Tolmie family estate on Vancouver Island. Then, either in 1934 or in 1938 -- accounts differ as to the date -- the Tolmie effects were largely auctioned; and Mr. Joseph A. Hill acquired some of the chairs. For years they remained in storage at the Hill Military Academy, but in 1959 four of them were "discovered" and presented to McLoughlin House National Historic Site.

Newspaper stories describing the accompanying ceremonies state that when found, each of the four chairs had stamped on it the following inscription: "This is to certify that this chair was the property of the Hudson's Bay Co. in the time of Dr. John McLoughlin at Fort Vancouver, Oregon Territory, 1833." By the date of the presentation the McLoughlin House had already acquired other chairs from the same set. [192]

Clearly, this documentation is not as well authenticated as one could wish. In default of evidence to the contrary, however, the chairs in the McLoughlin House probably should be accepted as the pattern for those to be placed in a reconstructed and refurnished mess hall.

Table setting. Thomas Jefferson Farnham made it clear that a tablecloth was used in the Fort Vancouver dining hall. [193] There is no reason to suppose that it was not as "snow-white" as that observed in 1843 in the winter mess room at York Factory by that rather unbusinesslike apprentice clerk and future novelist, Robert M. Ballantyne. [194] The Fort Vancouver pantry inventories list "diaper table Cloths," indicating that the table was graced with linen or cotton, usually white, woven in a repetitive pattern. [195] The inventory of 1845 lists 36 "table Napkins." [196]

Farnham also waxed quite eloquent over the "dinner-set of elegant queen's ware, burnished with glittering glasses and decanters of various-colored Italian wines." [197] Clerk George B. Roberts likewise testified to the presence of "decanters & fine English glass." [198] In 1837 Anna Maria Pittman, a member of the Methodist mission, was quite overwhelmed by the "table set with blue" at which she dined. [199] Although this table probably was in a sitting room and not in the mess hall, the dinnerware must have been similar in both rooms.

It is not a purpose of the present report to attempt to identify specific makes and patterns of dinnerware which were used at Fort Vancouver. Mr. Louis R. Caywood made an excellent start in this direction during his excavations from 1947 to 1952. [200] But at the present time, as a result of later explorations at the site, archeologists are making a completely new study of this matter. When their work is finished it should be a relatively simple matter to select a pattern, preferably blue on white, from among the fragments found near the Big House and its kitchen. Some of the same patterns used in the 1840's, or ones very similar, are still being manufactured in Britain, or at least were until very recently. The quantities of dinnerware of different shapes used in the mess hall will be found in the pantry inventories in the chapter of this report dealing with the Big House kitchen.

Evidently the tableware -- knives, forks, spoons, and so forth -- used in the mess hall was owned by the Company. It, together with such other items employed on the table as candlesticks, decanters, and cruet stands, were included in the annual inventories of "articles in" in the kitchen and pantry. Since one of these inventories will be reproduced in the following chapter of this report, there is no need to enumerate these items here.

It might be pointed out, however, that the ivory handled knives and forks and the "assorted table spoons" listed in the inventory do not seem to measure up to the crested and monogrammed silver so firmly believed in by the romantics. And the tin dish covers and tin teapots are a long way from the silver tea service thought by some to have dressed the "officers' mess."

Having said this much, it is recognized that Chief Factor McLoughlin undoubtedly did possess, as his private property, a considerable amount of fine chinaware and silver. It is quite unlikely that these valuable items were in daily use in the mess hall for the edification of the clerks and Chief Casenove. Dr. McLoughlin's belief that the humble should live humbly has been amply documented. Probably, however, they were employed on special occasions, particularly when there were important guests to be entertained.

Unfortunately, little is known for certain as to the numbers of these items or as to exactly when Dr. McLoughlin acquired them. But there is available some quite precise data concerning the silver that was in his possession after he left the Company's service. This information can be summarized as follows:

Silver plate. After Dr. McLoughlin's death in 1857, the inventory of his estate listed the following pieces of "Silver Plate" which were among the furnishings of his home in Oregon City:

1 Pr. Silver Candleabra [sic]
1 Castor
1 Pr. Silver Candlesticks small
1 Doz. Silver Knives & Forks (pearl han)
4 Decanter Holders
6 Lge. Spoons Extra
3 Prs. Sugar Tongs
29 Lge. Table Spoons
29 Lge. Forks
30 Small Forks
27 Small Desert Spoons [sic]
27 Small Tea Spoons
3 Lge. Ladles
9 Small Ladles
3 Fish Slices [slicers]
2 Salt Spoons
4 Egg Spoons
12 Silver Handle Knives -- desert [sic]
1 Toaster
1 Fruit Dish
2 Coffee Pots
2 Tea Pots
2 Sugar Dishes
2 Cream Pitchers
2 Snuffers & Trays
4 Knife Resters & 2 Butter Knives. [201]

Much of this silver bore the McLoughlin Family crest, a lion rampant. The flatware was stamped with the initials "J. Mc." [202]

The greater number of these items descended to Mrs. George Deering, a great-granddaughter of Chief Factor John McLoughlin. At an unspecified date she had the silver appraised by the director of the Metropolitan Museum. Some of the pieces were found to date from the late seventeenth century. These were sold, but a portion of the remainder, dating from the nineteenth century, were retained in Mrs. Deering's hands and eventually some of them found their way to the restored McLoughlin House in Oregon City.

The McLoughlin silver now in the McLoughlin House includes a tea-pot, sugar bowl and tongs, long serving spoon, fish knife, two large forks, two tablespoons, and two dessert spoons. The flatware was made in Edinburgh by J. McKay in 1829, 1830, and 1831. The tea pot, sugar bowl, and tongs were produced in 1837-1838 by Joseph and Albert Savory of London. "There are also," wrote Dr. Burt Brown Barker in 1959, "nine other silver teaspoons and two soup ladles" which, according to their marks, were manufactured in London in 1811 by Paul Storr. [203]

According to Dr. Barker, who undoubtedly knew more about the McLoughlin House furnishings than any one else will ever know, "all this silver" was used at Fort Vancouver "prior to the arrival of the first wagon train of immigrants in 1843." He believed that the major pieces were acquired by McLoughlin during his visit to London during the winter of 1838-1839. [204]

Miscellaneous dining hall furnishings. It is virtually certain that there was no rug or carpet on the mess room floor. Not even the winter dining hall at York Factory could boast of such a luxury. [205]

In the winter mess room at the latter post the walls "were hung round with several large engravings in bird's-eye maple frames" during the 1840's. [206] In North West Company days the Great Hall at Fort William had been decorated with oil paintings, pastel portraits, and David Thompson's famous map. [207] About 1850 the mess hall at Upper Fort Garry was enlivened by "sporting prints of the day." [208] No witnesses have testified to the presence of similar decorations in the Fort Vancouver dining room, but it is reasonable to suppose that the practice of the times in this respect was followed on the banks of the Columbia.

Dr. Burt Brown Barker has assumed that because the inventory of McLoughlin's estate listed "4 Decanter Holders," there must have been a sideboard upon which they were displayed. [209] There well may have been, but it may have been in the chief factor's quarters rather than in the mess hall. Or, there may have been no sideboard at all. No visitor to the fort mentions such a piece of furniture. And at Christmas dinner at York Factory in 1843, Robert Ballantyne recorded that the decanters of wine, flanked by tumblers and glasses, rested "on the board," meaning, evidently, on the table. [210]

But there is one lesser article of furniture of whose presence we can be certain. The pantry inventory for 1844 mentions a "call Bell," and George Roberts recalled years later how at the end of a meal Dr. McLoughlin, sitting at the head of the dining room table, would suddenly pull the bell tassel and call, "Bruce." In due time the fort gardener, William Bruce, "would be on hand with an open mull from which a pinch [of snuff] would be taken without a word on either side." [211] Certainly a bell pull would be indispensable for any meaningful restoration project!

The only means of lighting mentioned in the pantry inventory are 14 assorted candlesticks of tin, brass, and plated metal of some type. [212] So, unless Dr. McLoughlin from his personal property supplied an argand lamp or another form of lamp as was done by the factors at certain other posts the evening meals at Fort Vancouver were eaten by candlelight. [213]

c. Chief Factor McLoughlin's quarters. As we have seen, the suggestion that McLoughlin's office and his sitting room might be divided into two separate rooms in a reconstructed Big House is made more or less upon arbitrary grounds. There is no known evidence to show that these two functions were not housed in a single chamber in the second Big House as evidently had been the case in the first. At any rate, since so little is known about the furnishings of the office and the sitting room, the two rooms will here be considered as one for the purpose of discussing what pieces of furniture might have been in them.

In the living room at McLoughlin House National Historic Site there is a large square desk which it is claimed, "belonged to Dr. McLoughlin at Fort Vancouver." [214] It is a handsome piece of furniture (see plate LXXIV), although its association with the Big House is not as firmly fixed as one might wish. But undoubtedly this desk or one rather like it was in McLoughlin's quarters at the fort.

One of the items which surely was on or in the desk in McLoughlin's residence was his personal seal, used to impress the wax with which his letters were closed. On November 1, 1836, Narcissa Whitman wrote to her relatives in the East as follows: "You will see the Seal of my host [Dr. McLoughlin] upon the enclosure of this journal. They are over nice in following the rules of etiquette here in some particulars. It is considered impolite to seal a letter with a wafer for the reason that it is wet with spittle. Very impolite to send spittle to a friend." [215]

A wax imprint from McLoughlin's seal is in the McLoughlin House in Oregon City. The impression is one inch long and 3/4-inch wide, and in its center is a coat of arms about half an inch high showing a lion rampant between upright swords, with three crescents. Below is a ribbon motto, "vinces virtute." [216]

Undoubtedly Dr. McLoughlin also kept in his desk his North West Company seal. This relic of his fur-trade service before the coalition with the Hudson's Bay Company in 1821 is today in the McLoughlin House. It is the only North West Company seal known to exist. And also probably in the desk was the silver medal presented to him in 1826 by the Horticultural Society of London for his services to David Douglas. [217]

Another article of furniture said to be "from Fort Vancouver" is the secretary which now stands in the library of the McLoughlin House (see plate LXXV). [218] Here again, the documentation is some what vague, but it is highly probable that Dr. McLoughlin had such a sturdy, handsome desk, with bookcase above, in his apartments.

For one thing, it is known that the chief factor possessed a personal library which was distinct from the subscription library maintained by the employees of the Columbia Department. In 1833 William Fraser Tolmie noted in his journal that he had borrowed from McLoughlin the first and second volumes of von Humboldt's Personal Narrative of Travels in South America. [219] The titles of his other books are not known, but we may safely assume that he had a solid collection of works on medicine, travel, science, and politics and that he had bookcases in which to house them. [220]

When the Whitman party reached Fort Vancouver in September, 1836, the principal members were quickly led to the Big House and into Dr. McLoughlin's "office," where the two ladies were seated on "the sofa." [221] There seems no way of knowing whether this piece was one of the four "Wooden Sofas" listed in the inventory of Company-owned furniture in "Bachelors Hall & No. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5" in 1844 or whether it was privately owned by the chief factor. [222] At any rate, it seems probable that after his visit to Europe in 1838 McLoughlin would have had an upholstered imported sofa in his sitting room.

It may also be assumed with reasonable safety that there were two or three upholstered chairs in the McLoughlin living room and office. Even at the inland post of Fort Walla Walla as early as 1836 the Whitmans were "comfortably seated in cushioned arm chairs" by the officer in charge. [223] The Company also carried in stock at the Fort Vancouver Depot "dark stained cane seat chairs." [224] It would not be illogical to suppose that the chief factor purchased several of these for extra occasional chairs.

The wives of the "gentlemen" at Fort Vancouver did not eat with their husbands in the common mess hall. Rather, the women and children dined in their own quarters on food brought in from the kitchen. Therefore, there must have been a table in the sitting room for this purpose.

The table in McLoughlin's quarters must not have been a large one in 1836, because on the arrival of the Whitman party, with its two women, McLoughlin had to direct the carpenter to make an "extra table" which was set up in the Chief Factor's office. [225] A year later another missionary, Anna Maria Pittman, joined 17 other persons seated for dinner "around a long table" which almost certainly was not in the mess hall. [226]

This need for a larger table in his rooms may have induced Dr. McLoughlin to buy one in London, perhaps during his visit in 1838-1839. At least the question comes to mind, is the table now in the McLoughlin House dining room, which is probably too small to have been the mess hall table, the one from the chief factor's quarters?

Among the other items which almost certainly were in Dr. McLoughlin's office was a strong box or safe. One which is said to have belonged to him at the fort is in one of the small bedrooms off the living room in the McLoughlin House. [227] And irons, fire tongs, a tailor's iron used as a doorstop, and a few pewter tankards at the McLoughlin House are also described as being "from the Company," although none except the tailor's iron is specifically claimed to have come from Fort Vancouver. [228]

It is not known definitely that there was a rug on the floor of McLoughlin's sitting room, particularly as early as 1836 to 1838. But it seems reasonable to assume that by 1841, when Holmes described the Big House as being "well furnished," there was carpet on the floors in McLoughlin's quarters. A year earlier there was a Kidderminster carpet in the chief factor's drawing room at York Factory. [229] And certainly draperies, or at least curtains, would have been a feature of a well-furnished home.

In view of the well-documented practice of decorating the mess halls at Company posts with various types of paintings, maps, and framed lithographs, and in light of the known predilection of Oregon pioneers for brightening their homes, even the most humble, with prints, it can be assumed that the walls of the McLoughlin living quarters supported several pictures. [230] In fact, a vivid description of one has been preserved.

On October 6, 1841, Narcissa Whitman wrote to her parents from the Whitman mission at "Wieletpoo" that she had heard of a "picture of a tree" hanging in Chief Factor McLoughlin's "room" at Vancouver, "which represents all Protestants as the withered ends of the several branches of papacy falling off down into infernal society and flames, as represented at the bottom." [231] This reference was to the famed Catholic ladder, which apparently was devised by Father F. N. Blanchet in 1839 as a means of furthering the instruction of the Indians in the Roman Catholic faith. Only manuscript copies circulated until 1844 when a printed version was prepared in Paris. Several examples of the manuscript form have survived. [232]

If there were pictures, there undoubtedly were also mirrors. Large, mahogany framed "Looking Glasses" were carried in stock in the Fort Vancouver Depot. [233] Dr. McLoughlin may have used lamps in his quarters, but these seem to have been scarce articles at Fort Vancouver. Candles seem to have been the usual mode of illumination throughout the establishment.

The historical record tells absolutely nothing about the furnishings of the bedrooms in the McLoughlin quarters beyond the fact that there must have been accommodations for the Doctor and his wife as permanent residents. During most of 1845 their grown son, David, was a rather frequent visitor to Fort Vancouver, and possibly he lodged with his parents at such times, though in December, 1844, he had moved "all his things" to Willamette Falls. [234] Other residents of the McLoughlin quarters on an occasional basis were Mrs. McLoughlin's married granddaughter and infant great-granddaughter. The presence of rugs, carpets, or Indian mats on the floors is conjectural, as is the use of curtains at the windows.

If there was heating in the bedrooms, it must have been by means of stoves. The extension of stovepipes for considerable distances, even through more than one room, was not unusual at Company posts.

The beds present an even more knotty problem. As shall be seen when the furnishings of the Bachelors' Quarters and other houses are discussed, the usual bed at Fort Vancouver was a wooden bunk. That these rough beds were not only for males and persons in the lower ranks of the service is amply demonstrated by the following extract from the diary of Narcissa Whitman describing some of the domestic arrangements at Vancouver in September, 1836:

You will ask what kind of beds are used here. I can tell you what kind of bed they made for us after we arrived, & I have since found it a fashionable bed for this country. The bedstead is in the form of a bunk with rough board bottoms, upon which were laid about one dozen of the Indian blankets. These with a pair of pillows covered with calico cases constitute our bed sheets and covering. There are several feather beds in the place, but they are made of the feathers of wild game. [235]

But there are certain hints in the records to the effect that chief factors may have slept in more commodious beds. During May, 1849, when James Douglas was in fact if not in title the principal officer of the Columbia Department, he paid a visit to the Company's post at Fort Nisqually, on Puget Sound. Shortly before he was due to arrive, the following entry was made in the post journal: "Wren making a four posted bedstead for Mr. Douglas's use." [236] Apparently the usual bunk was not the type of sleeping accommodation to which the chief factor was accustomed.

Lacking more positive information, but going on the basis of the Holmes assertion that the Big House was "well furnished," it seems reasonable to assume that the bedrooms in both the McLoughlin and Douglas quarters were as well equipped as those in the manager's residence at York Factory. Thus, as we have already seen, such items as regular beds of the period, wardrobes, chests of drawers, night tables, commodes, mirrors, and stands for supporting wash basins and holding towels were probably present.

In one of the small bedrooms in the McLoughlin House in Oregon City there is a handsome wash basin, white in color with blue border and bearing the Hudson's Bay Company's coat of arms also in blue. It is said to have come from Fort Vancouver. [237] Such may have been the case, since the Vancouver Depot regularly stocked "blue & white E. Ware washhand Basins." Also kept on hand were cream-colored earthenware basins and "deep tin wash-hand Basins." [238]

One other piece of furniture was sure to be found in the quarters of every one of the Company's "gentlemen." This was the cassette or specially constructed wooden trunk used for carrying personal effects on journeys by boat or horse. In the rooms of the clerks the cassette was a prominent object, often serving as the only chair or table, but in the Big House the sturdy boxes undoubtedly rested under the beds or in corners.

The construction and appearance of these unique objects will be treated in detail in the section on the Bachelors' Quarters, but attention should be drawn here to the fact that the commissioned officers sometimes seem to have had boxes of finer workmanship than those belonging to, say, the clerks. Dr. Douglas Leechman of Victoria, British Columbia, has such a cassette in his possession. It is made of camphorwood and is bound in copper. Its curved top and "alarm lock" are distinctive. According to Dr. Leechman, the officers ordered such boxes made in China. [239]

d. Quarters of James Douglas and family. No information is available concerning the furnishings possessed by the Douglas family during its long stay at Fort Vancouver beyond the fact that when Douglas moved to Victoria in 1849 he traveled part of the way accompanied by five wagons "containing cases of gold dust, bales of Furs and Mr. Ds private property." [240] Therefore, one will have to assume that in late 1845 the furnishings would have been those befitting a prosperous chief factor very conscious of his position as a British gentlemen.

In the case of the Douglas family, however, there probably were, in addition to the imported furniture, chinaware, and silver, more evidences of the frontier than usual at some Company posts in the Indian Country. Mrs. Douglas seems to have retained through life many of the likes and dislikes acquired from her Cree mother. As late as the 1880's an observer noted that Amelia Douglas was still "very fond" of bitterroot, camas, and buffalo tongue "when she can have them" and that she was "much bored" by the dishes of the European dinner table. [241] Thus, while Mrs. Douglas undoubtedly conformed to the styles set by the other wives of Company employees at Fort Vancouver and wore European dress, she probably kept items of Indian manufacture about the house. [242]

In one other respect the equipment of family quarters at Fort Vancouver differed from that found in frontier houses in the United States and eastern Canada at the same period. There were no spinning wheels, looms, or other devices connected with the making of thread and cloth. Visitors to the post were quick to observe that while the Indian and mixed-blood wives of Company employees were skillful seamstresses, they did no spinning or weaving. [243]

In view of Mrs. Douglas's fondness for Indian ways, her quarters may have been distinctive in still another way. Narcissa Whitman had noticed in 1836 that there were "several" feather beds at Fort Vancouver which contrasted with the usual bed covering made of about a dozen blankets. The only material available for ticking in making feather beds, she observed, was brown linen sheeting. "The Indian ladies," she added, "make theirs of deerskin." [244] Could Chief Factor Douglas have reposed each evening on a feather bed covered with deerskin?

Otherwise, the furnishings of the Douglas quarters were probably much like those in the rooms of Chief Factor McLoughlin and his lady, except of course that there were more persons to be accommodated. Beds and other items to provide for a family of six -- two adults and four daughters aged eleven, six, four, and one -- must have been present.

Among the additional items undoubtedly were toys. It was evidently during the 1830's that an American trader created a sensation among the Indians by bringing in a supply of toys described as "squeaking wooden Cats & Dogs." The Company countered by importing from England "that beautiful toy, Hussars on wheels." [245] Perhaps some of these playthings were still avail able to amuse the children of a chief factor during the next decade.