Fort Vancouver
Historic Structures Report 		NPS Logo
Volume II

PLATES

boat
Plate LV. York Boat Under Construction at Norway House, 1923.

This picture clearly shows the interior of a typical unlined Company workshop.

From The Beaver 4, no, 1 (October, 1923): 19.

sketch of axe
Plate LVI. Typical Hudson's Bay Company Axe, Excavated at Fort Vancouver.

This was the larger size axe that Mr. Louis R. Caywood believes "must have been used mainly around the forts for construction and maintenance and the supplying of firewood." The shape of the Company's axes was distinctive.

From L. R. Caywood, Final Report fig. 6.

sketch of axes
Plate LVII. Steps in the Manufacture of a Trade Axe, as Revealed by Specimens Excavated at the Fort Vancouver Blacksmith's Shop.

This type of axe, largely employed in the Indian trade, was fabricated in quantity at the two Fort Vancouver blacksmith's shops. It came in at least four sizes.

From L. R. Caywood, Final Report fig. 8.

sketch of fort structure
Plate LVIII. Sketch of a Building at Fort Kamloops, B. C.

This sketch, found on the inside cover of the original Fort Kamloops Journal manuscript, August 3, 1841-December 19, 1843, kept by John Tod, may be a plan for a new building. At any rate, it provides an excellent diagram of a typical H.B.C post-and-fill, one-story-and-garret structure. Note that the gable ends are closed in with horizontal infill logs.

Courtesy of Provincial Archives of British Columbia, Victoria. Negative No. 77027.

fort structure
Plate LIX. Buildings Behind the Big Depot at York Factory, 1880.

The Old Office at Fort Vancouver must have been similar in general proportions to the gable-roofed structure on the left. The walls of the Fort Vancouver building probably were slightly higher above the windows, however, and the windows in the gables were set lower, resting on the plates.

From The Beaver Outfit 297 (Spring, 1967): 53.

group standing in front of fort structure
Plate LX. Small Structure, Perhaps an Office, at Fort Edmonton, 1884 (1887?).

The door and window treatment is quite typical of that found on better-finished buildings throughout the H.B.C. territories.

Courtesy of Alberta Provincial Government, Department of Industry and Development, Edmonton. Ernest Brown Collection. Negative No. B2476.

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Last Updated: 10-Apr-2003