Fort Vancouver Cultural Landscape Report

1824-1828

Fort Vancouver was established in the winter of 1824-25, a significant event in the international geo-political schemes of Great Britain in the early nineteenth century, as three great powers attempted to establish or maintain control of the northwest coast. Although not initially intended as such, it became the chief administrative headquarters of the Columbia Department of the Hudson's Bay Company; within a decade it became the hub of all Company activities west of the Rocky Mountains, including international trade, for which the foundations were laid during the years 1824-28. During this historic period Company officials began to realize the agricultural potential of the site, and laid the foundation of what would become a vast farming enterprise. It was also during this period that the first of many famous botanists and explorers began to visit the post, receiving assistance and aid at this outpost of civilization, which furthered their significant contributions to the prolific body of nineteenth century scientific research in many fields. In these years at Fort Vancouver, the first wheat was grown in Washington state; the first commercial salmon industry was established; the first flour in the state was milled, and many other early industries were started. Under the supervision of Chief Factor John McLoughlin, the first of many new Company posts were erected in the Pacific Northwest, eventually extending its dominion as far as Alaska.

Administrative and Political Context

The Columbia Department of the old North West Company appears never to have been very profitable--in fact, between at least 1818 and 1821 the department incurred losses. [4] After the merger with the Hudson's Bay Company, the Company's Governor and Committee in London considered abandoning the district about which it knew little, other than it produced only continuing deficits. [5] Two principal considerations, however, balanced against abandonment. First, it served as a geographic buffer for the proven riches of the neighboring, profitable New Caledonia trade, against Americans plying the Pacific coastal trade. Second, the Company's occupation of the area south of the 49th parallel, through its fur-trading posts, was perceived as a means of strengthening British claims of land north of the main branch of the Columbia River in the unresolved boundary dispute with the United States. By the spring of 1823 London had decided to continue operations in the Columbia district "for the present."

Between 1822 and 1824 the Company instituted a series of measures designed to improve the profits in the Columbia. Among them was the opening of an interior supply route from York Factory across the Rockies and down the Peace River to supply New Caledonia, rather than rely on Fort George at the mouth of the Columbia River as a supply depot, as the North West Company had done. Others included provisioning posts from London, rather than using the intermediary firm in Boston that the North West Company had engaged, and to ship furs directly to London rather than rely on the same Boston firm to ship directly from the Columbia to Chinese markets. A policy of reappointing chief factors to the same post, rather than the previous practice of frequent transfers, was instituted, increasing the department's efficiency. The size of the trading outfits and the amount of supplies shipped from London were reduced. Operations were expanded into the Snake River country, south and east of the Columbia, an area neglected by the merged company until 1823, when the first brigade in several years was sent to the Snake country from Spokane House, and returned with over four thousand beaver pelts. During this period London asked for reports from the chief factors on the Columbia District's natural resources with an eye towards profits of products in addition to furs, and also assessments of establishing a coastal trade, both for collecting furs and purchasing provisions in California. [6]

It was also during this period--in July of 1822--that George Simpson wrote to London that he thought imported provisions could be reduced if the Columbia posts could produce some of their own food. [7] This scheme, one of many Simpson committed to paper--not all of which bore fruition--dovetailed with the events and issues that led to the founding of Fort Vancouver two years later.

As discussed previously, it was not until the summer of 1824 that Great Britain and the United States suspended boundary negotiations. This left the ultimate settlement of the dispute in doubt, resulting in the Hudson's Bay Company's determination to exploit the trade potential in the Pacific Northwest and to reinforce Great Britain's claim to the territory in dispute--the area between the 49th parallel and the lower Columbia River. It has already been noted that the Company had close connections with the British Foreign Office. In December of 1825 Hudson's Bay Company Governor J.H. Pelly wrote to George Canning, the British Foreign Office secretary, "In compliance with a wish expressed by you at our last interview, Governor Simpson, when at the Columbia, abandoned Fort George on the South side of the River and formed a new Establishment on the North side." [8] One of the principal reasons for founding the new "Establishment--" Fort Vancouver--was a political strategy to keep territory north of the Columbia River under British dominion.

After Simpson's appointment as governor of the Northern Department in 1821, he embarked on a series of tasks to consolidate and reform operations east of the Rocky Mountains; with new policies and organization well underway by the end of 1823, he began to consider visiting the Columbia to assess it. In July of 1824 the Northern Department council appointed Chief Trader James McMillan to accompany Simpson to the Columbia, and also assigned Chief Factor John McLoughlin to the Columbia district. McMillan, a former North West Company employee, had spent most of his time in the Pacific Northwest, and was able to offer Simpson information regarding it. McLoughlin, also a former North West Company partner, had been in charge of a Company post west of Lake Superior, where he had been successful in driving back American competition. [9]

McLoughlin left for the Columbia from York Factory in August of 1824; Simpson and McMillan followed three weeks later. In September the parties joined near the Athabaska River, and continued on to Fort George at the mouth of the Columbia, arriving on November 8.

In 1824, the Columbia Department included four principal fur-trading posts: Fort George, by international treaty property of the United States government, but in practice, occupied by the Hudson's Bay Company; Fort Nez Perces (Walla Walla), at the junction of the Columbia and the Walla Walla River; Spokane House, from which the Snake River brigades sallied forth, and to which two smaller posts were attached--Flathead Post and Kootenai House; Thompson's River (Kamloops), near the junction of the north and south branches of Thompson River, and its subsidiary post, Fort Okanogan. [10]

George Simpson's visit to the Columbia resulted in significant and far-reaching changes in the operations of the Company's westernmost district. His first-hand observations, combined with his understanding of the international situation and trade potential of the region resulted in a preeminent British presence in the Pacific Northwest. Included in the changes he instituted during this first trip west was expanding operations into the Snake Country, and south towards California, before a settlement of the boundary issue should close the rich fur-bearing region to the British, and rigorous economies, including reductions in staff and in all operations of the fur business. One of his goals was to reduce the reliance of the posts on imported foods, and it was during this trip that he determined to develop an agricultural program which would not only supply the needs of the posts, but which would become a profitable branch of the trade, where produce would be exported.

Another decision was to merge the New Caledonia and Columbia departments into one administrative unit which would be supplied by a new depot, and at least in terms of supply and provisioning, the merger occurred in 1825. [11] The location of the new depot was to be at the mouth of the Fraser River, from which Simpson mistakenly believed the rivers would supply easy access to both districts and the coast.

In 1825, he established Fort Colvile, a new post north of Spokane House, abandoning the latter, and in the fall of 1824, soon after his arrival at the mouth of the Columbia River, he ordered the abandonment of Fort George and the construction of a new depot on the north side of the Columbia, in territory it was still possible the British might hold.

Establishment

After Simpson's party arrived at Fort George, Chief Factors Kennedy and McLoughlin were dispatched to find a suitable site for a new post on the north side of the Columbia. Historians assume Simpson either had received direct instructions from London to withdraw to the north side of the river, or he independently reached the conclusion that it was best to enact such a policy, given his knowledge of the international situation. [12] In addition to the greater issues surrounding the disputed territory, Fort George, was, in fact, legally the property of the United States, although occupied by the Hudson's Bay Company. Also, its location was not suitable for large-scale farming. In 1825 Simpson wrote to London: "...by abandoning it [Fort George] at once it will to them [the Americans] be useless and we can at no expense and little inconvenience erect a Fort sufficient for all purposes of Trade." [13] Simpson later wrote that the principal reason for finding a new site was to "...render ourselves independent of foreign aid in regard to the means of Subsistance." [14] However, as noted earlier, Governor Pelly told the British Foreign Office secretary the establishment of the new site was in conformance with the foreign office's expressed wishes. Long after the fact, John McLoughlin said the new site was selected because it "...was a place where we could cultivate the soil and raise our own provisions." [15]

The site nearest the Columbia's mouth which McLoughlin and Kennedy deemed suitable was a low-lying plain which projected into the Columbia River about six miles upriver from its confluence with the Willamette River. The site was known as the Jolie Prairie or Belle Vue Point. [16] Above the plain rose a second terrace of densely wooded land, about sixty feet above the plain. The lower plain appeared to be suitable for cultivation; the second bench offered a commanding view of the plain below and was suitable terrain for establishing a defensive position against hostile natives. Apparently, immediately after their return to Fort George, a party was dispatched to start construction. [17]

Simpson, describing the site and his plans for it, wrote:

They [deer] are so numerous about the Jolie Prairie say the Stag or Red Deer and the Dhevreuil or Roe that a good Cree Hunter could support a small Establishment; I expect however we shall soon be independent of the Chase in the way of living as with a little attention to our Farm we shall be enabled to rear more Beef and Pork than will be required for the business of the whole Department; had any pains been taken in that way much expence might have been saved for several years past in Imported Provisions but the good people of Fort George have been so averse to the rearing of live Stock and so dainty that they would not eat their sucking Pigs but by way of keeping down the Stock for want of more rational pastime actually used to amuse themselves in practising Pistol Shooting by making War on the poor little Grunters at Twelve paces distance... [18]

Pelly, writing in December to George Cummings, cited Simpson in describing the new post's site, and its advantages:

He considers the soil and climate of this place so well adapted for agricultural pursuits that in the course of two or three years, it may be made to produce sufficient Grain and animal Provisions to meet not only the demands of our own Trade but almost to any extent that may be required for other purposes and he considers the possession of this place and a right to the navigation of the river Columbia to be quite necessary to our carrying on to advantage not only the Trade of the upper parts of the Columbia River, but also that of the country interior from the mouth of the Fraser River and the coasting Trade, all of which can be provisioned from the place. [19]

It is believed that construction of the new post started in late November or early December of 1824, after McLoughlin and Kennedy returned to Fort George. By March of 1825, Simpson recorded in his journal that some structures had been erected and a stockade at least partially completed. [20] By the spring of 1825, a field had been prepared for potatoes and other unnamed vegetables. [21]

Operations at Fort Vancouver

On March 19, 1825, George Simpson recorded in his journal:

At Sun rise mustered all the people to hoist the Flag Staff of the new Establishment and in presence of the Gentlemen, Servants, Chiefs & Indians I Baptised it by breaking a Bottle of Rum on the Flag Staff and repeating the following words in a loud voice, "In behalf of the On Hudsons Bay Coy I hereby name this Establishment Fort Vancouver God Save King George the 4th" with three cheers. Gave a couple of Drams to the people and Indians on the occasion. The object of naming it after that distinguished navigator is to identify our claim to the Soil and Trade with his discovery of the River and Coast on behalf of Gt Britain. If the Honble Committee however do not approve the Name it can be altered. At 9 o'Clock A.M. took leave of our Friend the Dr, embarked and continued our Voyage... [22]

With that, Simpson departed for the east, leaving Chief Factor John McLoughlin in charge.

Simpson left specific instructions for operating the new post and the trade, and he continued to supervise operations from afar in the following years. Among the instructions included directions to send all available men out on fur-trading expeditions, in part to exploit the fur regions to the south, before the boundary settlement. This left Fort Vancouver short of manpower to complete construction of the post in 1825, and to perform the agricultural tasks to which Simpson had assigned it. In the summer of 1825, McLoughlin reported to London that the staff at the post consisted of himself, a clerk, and nine others. The rest were out on expedition.

Between 1824 and 1827, the settlement of the boundary issue still hung over the new post. McLoughlin limited development of the post--"I erected only such Buildings at this place as are immediately required..." he told London in a September, 1826 letter--apparently anticipating a settlement in which the Columbia would become the boundary, and fur-trading to the south would become impossible, making Fort Vancouver's location at the south edge of the British territory operationally inefficient. However, in August of 1827 the joint-occupation of the disputed territory was indefinitely extended, and it was clear Fort Vancouver could continue to act as a locus from which fur brigades could be sent south, as well as north and east. [23]

Headquarters of the Columbia Department

Details regarding the development of the new post in its first few years are incomplete. It is evident, however, that at that time McLoughlin knew Simpson planned to establish the principal depot of the Columbia Department at the Fraser River, and that Fort Vancouver was only to serve as a temporary depot. This plan was abandoned after Simpson himself, enroute on a return visit to Fort Vancouver in the fall of 1828, determined that the river was unnavigable during his dangerous descent of it. During Simpson's stay at Fort Vancouver in 1828, Fort Vancouver was made the permanent headquarters for the Columbia Department, ensuring its primacy as the principal establishment in the Pacific Northwest and contributing to the decision to move the site of the stockade in 1828-29.

In 1827 the financial accounts of New Caledonia and the Columbia Department were merged--as noted earlier, the two districts were united in terms of provisioning in 1825. To some extent, then, Fort Vancouver, as the principal depot of the Columbia Department, was also the administrative headquarters for New Caledonia, although McLoughlin, as Chief Factor of Fort Vancouver, and later as chief manager of the Columbia Department, did not exercise much administrative control over New Caledonia, apparently by choice, and the chief factors of that district continued to operate without much oversight by McLoughlin throughout McLoughlin's tenure at Fort Vancouver. While Simpson referred to McLoughlin as the "head factor and chief resident-Manager of the Hudson's Bay Company on the western coast of the continent" in 1829, it was not until the 1840s that McLoughlin began to establish policy on his own, and that, ultimately, contributed to his dismissal, or "retirement," from the Company. Nonetheless, by 1829, Fort Vancouver was the headquarters for the Company's operations west of the Rocky Mountains.

From Fort Vancouver, McLoughlin, under Simpson's orders, founded a new post about 28 miles above the mouth of the Fraser River--Fort Langley--in 1827. It was the first of many to be established by McLoughlin, eventually spreading as far as Alaska, all administered from the headquarters at Fort Vancouver.

New Projects

Agricultural operations at Fort Vancouver slowly expanded. From an initial harvest of 900 barrels of potatoes and 9 1/2 bushels of peas in the fall of 1825, by 1828, the post was producing between 800 and 1000 bushels of wheat, "making good flour," and McLoughlin reported yields from fourteen acres of peas, eight acres of oats and four or five acres of barley. [24] The first wheat was planted in in the spring of 1826, and is considered to be the beginning of wheat cultivation in Washington state. In the winter of 1828-29, George Simpson, on a return visit to Fort Vancouver, determined that the Columbia Department was "...independent of foreign aid in regard to the means of subsistence." [25]

One of Simpson's and London's goals was the development of the coastal trade, and to this end the London supply vessel, the William and Ann, was dispatched north to trade for furs in the summer of 1825; it met with little success. The following year retired British navy Lieutenant Aemilius Simpson arrived at Fort Vancouver to captain a vessel being sent from London for use on the coast. Simpson was to report to McLoughlin, and McLoughlin was to direct the Company's west coast trade from that point on. In 1827 a thirty-ton sloop--the Broughton--was built at Fort Vancouver; in 1828 a sixty-ton craft, the Vancouver, was launched. The coastal trade was limited until the 1830s, due to lack of manpower, lack of trade goods, and lack of adequate vessels, but a small start was made in the late 1820s. [26]

In 1826 McLoughlin asked London to ship barrels of salt to Fort Vancouver for use in preserving salmon, for which he felt there might be a market in California. In 1827 he shipped barrels of salted salmon to California, and later to the Hawaiian Islands, although much of the fish was used as provisions for the Company's posts. While Fort Langley became the principal producer of salted salmon, Fort Vancouver was also the site of the first large-scale commercial salmon industry in the Pacific Northwest. McLoughlin also experimented with brewing, using barley grown at Fort Vancouver, apparently as early as 1827. [27]

Flour was apparently produced after the first wheat harvest. Oral tradition claims the first flour mill in Washington state was built at Fort Vancouver by millwright William Cannon; its location at the post is not known. Sometime around 1828-29, a horse or oxen-powered gristmill was built on Fort Plain, north of the new or soon-to-be erected stockade. [28] Also, by 1828, a sawmill was operating on Mill Creek, six miles east of the stockade; plans were already underway to market the milled planks in Hawaii and California, where the price in 1827 for lumber was between forty and fifty dollars per thousand feet. [29]

Site

After seeing the site for the new post, George Simpson recorded in his journal:

The place we have selected is beautiful as may be inferred from its Name and the Country so open that from the Establishment there is good travelling on Horseback to any part of the interior; a Farm to any extent may be made there, the pasture is good and innumerable herds of Swine can fatten so as to be fit for the Knife merely on nutricious Roots that are found here in any quantity and the Climate so fine that Indian Corn and other Grain cannot fail of thriving...The distance from the Harbour is the only inconvenience but that is of little importance being now a secondary Establishment ... ...at the Jolie Prairie or Belle vue Point where the New Fort is situated it may be from time to time enlarged without the trouble of felling a tree. [30]

As mentioned earlier, the site selected for the new post was situated about a mile from the Columbia River: its position on a bluff overlooking the low-lying plain below was apparently selected for defensive reasons. According to George Emmons of the United States Exploring Expedition, who visited Fort Vancouver in 1841, the site was "...originally selected on account of its commanding position, at a time when the surrounding Indians were hostile, but vacated when the latter became friendly and no longer required watching for the present location which possesses superior advantages on account of its nearer approximation to the River which is the great thoroghfare of the country." [31] McLoughlin's grandson, J.W. McLoughlin Harvey later wrote that "During the early part of Residence at the fort, considerable trouble was had with the Indians, but everything was settled amicably." [32]

The disadvantages of this site included its distance from the river--both in moving supplies and goods from the water "highway" which was the principal transportation route to the site, and in obtaining water. Lieutenant Charles Wilkes of the U.S. Exploring Expedition, who visited Fort Vancouver in 1841, was apparently told, "This site was abandoned, in consequence of the difficulty of obtaining water, and its distance from the river, which compelled them to transport every article up a high and rugged road. The latter difficulty was encountered in the first location on the upper prairie, because it was said that the lower one was occasionally flooded; but although this may have happened formerly, it is not found to occur at present." [33]

At the time of its establishment, it apparently was not at all certain that ocean-going vessels could make it it all the way up river to Fort Vancouver, and for several years goods were unloaded at Fort George and points down river, and transported in smaller craft or overland to the post. It is believed that it was not until 1827 that the annual supply ship from Great Britain, the William and Ann, made it all the way up river to the post; after that supply ships were to anchor off Fort Plain annually. [34]

General Site Characteristics of Belle Vue Point/Jolie Prairie

The site of the Hudson's Bay farm at Fort Vancouver, at its greatest extent in the 1840s, consisted of three large open meadows--called by the Hudson's Bay Company Fort Plain, Lower Plain and Mill Plain--in the forest along the Columbia River. There were also five open spaces or "plains" north and east of the three principal plains, jointly referred to as the Back Plains, on which crops were periodically raised. However, all available evidence indicates that during this first historic period, 1824-1828, the Company's site development was principally confined to the region of Fort Plain, later to become the heart of the Fort Vancouver farm. For this reason, the larger site context is described in the section on the second historic period, 1829-1844.

Simpson described the site established for Fort Vancouver in March of 1825: "The Establishment is beautifully situated on the top of a bank about 1 1/4 Miles from the Water side commanding an extensive view of the River the surrounding Country and the fine plain below which is watered by two very pretty small Lakes and studded as if artificially by clumps of Fine Timber." [35]

Captain Charles Wilkes, who visited the post in 1841, and took a ride to the site of this first fort in May or June, said: "...it is less than a mile from the present [1841] position, and is just on the brow of the upper prairie. The view from this place is truly beautiful: the noble river can be traced in all its windings, for a long distance through the cultivated prairie, with its groves and clumps of trees; beyond the eye sweeps over an interminable forest, melting into a blue haze, from which Mount Hood, capped with its eternal snows, rises in great beauty. The tints of purple which appear in the atmosphere, are, so far as I am aware, peculiar to this country. [36]

John Scouler, visiting the fort in the spring of 1825, noted: "It is situated in the middle of a beautiful prairie, containing about 300 acres of excellent land, on which potatoes and other vegetables are cultivated; while a large plain between the fort and river affords abundance of pasture to 120 horses, besides other cattle...The forests around the fort consists chiefly of Pinue balsamea & P. canadensis, while most amentaceae are exceedingly rare. Within a short distance of the fort I found several interesting plants, as Phalagium escluentum, Berberis nervosa, B. Aquifolium, Calypso borealis & Corallorhiza innata. The root of the Phalangium esculentem is much used by the natives as a substitute for bread. They grow abundantly in the moist prairies, the flower is usually blue, but sometimes white flowers are found." [37]

What became known as Fort Plain was a long, irregularly-shaped meadow with natural terraces extending down to the River, located roughly in the center of the site. It ran for approximately 3 1/2 miles along the Columbia River, approaching a mile or so in depth at its widest. The lowest terrace was subject to Spring inundations: the 1844 stockade area map shows the high water mark during the river's spring freshets extended almost one-half mile into the plain in places, depending on the changes in topography. There were two lakes, referred to by Simpson, which were located in the approximate center of the plain. These lakes were occasionally encompassed in the spring floods. The northern and eastern boundaries were defined by dense coniferous forest on rising ground, with a bluff or bench, occasionally referred to as the "Upper Prairie," to the northeast, rising about sixty feet above the river plain. This bluff was the site chosen for the original fort , which was located roughly in the middle of the bench, overlooking the plain below. By the 1840s, the bluff was referred to as "Old Fort Hill." George Emmons, at Fort Vancouver in late July of 1841, went to the old fort site and "measured the alt. of the high prairie land.., about 1/4 mile from the River upon which old Fort Vancouver formerly stood..." and "...found it 61 feet above the low bottom immediately skirting the River & the latter about 15 feet above the river water when at a low stage." [38]

William Fraser Tolmie, who visited the post in 1833, after the move, took many walks around the area, and described them in his journal. On May 8, he and his colleague and shipmate, Dr. Gairdner, headed northeast, skirting the northeast boundary of Fort Plain and:

"...struck up towards the wood & then walked along an upland plateau which reaches for about two miles to eastward from near [1829] fort to where the dense forest obstructs the view--its breadth is about 1/4 mile & it presents a rounded bluff face to NWard, beautified with elegant Columbines, luxuriant lupins & other plants equally attractive but unknown. From this part to bank of river is a level plain generally 3/4 mile broad...Two ponds [the Fort Plain Lakes] abounding in ducks diversify the scene somewhat but add little to its beautify, their banks being of a dry sandy nature... " [39]

On May 9, Tolmie and his companion, Dr. Gairdner, left the 1828-29 fort heading southeast:

"It is a continuation of that to eastward of fort described yesterday, below fort for some way it is covered with gigantic relics of the primeval forest, which form a broad belt of wood extending to river's edge. Proceeded along a rough road passing through the wood. The magnificence & grandeur of its colossal tenants was very impressive & the ground was beautifully carpeted with wild flowers & low creeping evergreen shrubs. Many of the pines were strip't of their bark for a few feet above root & the turpentine was profusely exuded in large pellucid drops. Travelled along the grassy level plain for nearly a mile & then plunged into the forest which skirted it on the right, or north side--did not find it very impenetrable--there being little underwood--soon emerged again & turned homewards. What an excellent cricket field this part of plain would make.

This description seems to apply to the southeast area of Fort Plain; Tolmie and Gairdner traveling through the forest bounding the southeast edge of the plain, and skirting the edge of the plain towards its narrowest east end.

The west and northwest edge of Fort Plain, was also bounded by a finger of forest "...of pinewood," which extended almost to the river edge. In 1833, it was still quite dense, according to Tolmie, who said it took a "...half an hour's dangerous scrambling through brush & brake..." to emerge on the plain [Lower Plain] to the west of Fort Plain. [40]

Figure 1. 1825 map Columbia River, Surveyed 1825. Portion of map showing site of first Hudson's Bay Company stockade at Fort Vancouver, on bluff overlooking Columbia River. See Map 1 for illustration of larger vicinity. Courtesy Washington State Historical Society.

Circulation Networks

In this first historic period, it is clear the principal road was one from the river to the fort: all goods unloaded on the river front had to be transported up the bluff to the storehouses in the stockade. It is not clear where either the anchorage or unloading stage for goods from London ships were located, until the construction of the wharf, which may not have occurred until construction of the new stockade in 1828-29. However, the 1825 map shows two possible locations, one of which is labeled "parting point," near the river bend to the west of the first stockade. The second point may have been on the river at the end of a clearly indicated north-south road or path, leading from the first stockade on the bluff, across the "low ground." John Work, in charge of supervising the move of material and equipment from Fort George to the new fort stated on April 13, 1825: "Came up to the fort early in the morning and had the boats immediately unloaded. Carting the property up to the fort occupied the most of the day..." [41] One of McLoughlin's descendents stated: "The new fort was located about 3/4 mile from the River, and for the purpose of transporting goods from the River to the Fort, the Company bought horses from the Indians, and with rudely constructed wagons, the wheels of which were round pieces of Oak sawed from the log with holes in the centre for the Axles. [42] Evidently the road was complete enough to support these wagons.

The Vavasour map (1845-46) shows a road leading due south from the Upper Mill Plain Road, south of the 1824-25 fort site, to the Lower Mill Plain Road, between the two lakes on Fort Plain, which appears to roughly correspond to the road shown on the 1825 map. [43] However, this does not correlate with an 1844 map by Henry Peers, which shows the road connecting the two mill plain roads to the east of the lakes, by some distance, nor with an 1846 map by Richard Covington, which is similar to the Peers map. [44] And none of the 1840s maps show any direct connection to the river from what became the Lower Mill Plain road at the east edge of the Fort Plain, although it is possible a road skirted the east edge of the plain below Lower Mill Road. It is also possible a track, which became Lower Mill Road, was established to the site of the later wharf as shown in the smaller 1844 map, although this seems unlikely due to the additional distances involved in overland transport of goods. It is possible that the eastern part of what became Lower Mill Road as it went through the forest at the east edge of Fort Plain was the "...rough road passing through the wood" Tolmie describes in his evening walk on May 9, 1833.

Stockade and Associated Structures

Dr. John Scouler noted in May, 1825, that "Fort Vancouver is built on the same plan as the other fort [Ft. George, now Astoria], but is not so large." [45] A discussion of the possible appearance of the stockade is described by historian John Hussey in The History of Fort Vancouver and its Physical Structure. [46]

The exact date when construction began is unknown, however, it was sometime after November 8, 1824, because a river expedition which set out a few days after Simpson's arrival at Fort George on that date, including Simpson, McLoughlin, Kennedy and Thomas McKay, a clerk with the Company, had to abort due to a leaking boat. [47] It was after this cancelled trip that Kennedy and McLoughlin were apparently sent to search for a location for a new post. McLoughlin reported in 1825 that "immediately on Mr. Kennedy and my Return to Fort George" a party was sent to begin construction. [48] A McLoughlin descendent, J.W. McLoughlin Harvey, stated that it was in January of 1825 when "...Thos McKay and a party of Canadians and Kanakas were sent to Ske-Chew-twa to cut the lumber necessary for building the new Fort, and after so doing built fences, Stores, etc. The Indians around Ske-chew-twa were engaged by the Company to gather Cedar bark this article being used as a substitute for covering the roofs of the houses instead of shingles. After the completion of one of the storehouses, other houses being in course of construction, and the necessary fences and gates having been finished, they began to Receive the goods etc from Ft George to Ske-chew-twa." [49]

On March 18, 1825, Simpson recorded in his journal: "The Fort is well picketted covering a space of about 3/4ths of an acre and the buildings already completed are a Dwelling House, two good Stores an Indian Hall and temporary quarters for the people." [50] It appears that the quarters for employees consisted of tents and structures made of other non permanent materials. Botanist David Douglas, who arrived at the new post on a collecting trip for the Horticultural Society of London on the William and Ann in April of 1825, was housed in a tent, and later, a bark hut near the river. [51] Even at this early date, McLoughlin was known for his hospitality; if better housing were available, it is likely Douglas would have been lodged in it.

There does not appear to be any available information on the evolution of the stockade over the three years of its occupation (winter of 1824-25 to winter 1828-29). It is known that the William and Ann brought bricks and tiles in her hold, apparently originally ordered for Fort George: McLoughlin considered them "inferior," but it is believed they were used for chimneys at Fort Vancouver. [52] Perhaps not much was done on the buildings in the stockade proper during this period, since, as noted above, it was not originally intended as the principal depot for the Columbia Department. Also, by 1827, the farm apparently could not support the manpower needed to work on the buildings during the off-season (winter) months: in the fall of that year provisions were low, and McLoughlin sent his spare hands to hunt furs and, apparently, live off the land, rather than feed them at the fort. [53] The water supply on the bluff was a problem: water was hauled from the Columbia to the stockade in a wagon pulled by two oxen. [54]

Because it became apparent that trade south of the Columbia River would continue, and because Simpson's 1828-29 trip to the Columbia convinced him that his plans for a major depot on the Fraser River were not feasible, the stockade's site on the bluff, tenantable while the continuation of the Vancouver depot was questionable, began to appear unsuitable: Fort Vancouver was to become the Columbia Department's main depot. Its distance from the river, the necessity of hauling water up the bluff, its distance from the plain with the "alluvial" soil, and the apparent lack of hostility of the local Indians--all were factors in the decision to relocate the fort. In the winter of 1828-29, construction of the new post on the present site of its reconstruction began.

Garden and Orchard

There is no doubt a garden existed by 1828. As noted earlier, Simpson, in his dispatch to London in the spring of 1829, listed the field crop production at Fort Vancouver for 1828, concluding the list with the statement "...besides that of extensive Gardens," and Jedediah Smith, arriving at the end of that year noted the fort had "...a fine garden, some small apple trees and vines." Smith's statement seems to indicate the small trees and vines were in the garden, and not in a separate orchard. [55]

Seeds

In the early 1820s seeds for HBC posts from London came from the firm of Thomas Sheppard. [56] After 1827, seeds were purchased from the London firm of Gordon and Forsythe. Any seeds planted in the spring of 1825 at Fort Vancouver would have had to have been left from the 1824 spring express shipment to Fort George. Wheat, oat, barley and Indian corn seeds were definitely shipped overland from York Factory in the spring, arriving in the fall of 1825, although it is unknown at present if any garden seeds purchased in London for the North American Company posts were also shipped west. [57] Garden seeds for York Factory for Outfit 1826 included cabbage, carrots, Deptford onion, vetch, early white turnip, Dutch turnip, and La Filame turnip; any seeds for the Columbia would arrive in Montreal in the spring of 1825, and at the Columbia in June or July. [58] Seeds for York Factory for Outfit 1827, arriving in Montreal in the spring of 1826, included: broad beans, Early York cabbage, carrots, Cos lettuce, leek, Deptford onion, parsnip, marjoram, blue peas, hopper peas, black radish, radish turnip, type, Dutch turnip, Swedish turnip, yellow turnip, and mustard. [59] The following year, for Outfit 1828, a separate order appears to have been placed specifically for the Columbia River. This shipment included red beet, early York cabbage, red cabbage, carrot, celery, cucumber, leek, green Cos lettuce, white lettuce, melon, mustard, Deptford onion, Welch onion, good parsley, early white peas, salmon turnip, radish turnip, and early white store or storm turnip. [60] This shipment would have reached Vancouver directly from London in the spring of 1827.

There are many published variations of a story regarding apple and grape seeds at Fort Vancouver in the 1820s. In essence, it states that a gentleman--or gentlemen--heading to Vancouver from London kept some seeds of apples and grapes he (they) had eaten, either deliberately or unintentionally, by placing them in a vest pocket, or, alternatively, was (were) given the seeds by a young lady with whom he (they) was (were) dining for planting in the new country. Upon arrival at Fort Vancouver, these seeds were planted by either a gardener named James Bruce (possibly confusion with the Company's later gardener, William Bruce), or by Pierre Pambrum (Pabrun), or by persons unknown, and the seedlings became the basis for the first fruit trees at the Fort.

The earliest written account of part of this story comes from Henry Bingham, a missionary in Hawaii, who met Captain Aemilius Simpson, head of the Company's Pacific coastal trade, and wrote a friend in February of 1829, "He says he has himself planted the grape and the apple at that place." [61] Captain Simpson was at Fort Vancouver in November of 1826. Planting the seeds--if these are the original seeds of the story--would not have occurred until the spring of 1827, as historian John Hussey points out. [62]

The next documented story is recorded in missionary Narcissa Whitman's journal of 1836, when she states: "Here I must mention the origen of these Apples and grapes. A gentleman twelve years ago, while at a party in London put the seeds of the grapes and apples he ate in his vest pocket and soon after took a voyage to this country and left them here. Now they are greatly multiplied." [63] This is followed by an account by Jesse Applegate, an American immigrant of 1843 and later a prominent Oregonian, who wrote to a friend in 1868 that he heard directly from John McLoughlin that "...a gentleman ate a fine apple in London and put the seeds in his vest pocket and thought no more about them until he arrived at Vancouver nine or ten months after, and having on the same vest at dinner, felt the seeds in his pocket, and from these seeds grew the first apple trees on the Pacific--now the most famous country in the world for fruit." [64]

Bancroft, in his History of the Northwest Coast, repeats a similar story he gathered from McLoughlin descendents. [65] One of these wrote his own account, stating "In the year 1827 Mr. Simpson, cousin of Gov'r Simpson, who arrived in the country in 1826, at the dinner table happening to feel in his vest pocket found a few apple seeds wrapped up in a paper, the circumstances of which he explained as follows. At a dinner party in England prior to his coming to this country, a lady after paring an apple gathered the seeds together and handed them to Mr. Simpson with the remark 'that as he was going to a new country where apples were unknown she would make him a present of the seeds with the hope that at some time he would plant them.' These seeds were planted by Peter Pabrum, and the growth of the tree from day to day was carefully watched. At the first fruits some years later Mr. Pambrum received his portion." [66]

Sifting out the exact occurrence from the varied accounts--excluding twentieth century variations--is not easy. However, it is interesting to note that the missionary's statement regarding Captain Simpson correlates well with the story by repeated by J.W. M. Harvey, at least in terms of who was involved, and the dates. The dates also fall roughly in line with Jedediah Smith's report of seeing small apple trees and vines in 1828. If they were seedlings, they had to have been planted at least by the spring of 1828, and if set out in the garden, as his statement implies, they could have been planted in 1827.

There was another source of garden seeds in the late 1820s: the Horticultural Society of London. Here, however, the seed varieties are unknown, and their dates of arrival not certain. Botanist David Douglas, whose collecting expedition was sponsored by the Society, wrote in October of 1825 from Fort Vancouver to Joseph Sabine, head of the Society. [67] This letter, which apparently accompanied a collection of seeds and plants Douglas sent back to England, at present is not available, but is referred to in another letter. From this we know that Douglas reported receiving "every attention" from the Company's "Officers" at the fort, and that Douglas asked the Society to ship a parcel of seeds to "...the Companys Settlements on the Western Coast." This parcel was sent to York Factory via the Company ship, which was scheduled to leave Gravesend on June 3, 1826. From York Factory, the parcel would have been shipped overland via the express to Fort Vancouver, possibly arriving in the summer or fall of 1826, but most probably in the spring of 1827. On Sabine's advice, a second parcel, and a box "to the address of Mr. McLoughlin" was sent by the Society via the Company ship sailing directly to the Columbia in late September of 1826. These packages would have reached the Columbia in the early spring of 1827, in advance of the express from York Factory. [68]

On May 11, 1826, the Society awarded McLoughlin a silver medal for assisting in the promotion of the study of botany. It seems likely the second shipment from the Society included McLoughlin's medal, now on exhibit at the McLoughlin House in Oregon City. [69]

Another shipment of seeds and letters to Fort Vancouver from the Horticultural Society of London left London in the early spring of 1828 for York Factory, and apparently was sent via the spring express that year to Fort Vancouver, arriving in the fall. Once again, the varieties of seeds is not at present known. [70]

Location

It is not clear whether the first references to a garden are to an early garden near the 1824-25 fort site or somewhere else. Scouler, in May of 1825, noted that potatoes and other vegetables were cultivated on the "beautiful prairie" where the stockade was located. His observations regarding the location of potatoes, at least, are confirmed by the 1825 map, which shows "Potatoe Grounds" located north of the first stockade on "High Ground." However, potatoes were a staple throughout most of the post's historic period, and were planted in great quantities as a field crop.

The location of a vegetable garden plot, with lettuce, cabbage and other more perishable table foods, if one existed before the fall of 1828, is not indicated on the 1825 map. In addition, one of the variations on the Simpson apple and grape seed story indicates these seeds were first sown in "little boxes" which were covered with glass and then placed in the "store" until large enough for transplanting outside. [71] If this story is true, then one wonders if these precious seedlings were planted much beyond the immediate vicinity of the stockade.

Fields and Pastures

Cultivated Fields

"In March 1825, we moved there and that spring planted potatoes and sowed two bushels of peas, the only grain we had, and all we had," McLoughlin recalled in his retirement in Oregon City. [72] To Simpson in April of 1825 he reported, "It was the 21st April before we could plough the ground," and said they had planted 100 bushels of seed potatoes, one-quarter acre of beans, and 3 acres of peas. [73] That year he reported a harvest of "...one and a half Bushels seed pease from those imported, and we expect with this to be able to raise a sufficient Stock of Pease to dispence with importing any corn in future, we have also succeeded in raising a few beans for seed and had a crop of nine hundred barrels of Potatoes, of the latter I will endeavor to put two hundred barrels in the ground [in 1826], so as to have a sufficient supply for this place and Frasers River." [74]

These fields were observed by Scouler in May of 1825, where he noted that the "beautiful prairie" contained "...about 300 acres of excellent land, on which potatoes and other vegetables are cultivated." Scouler appears to have distinguished this "upper" prairie from the "...large plain between the fort and river... "which the fort overlooked, offering "... abundance of pasture to 120 horses, besides other cattle." The 1825 map clearly indicates the location of "Potatoe Grounds," north of the first stockade on "High Ground." The first fields, as shown by the map, were located on the upper bench, which measures about 250 acres today. The 1846 Covington farm map shows fields on the southern edge of the bluff, and a portion of this plateau was still in cultivated fields as late as 1914. McLoughlin reported the soil on the "Hill" was "light and covered with very large trees." He also said the on soil on the plain below the fort was "alluvial," and said both locations were "infested" with moles. It appears that when the new stockade was built in the late 1820s, most of the farming operation shifted to the lower plain with its "alluvial soil." [75]

In the fall of 1825, McLoughlin reported receiving "...from York Factory a bushel of spring wheat, a bushel oats, a bushel barley, a bushel Indian corn and a quart of timothy, and all of which was sown in proper time, and which produced well except the Indian corn, for which the ground was too poor and the nights rather cool, and continued extending our improvements." [76] This seed, he later noted, was of" poor quality," having been damaged in transit. In all, two hundred barrels of potatoes--apparently seed potatoes from the spring crop, the nine and one-half bushels of seed peas from the spring planting, and two bushels of barley, and one bushel each of oats and Indian corn, plus a quart of timothy were planted. J.W.M. Harvey stated "a small bag full" of wheat was imported in the spring of 1826 via the Company express and was "sown in a small field, about 50 feet square." [77] The potato crop "failed" that year, yielding only six hundred barrels, and the Indian corn failed to produce more than one and one-half bushels. The wheat, oats, barley and peas, "The finest I ever saw in any Country," produced well, McLoughlin said. Of the twenty-seven bushels of barley harvested, McLoughlin saved one-half for seed, and used part of the rest in a beer making experiment. Captain Simpson told his missionary acquaintance in Hawaii, Henry Bingham, that the Company expected to export beer from Fort Vancouver. [78]

In 1827 seeds--red wheat, white wheat, oats and barley--arrived from London on the William and Ann in late April; they were planted too late and many did not sprout. Harvest figures are not available, although McLoughlin reported before harvest that he expected a yield of 150 bushels of wheat, 500 to 600 bushels of peas, 300 bushels of barley and 50 bushels of oats. But it was this year--a drought year--that McLoughlin sent all spare hands out of the fort to hunt during the winter; he also sent a Company ship to California and Hawaii to buy provisions in case of a crop failure in 1828. [79]

It is not clear where the additional fields of wheat, barley, Indian corn, peas and so forth, were located in 1826 and '27. However, in February of 1828 Edward Ermatinger, then a clerk at Fort Vancouver, reported that "large timber [was] cleared" and new ground ploughed. [80] The number of bushels planted of various crops increased dramatically:

seventy-six bushels of wheat, eighteen "grey pease," seven "early pease," thirty barley, twenty-two oats, and three Indian corn. [81] Reports of the harvest vary somewhat, although both Simpson and McLoughlin considered it abundant Jedediah Smith, who arrived towards the end of the year, reported the crop included 700 bushels of wheat, "...the grain full and plump, and making good flour; fourteen acres of corn, the same number of acres in peas, eight acres of oats, four or five acres of barley," which gives some sense of the amount of acreage in production that year. [82] The 1828 crop was, according to McLoughlin, "...sufficient to enable us to dispense with the importation of flour, etc."

At present, it is unclear when crops were first planted on Fort Plain; the 1825 map does not indicate any cultivated fields below the bluff. Fort Plain may first have been cultivated during the expansion reported by Ermatinger in 1828, the same year McLoughlin reported that imported flour was no longer necessary. By 1831, it was almost certainly in production, because a newly arrived clerk at the Fort, George T. Allan, wrote to a firm in London in 1832 that "On the east side of the Fort [1828-29 fort] there is a beautiful plain, great part of which is under cultivation...". [83] If a "great part" of the plain was under cultivation by that time, it seems likely that its development occurred over time, possibly dating back to the spring of 1828, or at least to the spring of 1829, when construction of the new stockade on Fort Plain was underway.

Livestock

Cattle and horses were located on the plain below the fort in 1825, according to Scouler, shown as "Low Ground" on the 1825 map. Between seventeen and thirty-odd head of cattle came from Fort George, probably descendents of cattle purchased in Monterey in 1814. [84] Adhering to a policy of increasing herd size, McLoughlin reported in March of 1826 "...we have not killed a single calf, and have a stock at present of twenty-seven cows, five three year old heifers--two this spring calves, and we expect this fall to have between eighty and ninety head of cattle of all sizes. .." [85] There were, in addition, the two oxen reported to have hauled water to the stockade. [86] In February of 1827 Edward Ermatinger noted in his journal: "Cows calving in every direction." [87] Late in 1828 Simpson reported the herd "...now Exceeds 150 head." [88] Of the 150 horses Scouler saw, 73 arrived with clerk Tom McKay in April of 1825, probably from Fort George. The main source for horses were the Indians, particularly the Nez Perce who ranged to the east of Fort Vancouver, and who have been recorded as suppliers of horses to the Company in various journals and reports. [89]

The farm also had hogs, which were apparently allowed to range free on the upper prairie or the plain below, because in 1826 McLoughlin reported four died from eating a "kind of poisonous Camas." [90] The hogs were brought from Fort George, but had originally come from the Hawaiian Islands, according to Scouler. [91] John Work, in charge of moving materials from Fort George to Fort Vancouver in March and April of 1825, noted in his journal on April 14 that "It [the weather] faired up a little in the evening when we got all the boats loaded except the pigs which will be embarked in the morning." [92] In 1826 McLoughlin requested pumpkin seeds to grow the squash for winter feed for the hogs. The seeds were not received the following year, and McLoughlin complained that it was too bad, since pumpkins "...would enable us to feed our pigs, in house all Winter they would thrive better and none would be devoured by Wolves." [93] By 1828 McLoughlin was reporting the hogs numbered over 200, "...besides the consumption of the Establishment of fresh Pork and about 6000 lb Salted Pork." [94] At some point a piggery was established below Old Fort Hill on the north edge of Fort Plain: it is noted on the 1845 Vavasour map, but is not listed in an 1846-47 inventory of Fort Vancouver buildings made by the Company. One structure is indicated on the map; no known reference to it exists in the literature. If it were an older structure, associated with the first stockade on Old Fort Hill, perhaps it was in such poor shape that it was not considered in the later inventory.

By 1828, fifty head of goats were at Fort Vancouver, although, it is not noted where they were kept. [95] There is some confusion regarding when sheep arrived at the post; not, apparently, until after the new stockade was built in 1828-29.

Sawmill

In the winter of 1828-29, the Company built its first sawmill at the post, about seven miles east of the fort. The exact date of construction is not clear: Jedediah Smith, who arrived at Fort Vancouver at the end of 1828, and spent the 1828-29 winter there, reported that the Company had a "good" sawmill on the river above the fort in 1830; J.W.M. Harvey says the mill was built in 1829. The construction period of the mill coincides with the move of the original fort to Fort Plain. Details regarding it are discussed in the following section covering the 1829-46 historic period. [96]

Fort Vancouver Outposts

During this period, only two principal settlement sites beyond the immediate vicinity of Jolie Prairie could be considered under the influence or control of the new establishment at Fort Vancouver. The post's later development as a hub of agricultural activity encompassing remote outposts really began after 1830, and is discussed in the following section. During these earlier years, however, the nascent white settlement in the Willamette Valley was probably established, and the old Astorian post of the Pacific Fur Company at the mouth of the Columbia, which the Canadian North West Company re-christened Fort George, continued to operate at a reduced capacity under McLoughlin's direction from Fort Vancouver.

Willamette Valley

The Willamette Valley extends about 150 miles south from the Columbia River; the valley floor averages about thirty miles in width. The Willamette River is the means of drainage from the Coast Range on the west and the Cascade mountains on the east, and, like the Columbia River, for many years was the principal means of transportation of goods and people, where the only break in the river was a relatively short portage required to circumnavigate the falls at what became Oregon City. Its soil was rich; its vegetation included dense forests and open prairies covered with grass. During this period wildlife-including the beaver, principal object of the fur trade--was abundant.

About eighteen miles above the falls, where the river makes a bend to the west, was a natural clearing which is now called Champoeg. It was the northernmost of a series of openings south of the river bend, extending for around twenty miles and terminating just northeast of the present day city of Salem. This area came to be called French Prairie, bounded on the east by the Pudding River and on the west by the Willamette, its soil consisted primarily of black loam, rich farming land. North of the Willamette River's bend was a series of low hills, and north of them, extending from the area of the present day Forest Grove to Lake Oswego. From the river bend to the hills lining the west bank of the Willamette River, were the Tualatin Plains, traversed on the south by the Tualatin River. Principal routes to these sites from Fort Vancouver included the Willamette River, and an overland trail long-established by fur traders and later used by the Hudson's Bay Company, which began near the present day site of St. Helens, Oregon, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia Rivers, and extended south through the Tualatin Plains to Champoeg.

The exact date of white settlement in the Valley--and the consequent alteration of its landscape is not positively documented: oral histories indicate settlement by free trappers may have begun around 1812, although whether farms were established or the settlement consisted merely of hunting camps is not known at present. By 1826-27, however, some freemen had establishments in the valley: by 1826 a free trader named Etienne Lucier had at least a semi-permanent camp near Champoeg. where he herded and sold horses, but it does not appear he had begun any substantial farming there at that time. In 1828 he applied to John McLoughlin for assistance in establishing a farm in the Willamette. McLoughlin later recalled, "I told him I would loan him seed to sow and wheat to feed himself and family, to be returned from the produce of his farm, and sell him such implements as were in the Hudson Bay Company's store at fifty percent, on prime cost. But a few days after he came back and told me he thought there was too remote a prospect of this becoming a civilized country, and as there were no clergymen in the country, he asked me a passage for his family in the Hudson Bay Co.'s boats, to which I acceded." [97] But Lucier missed the connection with the Company's fall express to Canada, and returned to Fort Vancouver, where McLoughlin dispatched him, early in 1829, on a hunting expedition headed by Chief Trader McLeod, then camped on the Umpqua River in southern Oregon, and due to head into California.

In either 1829 or 1830, Lucier applied to McLoughlin again for assistance in starting a farm in the Valley, and it was then that the Company, through the aegis of McLoughlin, became involved in the development of farming in the Valley, through its provision of seed, livestock and agricultural implements to freemen and retired employees. [98] Oral tradition also credits two other freemen with the honor of having established the first farm in the Willamette Valley--Joseph Gervais, who may have staked out a farm near Chemaway on French Prairie in 1827 or 1828, and Jean Baptiste Desportes McKay, who was, according to U.S. Navy Purser William Slacum in 1837, the first settler on the "Willhamett," near Champoeg. Because McLoughlin later recollected that it was in 1829--some historians believe 1830--that he first lent agricultural materials to settlers, who he personally approved, the Willamette settlements are discussed in more detail in the following section. For the purposes of this study, it is sufficient to note that it was the Hudson's Bay Company's seed, agricultural implements and livestock which provided the foundation for the first farms established in the Valley, and therefore significantly impacted its establishment--and development--as a settlement center.

Fort George

As noted earlier, Fort Astoria had been established in 1811 by the American Pacific Fur Company, but was sold to the Canadian North West Company in 1813, a casualty of the War of 1812. Under international treaty, the post was officially the property of the United States from 1819 onwards; in practical terms, it remained in the hands of the North West Company. Re-named Fort George, the post served as at least an intermittent supply depot for the North West Company's interior posts west of the Rockies. After the merger of the North West and Hudson's Bay companies in 1821, Fort George fell under the umbrella of the reorganized Hudson's Bay Company. Because it was located within the North West Company's Columbia district, it fell under the direction of the head of the Company's Northern Department (or Factory), whose first governor was George Simpson.

At the time Simpson visited the post, in 1824-25, he noted it was "...a large pile of buildings covering about an acre of ground well stockaded and protected by Bastions or Blockhouses, having two Eighteen Pounders mounted in front and altogether an air or appearance of Grandeur & consequence which does not become and is not at all suitable to an Indian Trading Post." [99] The site chosen by the Astorians for their post in 1811 was on the south bank of the Columbia, about ten miles east of the mouth of the river on the rising ground of a point of land which formed a natural harbor. Forested hills rose steeply from a narrow strip of land along the river. The initial establishment had consisted of a log residence, a storehouse, and a powder magazine, and a vegetable garden was planted. It was not a particularly suitable site--it was vulnerable to sea attack, it was far from the fur riches of the interior, and the climate was damp. Its various occupants had cultivated a garden of about fifteen or twenty acres; by the time of Simpson's arrival it was producing potatoes, peas, carrots, turnips, cabbages and radishes. The soil, however, was poor, he noted, "being a mixture of Clay & Sand..." [100] Simpson also reported the presence of thirty-one head of cattle and seventeen hogs; most, if not all, were soon moved to Fort Vancouver. [101]

The move of stores and provisions to Fort Vancouver in 1824-25 has been addressed. By September of 1825, John Scouler reported Fort George was abandoned, and in a state of "ruin and filth." [102] However, in 1829, McLoughlin had the post reoccupied, and it was manned into the 1840s.

Map 1. 1825 map Columbia River, Surveyed 1825. Portion of map showing site of first Hudson's Bay Company stockade at Fort Vancouver, on bluff overlooking Columbia River. Printed at Lithographic Establishment, Quarter Master Generals Office, Horse Guards, October 1826. Courtesy Washington State Historical Society.

ENDNOTES

⁴Gordon Davidson, The North West Company (Berkeley: University of California Publications in History VII, 1918), passim.

⁵Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, pp. 339-344.

⁶John Hussey, History of Fort Vancouver, pp.19-20.

⁷R. Harvey Fleming, ed., Minutes of the Council of Northern Department of Rupert Land 1821-31, Hudson's Bay Company Series, Vol. III, (Toronto: Publications of the Champlain Society, 1940), pp.334-336 (Hereafter referred to as HBRS III).

⁸Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, pp. 257-260.

⁹HBRS III, pp 450-1; HBRS IV, introduction.

¹⁰Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, pp. 43-44, 50-51, 54, 66.

¹¹HBRS III, p. 145.

¹²Documents found to date do not positively establish that Simpson received direct orders from London; Hussey, History of Fort Vancouver, p. 36.

¹³Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, p. 65; Simpson to Addington, 21 December 1825, "Documents," Oregon Historical Quarterly XX (December 1919), p. 334.

¹⁴Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, pp. 105-6.

¹⁵"Copy of a Document Found Among the Private Papers of the Late Dr. John McLoughlin," in Transactions of the Eighth Annual Re-Union of the Oregon Pioneer Association for 1880 (Salem: R.M. Waite, 1881), p.46 (Hereafter referred to as TOPA 1880).

¹⁶Referred to as Belle Vue Point in Simpson's early correspondence regarding the site, apparently in the belief it was the same point of land named by Lieutenant Broughton of the British navy, when he surveyed the river in 1792; it is now believed Broughton's Belle Vue Point was further downstream.

¹⁷HBRS IV, p. 5.

¹⁸Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, p. 111.

¹⁹J.H. Pelly to George Cumming, 9 December 1825. Hudson's Bay Company, Miscellaneous, OHS mss. 1502, Oregon Historical Society, Portland, Oregon.

²⁰Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, p. 43.

²¹John Scouler, "Dr. John Scouler's Journal of a Voyage to N.W. America," Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society VI (June 1905), p. 174.

²²Frederick Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, p. 124.

²³HBRS IV, p. 32.

²⁴Ibid., pp. 66-67.

²⁵Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, pp. 229-301.

²⁶Hussey, History of Fort Vancouver, pp. 61-62.

²⁷Ibid., p. 65.

²⁸S.A. Clarke, Pioneer Days of Oregon History, Vol. I (Portland, Oregon: 1905), p. 185; Clinton Snowden, A History of Washington: The Rise and Progress of an American State, Vol. I (New York: 1904), p. 477.

²⁹HBRS IV, p. 54.

³⁰Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, p. 106.

³¹George Thornton Emmons, The Emmons Journal (Eugene: Koke Tiffany Co.), p. 6.

³²J.W. McLoughlin Harvey, "History of Fort Vancouver," ins. G Or3 H26, Provincial Archives of British Columbia, Victoria (Hereafter PABC).

³³Charles Wilkes, Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition During the Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842, Vol. IV (Philadelphia: C. Sherman printer, 1844), p. 358. In fact, the lower prairie--Fort Plain--did occasionally flood.

³⁴John Hussey, History of Fort Vancouver, p. 69.

³⁵Frederick Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, p. 124.

³⁶Wilkes, Narrative, IV, p. 358.

³⁷John Scouler, "Journal," p. 174.

³⁸Emmons, Journal, p. 6.

³⁹R.G. Large, ed., The Journals of William Fraser Tolmie: Physician and Fur Trader (Vancouver, B.C.: Mitchell Press Ltd., 1963), p. 174.

⁴⁰Ibid., pp. 173-175.

⁴¹Journal of John Work, 21 March-14 May 1825, Ms. 319, Oregon Historical Society.

⁴²Harvey, "History of Fort Vancouver," pp. 1-4.

⁴³Lieutenant Mervyn Vavasour of the Royal Engineers and Lieutenant Henry J. Warre of the Fourteenth Regiment were sent on a military reconnaissance expedition in 1845-46 by the Sir R.D. Jackson, commander of the British forces in Canada, in consultation with George Simpson of the Hudson's Bay Company. They traveled as tourists, assessing British positions from Sault Sainte Marie to the Pacific Ocean; they stayed at Fort Vancouver from August, 1845, through March, 1846, later preparing a report for the British Foreign Office. Warre prepared several illustrations of Fort Vancouver from this period, and Vavasour, maps of the stockade and the site.

⁴⁴There are two maps dating from 1844, both of which show the line of a destructive fire in 1844. One is a map of most of the entire Fort Vancouver Farm, from Lower Plain to Mill Plain; this was delineated by Henry Peers, a Hudson's Bay Company clerk, and is hereafter referred to as the Peers map (Map 6, this report). The second, shows the vicinity of the stockade in more detail, and is hereafter referred to as the 1844 stockade area map (Map 4). There are also two maps which were prepared by engineer Richard Covington, a British emigrant who appears to have been hired to draft the maps for the Company. One is a map which shows most of the entire Fort Vancouver farm, like the Peers map, and is referred to hereafter as the 1846 Covington farm map. The second, like the 1844 stockade map, shows the stockade vicinity is some detail, including the area of Kanaka Village, and is hereafter referred to as the 1846 Covington stockade area map (Map 7). Covington also prepared a sketch of the stockade area in 1855 (Figure 6), and a map dated 1859, which shows land claims on the Fort Vancouver site (Map 10).

⁴⁵John Scouler, "Journal," p. 174.

⁴⁶John Hussey, The History of Fort Vancouver, p. 44.

⁴⁷Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 92-93.

⁴⁸HBRS IV, p. 5.

⁴⁹Harvey, "History of Fort Vancouver," pp. 1-4. Harvey referred to the site as "Ske-Chew-twa," claiming it was the name given the plain by the Indians.

⁵⁰Frederick Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, p 124.

⁵¹David Douglas, "Sketch of a Journey to the Northwestern Parts of the Continent of North America During the Years 1824-25-26-27," Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, V (September 1904), p. 248.

⁵²Hussey, History of Fort Vancouver, p. 49.

⁵³HBRS IV, p. 54.

⁵⁴Hussey, History of Fort Vancouver, p. 70.

⁵⁵E.E. Rich, ed., Part of Dispatch from George Simpson, Esqr., Governor of Ruperts Land to the Governor & Committee of the Hudson's Bay Company, Landon, March 1, 1929, Continued and Completed March 24 and June 5, 1829, Hudson's Bay Company Series, Vol. X (Toronto: Publications of the Champlain Society, 1947), pp. 68-69 (Hereafter referred to as HBRS X); U.S. Congress, Senate, "J.S. Smith, D.E. Jackson, W.L. Sublette to J.H. Eaton, St. Louis, 29 October 1830." Ex. Doc. No. 39, 21st Congress, 2d sess., pp. 21-23.

⁵⁶Lester Ross, Fort Vancouver 1829-1860: A Historical Archaeological Investigation of the Goods Imported and Manufactured by the Hudson's Bay Company (National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, June 1976).

⁵⁷"Copy of a Document," TOPA 1880, p. 46.

⁵⁸Indent Books, A.26/18, folio 122, Hudson's Bay Company Archives, Winnipeg (Hereafter referred to as HBCA).

⁵⁹Ibid., folio 133.

⁶⁰Ibid., folio 16.

⁶¹H. Bingham to J. Everts, 16 February 1829, in George Verne Blue, "Green's Missionary Report on Oregon, 1829" Oregon Historical Quarterly XXX (September 1929), pp. 164-5. The former Royal Navy Lieutenant Aemilius Simpson became Captain Simpson after his appointment to the Company's maritime trade.

⁶²Hussey, History of Fort Vancouver, p. 53.

⁶³Lawrence Dodd, ed., Narcissa Whitman, My Journal, 3rd. ed. (Fairfield, WA: Ye Galleon Press, 1990), P. 50.

⁶⁴Jesse Applegate to Mrs. Frances F. Victor, 19 October 1868, Letters of Jesse Applegate, Elwood Evans Scrapbook (transcript), Oregon Historical Society, Portland.

⁶⁵Herbert Howe Bancroft, History of the Northwest Coast, Vol II, (San Francisco: 1884), p.441.

⁶⁶Harvey, "History of Fort Vancouver," p.4.

⁶⁷William Smith to Joseph Sabine, 26 April 26, 1826, London Correspondence Outward, A.5/8, p. 129, HBCA. The Douglas letter is referred to in this document.

⁶⁸Smith to Sabine, 20 September 1826, London Correspondence Outward, A.5/8, p. 129, HBCA.

⁶⁹Erwin F. Lange, "Dr John McLoughlin and the Botany of the Pacific Northwest," Madrono, Vol. 14, 1958, p. 270.

⁷⁰Smith to Sabine, 20 February 1828, London Correspondence Outward, A.5/8, p. 258, HBCA.

^7IEloisa Rae Harvey, "Life of John McLoughlin," Ms. 15, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

⁷²"Copy of a Document," TOPA 1880, p. 46.

⁷³McLoughlin to Simpson, 21 April 1825, B.223/e/3, folios 1-id, HBCA.

⁷⁴Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, p. 270.

⁷⁵McLoughlin to Simpson, 21 April 1825, B.223/e/3, folio 1, HBCA. In the 1830s and '40s it was common practice to temporarily fence sheep and cattle on portions of the land of Fort Plain to fertilize the soil, prior to planting.

⁷⁶"Copy of a Document," TOPA 1880, p.46.

⁷⁷Harvey, "History of Fort Vancouver," p.4.

⁷⁸H. Bingham to J. Everts, 16 February 1829, "Missionary Report," pp. 164-5.

⁷⁹HBRS IV, pp. 50-51, 54, 60-61.

⁸⁰John A. Hussey, "The Fort Vancouver Farm,"Prepared for National Park Service, n.d. (Typewritten), p. 23.

⁸¹HBRS IV, p. 61.

⁸²U.S. Congress, Senate, "J.S. Smith, D.E. Jackson, W.L. Sublette to J.H. Eaton, St. Louis, 29 October 1830." Ex. Doc. No. 39, 21st Congress, 2d sess., pp. 21-23.

⁸³[George T. Allan] "Reminiscences of Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River, Oregon, as it Stood in 1832...," Transactions of the Ninth Annual Re-Union of the Oregon Pioneer Association, for 1881 (Salem: E.M. Waite, 1882), p. 75.

⁸⁴Alice B. Maloney, "The Hudson's Bay Company in California," Oregon Historical Quarterly XXXVII, (March 1936), pp. 9-23; HBRS X, p. 69; John Hussey, History of Fort Vancouver, p. 53; HBRS IV, p. 207.

⁸⁵Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, p. 270.

⁸⁶In another report also dated in March of 1826 McLoughlin reported additional cattle: 3 bulls, 11 steers, 11 yearly heifers, Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, p. 270. Historian John Hussey suggests that some cattle may have been imported from England via the William and Ann, although it is unlikely steers would have been imported, Hussey, "Fort Vancouver Farm," p. 15.

⁸⁷Edward Ermatinger, "Old Memo Book and Journal," 18 February 1827, as cited by Hussey, "Fort Vancouver Farm," p. 27.

⁸⁸HBRS X, p. 69; Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, p. 301; Alfred Lomax, "History of Pioneer Sheep Husbandry in Oregon," Oregon Historical Quarterly XXIX (June 1928), p. 103n.

⁸⁹B 223/b/i, folios 3-7, HBCA.

⁹⁰Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, p. 270.

⁹¹John Scouler, "Journal," p. 166.

⁹²Journal of John Work, 21 March-14 May 1825, Ms. 319, Oregon Historical Society.

⁹³Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, p. 291-92.

⁹⁴Ibid.

⁹⁵Ibid.

⁹⁶

⁹⁷"Copy of a Document," TOPA 1880, p. 48.

⁹⁸While McLoughlin later recalled it was in 1829 that Lucier applied to him a second time for assistance in establishing a farm in the Valley, there is some indication the year may have been 1830. For a more complete discussion of this and of early settlement in the Willamette Valley, see John Hussey, Champoeg: Place of Transition (Portland, Oregon: Oregon Historical Society, Oregon State Highway Commission, 1967), pp.43-61.

⁹⁹Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, p. 65.

¹⁰⁰Ibid., pp. 65, 70-71, 105.

¹⁰¹Ibid., pp. 87, 105-6; U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Report on the Preliminary Inspection of the Proposed Old Fort Vancouver Reservation Project by Olaf Hagan (1936), pp. 48-49.

¹⁰²John Scouler, "Journal," p. 277.