Fort Vancouver Historic Structures Report

History and location

W. H. Gray later said that when he arrived at Fort Vancouver in 1836 the "main gate" was directly in line with the cannons mounted in front of the manager's residence. [1] Assuming that the Big house of 1836 was not that completed in the eastern section of the stockade enclosure during the winter of 1837-1838 but one located in the old or western portion of the fort, one can be reasonably certain that from 1829 until the post was doubled in size about 1834-1839, the principal and perhaps only gate was situated at about the center of the south or front 320-foot wall. [2]

This gate remained in this same location when the enlargement of 1834-1839 took place, as is demonstrated by the fact that the southwest gate shown on the Emmons ground plan of 1841 is situated east of the southwest stockade corner at a distance of approximately one-quarter of the length of the doubled south wall (see plate III).

By the time Captain Edward Belcher of the Royal Navy visited Fort Vancouver during August, 1839, the original fort had been doubled in size, and Belcher noted that there were three gates in the stockade walls. [3] Two years later Captain Charles Wilkes of the United States Exploring Expedition was more specific. "There are two large entrance gates to the 'fort' for wagons and carts," he recorded, "and one in the rear leading to the granaries and garden." [4] The Emmons plan (plate III) and the Henry Eld pencil sketch (plate IV), both dating from 1841, throw light upon the location of these entrances. Two were in the south or front wall; one was in the north or rear wall.

From the ground plan drawn by Lieutenant Vavasour in 1845 (plate VII) and from the view sketched by Lieutenant Henry J. Warre at about the same time (plate IX) it is apparent that the number and relative positions of the gates remained unchanged between at least 1841 and late 1845, though by the latter date the fort enclosure had been expanded on the west and on the east to its ultimate width of about 732 feet. The Covington map of Fort Vancouver, dating apparently from late 1846, continues to show what seem to be the same three gates (see plate XIII). [5]

Neither the Emmons map nor the Vavasour plan is sufficiently accurate to permit a precise location of the gates by scaling off distances. But these drawings constitute nearly the sum total of the historical evidence available for locating the gates as they existed in late 1845, the approximate date to which the fort is to be restored. When these maps are analyzed in the light of archeological findings, however, the results are more useful. They may be summarized as follows:

1. Southwest gate (west gate in front wall). On the Emmons plan of 1841 this gate is shown as being a quarter of the total wall length, or about 159.5 feet, east of the southwest stockade corner (point D on plate I). The Vavasour map locates this gate about 190 feet east of the 1845 southwest corner (about four feet north of point J). Since excavations have shown that point J was about 36 feet west of point D, the two maps are very nearly in agreement. The Vavasour map indicates that this gate was 12 to 15 feet wide, but these figures seem high in view of what is known about the widths of other gates at Fort Vancouver (see plates VI and VII).

Excavations in 1952 revealed no positive evidence of the west gate in the inner of the two south palisade walls. This inner wall, as has been seen, evidently marked the stockade line at the time Vavasour drew his map in 1845.

In the outer wall, about six feet farther south, however, the search was more successful. A gate opening definitely was located. It was about 205 to 214 feet east of the southwest corner (point J) as nearly as can be measured from available maps of the excavation. It is evident, then, that when the outer south wall was built sometime after 1845, the gate was shifted a few feet to the east. [6]

This outer wall opening was marked by the remains of two large posts, each about 13 inches in diameter and sunk 4-1/2 feet in the ground. The centers of the posts were 10 feet apart, making the gate opening 8.9 feet wide. [7]

The southwest gate seemingly was known as the "business gate" during the 1840's at least. [8] It appears that this gate, as built sometime after 1845 in the outer wall, remained in the position revealed by the 1952 excavations until at least 1859. An exit from the post at that point seems to be shown on a map of the military reservation at Fort Vancouver drawn in that year (see plate XXIV). However, a ground plan of the Hudson's Bay Company fort made by a board of Army officers on June 15, 1860, clearly shows the southwest gate in a new position about 110 feet west of the former one and near the powder magazine (see plate XXX).

2. Southeast gate (east gate in front wall). According to Vavasour's ground plan, the eastern gate in the south palisade was about 205 to 208 feet west of the 1845 southeast stockade corner (which was about six feet north of point L). [9] The same map shows the gate as being ten or twelve feet wide but this measurement probably is only a rough approximation. No archeological excavations have been conducted in the vicinity of the southeast gate, so it has not yet been possible to check Vavasour's location with actual remains. [10]

A rather interesting fact develops when the location of this gate is plotted on the Summary Sheet Archeological Excavations (plate I) from the Vavasour measurements. This action places the eastern post of the gate directly south of the west wall of the Indian Trade Shop as located by archeological evidence. Such a position agrees exactly with the position of this gate as shown on the Covington map of 1846 (plate XIII). It does not agree, however, with the Vavasour plan, which shows the Indian Shop west wall as being about 25 feet east of the gate. This fact may have some hearing upon when the new Indian Trade Shop was constructed; then again it may simply be one more indication that Vavasour was not as careful a surveyor as he might have been.

It has already been pointed out that the location of the southeast gate as shown on the Vavasour and Covington plans apparently changed between late 1846 and 1854. The Bonneville map of the latter year, supported by the survey of the military reservation made at the direction of General W. S. Haney in 1859 and the ground plan made by a board of Army officers in 1860, indicates that the gate was shifted to the westward (see plates XIX, XXIV, XXX). As closely as can be determined from these maps, the new location was about 335 feet west of the extreme southeast stockade corner (point L). This information may be of interest in interpreting the results of future archeological excavations, but it need not concern those planning the restoration of Fort Vancouver to its appearance in 1845-1846.

3. North gate. Vavasour's ground plan of late 1845 places the gate in the north wall at a point about 205 to 208 feet west of the northeast stockade corner at that time (point K). One version of the same map shows the opening to be about 15 or 16 feet wide; another shows it as about 12 feet wide (see plates VI and VII). Archeologist John D. Combes, after an examination of "all of the available maps, sketches, pictures, etc.," preparatory to renewed excavations in 1966 concluded that the gate was about 210 feet west of the northeast corner. [11]

These calculations were put to the test in 1966 when archeologists had an opportunity to dig along the entire length of the north wall. At a point 212 feet west of the northeast corner the archeologist uncovered a pile of large river-rounded stones starting at two feet and continuing down to four feet below the present ground surface. Twelve feet farther west along the line of the stockade a second and similar pile was found. There was no evidence of stockade posts between the two heaps of stones. The area near the stone piles showed a much higher concentration of large nails than was usual elsewhere along the wall.

In the opinion of Mr. Combes, "The evidence looks very good for this being the actual location of the north gate. The rock piles appear to be reinforcements for the vertical posts that supported the heavy gates." [12]

Even though no remains of the gate posts themselves were found, it seems inescapable that the rock piles were associated with the gate structure. If the centers of the boulder heaps marked the centers of the gate posts and if the posts were about 13 inches in diameter as were those of the southwest gate, the width of the north gate would have been about 11 feet. [13]

Construction details

Very little is known about the construction of the gates at Fort Vancouver or at any other western Hudson's Bay Company post for that matter. In one of the few general descriptions available, a long-time Company employee, speaking principally of the posts in the present British Columbia, said that the gates were "massive structures" about six or seven inches thick and heavily studded with large nails. There was usually a small door cut in one side of each gate so that a single person or a small party could enter without the necessity of opening the entire gate. [14]

If this description was applicable to the gates at Fort Vancouver, they must have been constructed much like the gates at the restored military post of Fort York in Canada. The latter gates were made of heavy vertical planks, about three inches thick, on the outer face, backed by similar planks placed horizontally on the inner face. Both faces of the gate were studded with very heavy, broad-headed nails or spikes. Plate XL provides a good view of both sides of the Fort York gate. An interesting feature is the fact that the gate had heavy iron straps across the width of the outer face as well as the inner.

This use of straps on the outer face has not been followed at any of the restorations of Hudson's Bay Company posts observed by the writer. Yet it is known that the firm employed this type of gate construction at one western fort at least. A traveler in 1868 drew a sketch of Fort Simpson on the Northwest Coast. Small and crude though it is, this picture clearly shows iron bands extending nearly across the width of each gate leaf near the top and near the bottom, though on the leaf containing the postern the lower band only extended as far as that doorway. [15]

On the other hand, a photograph of a gate at Fort Victoria seems to show no exterior bands. The outer face, the only one visible, seems to be composed of vertical planks without studding nails (see plate XXXIII).

There is no exact information as to the height of the gates, but based on available drawings and photographs of gates at Fort Vancouver and elsewhere, eight feet seems the most reasonable figure. It will be remembered that in the list of materials for the stockade at Henry's post on Park River in 1800 were eight-foot planks for the gates.

Such a conclusion seems to be supported by a description of the gates installed at the rebuilt Fort Walla Walla during the fall of 1843. "I think there were two wooden gates," testified W. H. Gray in 1866, "one in the front and one in the rear; my impression is that those gates were from eight to ten feet wide -- double gates; they may have been eight feet high." [16]

The gates at Hudson's Bay Company forts were generally described as "folding" or "double" gates, indicating that there were two leaves which swung inward when opened, one hinged to each gatepost. No gate hardware from Fort Vancouver has yet been found. Since Vancouver was a main depot, there was no shortage of iron, and therefore it may be assumed that the hardware was heavy, after the style of that at Fort York (see plate XL). [17]

No direct testimony has been found as to the type of locks employed on the Fort Vancouver gates. It is known, however, that padlocks were used at Fort Nisqually. [18]

The Eld and Warre drawings of Fort Vancouver clearly show that the openings for the gates were, in effect, cut out of the palisade wall. The pickets continued in an uninterrupted row across the top of each gateway opening (see plates IV and IX). The construction technique employed to achieve this result is clearly illustrated by an early photograph showing the interior of a gate at Fort Victoria (see plate XXXIII).

Recommendations

a. The southwest gate, situated in the stockade wall of late 1845 (the inner south wall as revealed by archeological excavations) should be located about 190 to 195 feet east of the 1845 southwest stockade corner. If further archeological excavations do not produce remains of this gate to show the exact site, the gate should be located so that it can be joined to the storehouses (buildings nos. 7 and 8 on "Summary Sheet, Archeological Excavations") as shown on the Vavasour "Plan of Fort Vancouver" (plate VI).

b. Lacking archeological data, the southwest gate should be made the same width as that found in the north wall, i.e., 12 feet between gate post centers. The gate posts should be about 13 inches in diameter as were those found in the outer south wall.

c. An archeological search should be made along the entire length of the inner and outer south walls in an effort to find the remains of the several successive southeast gates. Interpretation of these findings should permit a precise location of this gate as it stood in 1845-1846. If no traces of the gate are found, the restored southeast entrance should be about 205 to 208 feet west of the 1845 southeast stockade corner.

d. The north gate should be located as revealed by the 1966 archeological excavations. The distance between gate post centers should be 12 feet.

e. The gates should be eight feet high, with widths as given in the preceding section.

f. Each gate should have two leaves, opening inward.

g. Each gate leaf should be constructed of two thickness of three-inch planking, the planks to run vertically on the outer face and horizontally on the inner.

h. Hardware and heavy studding nails should follow the pattern used at Fort York, Canada.

i. One leaf in each gate should contain a postern door patterned after that at Fort York.

j. The palisade sections over one gate should be removable to permit entry of trucks during reconstruction of buildings within the stockade.

1. Gray, History of Oregon, 150; testimony of W. H. Gray, in Br. & Am. Joint Comm., Papers, [VIII], 184.

2. For a detailed discussion of the locations of the manager's residence see Chapter IX on the Big House.

3. Belcher, Narrative, I, 294.

4. Charles Wilkes, Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition during the Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842 (5 vols., Philadelphia, 15 , IV, 331.

5. On the Covington map the southeast gate appears to have shifted to the east a few feet, but this map, which has no scale, is so far out of proportion that attempts at measurement can give no precise results.

6. This shift is confirmed by comparing the position of the gate in relation to the two large storehouses north of it as shown on the Vavasour plan with that depicted on the Summary Sheet Archeological Excavations. The Covington map of 1846 is too small in scale to throw any certain light upon the question of when this shift might have been made.

7. Caywood, Final Report, 25.

8. John Minto, "Reminiscences of Experiences on the Oregon Trail in 1844-II," in OHQ, II (September, 1901), 245.

9. The Emmons plan, having no scale, is of little assistance in precisely locating this gate. However, there is no major incompatability in this regard between the Emmons and the Vavasour maps.

10. Caywood, Final Report, 25.

11. Combes, A Report, 4.

12. Combes, op. cit., 5. See plate XXXIX for a diagram of this gate as excavated in 1966.

13. A drawing of Fort Vancouver from the north made by George Gibbs in 1851 distinctly shows the north gate situated farther to the west, seemingly near the granary or wheat store (see plate XVIII). No other certain representation of a gate in this location has been found.

14. Compton, Forts and Fort Life in New Caledonia, MS, 7.

15. Emil Teichmann, A Journey to Alaska in the Year 1868: Being a Diary of the Late Emil Teichmann (New York; Argosy-Antiquarian Ltd., 1963), 105-106.

16. Br. & Am. Joint Comm., Papers, [VIII], 180-181. Gray also said that "the greater portion of each gate was of only a single thickness of planks, but with battens. Apparently this atypical construction resulted from a scarcity of timber and from the fact that these particular gates were made by American emigrants stopping at Fort Walla Walla. Ibid., 181, 268.

17. In general, the gate hardware at Hudson's Bay posts which have been reconstructed in recent years is rather light. For examples see plates XLI and XLII.

18. The Fort Nisqually journal for March 19, 1849, contains the following sentence: "Wren fixing padlocks on Fort gates." Victor J. Farrar, ed., "The Nisqually Journal," in Washington Historical Quarterly, X (July, 1919), 207.