Fort Vancouver Historic Structures Report

History and location

On October 18, 1838, Chief Trader James Douglas, in command of Fort Vancouver during Chief Factor McLoughlin's temporary absence on furlough, informed the London directors: "We have had our hands full of employment this summer, every person having been kept in constant activity. Besides the ordinary labours of the place, already enumerated, a large building of 153 x 33 feet, intended for a dwelling House, will be completed in the course of six weeks." [1] A fortnight earlier Douglas had told the Governor and Committee that it was his intention, when this structure was finished, to terminate Chief Trader John McLeod, Jr.'s, intermittent occupancy of one end of the house assigned to the Reverend and Mrs. Herbert Beaver. [2] In other words, McLeod was to be quartered in the new "large Building."

The dimensions--no other structure inside the pickets was as long--and the fact that an officer was to reside there make it certain that this dwelling, toward the completion of which Douglas had assigned "every disposable man," was the "Quarters for subordinate officers & their families" that appears as Building No. 9 on the Emmons ground plan of 1841 (Plate III, vol. I) and the "Dwelling Houses" structure shown on the Vavasour plan of late 1845 (Plates VI, VII, VIII, vol. I). [3] In actuality a series of small, one-story cottages joined under a single roof, this structure, known variously over the years as the "Bachelors' Quarters," "Bachelors' Hall," "the clerks' quarters," "Bachelor's Row," "the Bachelors' Range," etc., was located on the site called Building No. 20 on the present site plan of Fort Vancouver National Historic Site.

The building lay parallel to, and about fifty-five feet west of, the eastern palisade wall as it was located in 1845. In this position it marked the eastern boundary of the fort's courtyard. Its northwest corner was only a few yards from the southeast corner of the Big House. Thus its occupants had easy access to the mess hall. By the same token, of course, they were also subject to close surveillance by the sometimes stern eyes of Chief Factor McLoughlin.

Almost certainly the Bachelors' Quarters underwent a number of physical changes between their erection during the fall of 1838 and their final disappearance from the historical record in the early 1860s. For instance, if Emmons delineated the structure correctly in 1841 it then had only four doors along its lengthy western front, but the photograph of 1860 (Plate XXVII, vol. I) shows five. Also, the ca. 1847-48 painting by an unknown artist (Plate XVI, vol. I) seems to indicate that at that time there were five tall, narrow chimneys rising from the eave line at the rear of the Bachelors' Quarters, while the 1860 photograph depicts only four brick chimneys, all emerging at the ridge of the roof. When these changes occurred, if indeed they actually took place, is not apparent. [4]

At least one witness later stated that the Bachelors' Quarters building was still in good condition in 1860. [5] But the United States Army officers who appraised the fort structures on June 15 of that year described the old dwelling as a "long building, used as quarters for employees, so much out of repair as to be uninhabitable and useless for any military purpose." [6] It was still standing during the fall of 1860, but after that date all specific knowledge of it has been lost. [7] It had disappeared with the rest of the fort buildings by 1865 or 1866.

Role of the Bachelors' Quarters at Fort Vancouver. Of all the buildings at the Columbia depot, perhaps none except the Big House is mentioned more frequently in reminiscences of employees and accounts by visitors than the Bachelors' Quarters. As the principal residence of the subordinate officers and clerks and as the place where guests were most often housed, this long, low structure figured prominently in life at the post. Its importance can perhaps best be made clear by examining its several functions separately.

1. Housing for subordinate officers and clerks. Chief Factor John McLoughlin and his principal assistant, Chief Trader (promoted to Chief Factor in 1840) James Douglas, lived in the Big House. Other officers, as has been seen in the case of Chief Trader John McLeod, were occasionally lodged in the Priests' House or other buildings in the fort that sometimes served as dwellings; and rarely even clerks were granted such separate quarters. But most of the clerks and, when necessary, the subordinate officers were housed in the "common receptacle of the single officers, called 'Bachelor's Hall." [8]

Young Apprentice Clerk Thomas Lowe arrived from the Northwest Coast to take up his duties in the office at Fort Vancouver on June 14, 1843. "I have," he noted in his journal the next day, "been given for my exclusive use one of the rooms in the 'Bachelors Hall' building. There I am to sleep, taking my meals at the general Mess table in the Big House." [9] He was recording what undoubtedly was a typical experience for most of the clerks assigned to the depot.

As the name of the building implied, most of the inhabitants of the Bachelors' Quarters were unmarried, but not all. Emmons in 1841, it will be remembered, described it as a residence for "subordinate officers & their families." Clerks often remained clerks for many years in the Company's service, and it was to be expected that they would in time acquire wives and children. Josiah L. Parrish, long a member of the Methodist mission in Oregon and a frequent visitor to the depot, remembered that when missionary families were quartered in the Bachelors' Hall "the wives of the gentlemen, though they were native women and some half breeds they used to come out and occupy the parlor with our ladies." [10]

How conditions in the family quarters must have been on occasion was graphically described by the Reverend Herbert Beaver, the post chaplain, on March 19, 1838. His words seem to refer to the Bachelors' Hall that immediately preceded the one completed during the fall of 1838 and may even refer to another type of building entirely:

I have mentioned in my reports the indecent lodging for all classes. I will here give you an instance. . . . Mr. Ross, one of your clerks, came in with the Express, bringing a woman and four children. She has since been confined with the fifth, and the whole family have, ever since their arrival, been dwelling with Mrs. McKenzie, the wife of another of your clerks, (who is at Oahu for the recovery of his health . . .) and her three children, making eleven persons in the same room, which is undivided and thirty feet by fifteen in size and in which, with the exception of the man, who takes his meals at the mess, they all eat, sleep, wash and dry their clothes, none ever being hung out. [11]

As a further domestic note, it might be mentioned that, generally speaking, all the officers and clerks at the Company's establishments, married and unmarried, ate in the mess hall. [12] But a visitor to Fort Vancouver in 1839 observed that the married clerks and chief traders only came "to the general table when it suits." [13]

At certain posts there was a "guardroom" servant who tended the fires and kept the rooms of the unmarried "gentlemen" clean. Indian women came in at intervals to wash the floors, and each bachelor made an annual contract with a native woman to do his laundry. [14] Because the clerks at Fort Vancouver often worked long hours, it is probable that they made similar arrangements, although the available records seem to be silent on this subject.

A rather rigid caste system was observed throughout the Company's service. Tradesmen, voyageurs, and laborers were not permitted to enter the quarters of the "gentlemen" (officers, clerks, and sometimes at any rate, postmasters) for social purposes, even upon invitation. [15] The chaplain at Moose Factory on Hudson Bay had this point driven home to him during 1843 when he requested permission for one of his parishioners, a "servant," and his wife to spend an hour or two in the chaplain's apartments before they embarked for England. "The only reply I can give to your favor," Chief Trader Robert Miles answered stiffly, "is that the Officer's residence cannot be made a place of rendezvous for the Company's servants and their families." [16]

At several places in earlier chapters of this report mention has been made of clerks and subordinate officers who lived elsewhere within the stockade than in the Bachelors' Quarters. In 1833, for example, Doctors Tolmie and Gairdner decided to move into the Dispensary to avoid being periodically "bumped" out of their rooms by visitors of higher rank. When Clerk George B. Roberts returned to the depot in 1844 with an English bride, the young couple were given a house of their own. [17] And on May 16, 1845, Clerk Thomas Lowe, for reasons unstated, moved out of Bachelors' Hall and took up lodgings in one of the rooms in the office. [18]

One of the disadvantages of living in the Bachelors' Quarters was the ever-present possibility of being evicted to make room for officers of higher rank or for visitors to whom the depot manager extended hospitality. Such "bumping" was more or less expected when the boat brigades arrived during the summer, but when Dr. McLoughlin turned the clerks out of their rooms in order to accommodate "strangers," such as missionaries and their families, there was a good deal of grumbling. [19] And, as Thomas Lowe discovered, even moving to the office was no proof against displacement. On August 26, 1845, Chief Factor Peter Skene Ogden reached the post after a journey from Canada. The next night he took over Lowe s room in the office, and the clerk had to double up with one of his fellows in the Bachelors' Quarters. [20]

2. Social hall for subordinate officers, clerks, and visitors. In Chapter IX, volume I, on the Big House, evidence was marshaled pointing to the probability that the common social hall for "gentlemen," known as the "Bachelors' Hall," was situated in the Bachelors' Hall building, or Bachelors' Quarters. [21] There is no need to repeat that discussion here, but a bit of additional testimony might be added with profit.

In 1878 Josiah L. Parrish commented upon the remarks of another American pioneer in Oregon, John Minto, who said of the Hudson's Bay men at Fort Vancouver: "They always had that bachelor's hall as they called it. The single men Clerks and others made use of it as a common room for gossip and talk. When any stranger was there he was sent in there. I do not know but there were more rooms in that part of the building but it was occupied by the employees."

Parrish attempted to clarify these words by saying: "There was a general room like a bar-room, and then there must have been 8 or 10 Rooms besides. I know at one time we had as many as half a dozen [missionary] families there and each family had a room by themselves. They came out into the parlor and the wives of the gentlemen . . . used to come out and occupy the parlor with our ladies "[22]

It is difficult to read any meaning into these words other than that the common social or smoking room known as "Bachelors' Hall" was in the Bachelors' Quarters structure. Such will be considered the case here for planning purposes, though it should be realized that the matter is not entirely closed. A single bit of new evidence could conceivably weight the scales in favor of placing Bachelors' Hall proper in the Big House.

The important role played by the Bachelors' Hall in the social life at Fort Vancouver has been amply documented. William H. Gray, who reached the depot in 1836 with the Whitman party, recalled in later years that the Company's gentlemen, at the end of the midday "dinner" in the Big House, usually "passed a compliment in a glass of wine, or brandy, if preferred; all then retired to the social hall, a room in the clerk's quarters, where they indulged in a stiff pipe of tobacco, sometimes filling the room as full as it could hold with smoke. At 1 P. M. the bell rang again, when all went to business." [23]

It was not until after the evening "tea," or supper, however, that Bachelors' Hall really came to life. Eugene Duflot de Mofras, who arrived at Fort Vancouver in October 1841, has left a lively picture of the depot's gentlemen at their ease. "In the evening," he wrote, "the young clerks come together to smoke in a room called Bachelor's Hall; each tells of his travels, his adventures, his fights with the Indians; one has been forced to eat his moccasins, another is so sure of his rifle that he takes aim at bears only in the mouth, so as not to damage the skin; and then sometimes as the Scotch melodies mingle with the Canadian songs, one sees the hardy Highlanders enlivened by the gaiety of the French." [24]

John Dunn, who as a postmaster--the lowest rank of "gentleman"--may have enjoyed the hospitality of the Bachelors' Quarters before sailing home to England in 1838 but who probably obtained his information from Clerk George B. Roberts, wrote that after "dinner"--meaning supper in this instance--

most of the party retire to the public sitting-room, called 'Bachelor's Hall,' or the smoking-room to amuse themselves as they please, either in smoking, reading, or telling and listening to stories of their own, and others' curious adventures. Some times there is a great influx of company, consisting of the chief traders from the outposts, who arrive at the fort on business, and the commanders of vessels.

These are gala times after dinner, and there is a great deal of amusement, but always under strict discipline, and regulated by the strictest propriety. [25]

Available accounts of social life in the Bachelors' Halls at other establishments--describing "musical soirees" distinguished more for noise than melody, tossings of tipsy companions in blankets, mock military drills, and boastings of l'amour--prove that the restraint was not too repressive. But the quotations already given undoubtedly portray the general tone of evenings in Bachelors' Hall at Fort Vancouver .

One other phase of Bachelors' Hall life is not recorded specifically at the Columbia depot, though almost surely the clerks there must have enjoyed it also. This was the custom of the Bachelors Quarters inmates having "little private suppers" of their own from time to time. When the fare at the mess table palled, the clerks would pool the products of their guns and fishing rods, "eked out with importations of canned luxuries." [26] Dr. John Sebastian Helmcken, surgeon at Fort Victoria in 1850, later fondly recalled the succulent native oysters roasted on the "mean and delapidated" old square stove in the "Bachelor's Hall" at that post. [27]

The Bachelor's Hall was also the scene of a share of the dances and parties given at Fort Vancouver. A few extracts from Clerk Thomas Lowe's journal will suffice to illustrate the diversity of these gatherings:

[December 26, 1844]. A Holyday also. Another card party, and a dance in Bachelor's Hall. [28]

[December 31, 1845]. Singing, dancing, and all kinds of fun carried on to a late or rather early hour in Bachelor's Hall, ushering in the New Year. Several of the Junior Officers from the "Modeste" and a number of the other visitors were with us. [29]

[January 2, 1846]. A holiday still. . . . Another ball this evening . . . Broke up dancing at midnight and sat down to supper. Adjourned after wards to Bachelors Hall where we continued singing and enjoying ourselves until 4 in the morning. [30]

3. Accommodations for visitors. Life at a Hudson's Bay Company post tended to become monotonous for its inhabitants, even at such head quarters and depots as York Factory and Fort Vancouver. All were more or less isolated from the outside world, and news arrived at infrequent intervals. Thus the arrival of a traveler, be he Company employee or "outsider," was an event of note.

What such breaks in the routine meant to the officers and clerks is well expressed by the words of H. M. Robinson:

The comparative monotony of the mess-room, which obtains from the meagreness of the conditions of its isolated life, and from the long and perfect intimacy of those composing its social circle, is, nevertheless, often broken by the advent of a stranger at the board. This stranger may be a passing official from another post in the service, or some wanderer who braves the discomforts of travel through those in hospitable regions from a traveler's curiosity. In either case he is equally a stranger to the mess-room, from the fact of the unusual budget of news he brings to add to the somewhat worn and threadbare stock of discourse already in hand. The arrival of such a person is a matter of much bustle and congratulation; and he receives a welcome which, while it has many of the elements of selfishness on the part of his entertainers, leaves nothing to be desired in its heartiness and cordiality. Indeed, he is likely to be wined and dined in good earnest so long as his budget of news holds out.

If he be a passing officer from another fort, the mess-table is made the occasion of a detailed and succinct account of the latest news at the date of his departure from his own establishment, together with that accumulated at the various mess-rooms at which he has halted on the way. . . . The long evenings of social intercourse are protracted far beyond their usual wont, and old memories are ruthlessly dragged forth to feed the fires of conversation should they show symptoms of abatement. . . .

The arrival of a traveler from the outer world is, however, the great episode in the every-day life of the post. The community find in him an inexhaustible fount of enjoyment; and, if he be of a communicative disposition, his store of news and narrative will do service in payment of his weekly board-bill for an indefinite period. To such a one the hospitalities of the fort are extended in the most liberal manner. An apartment is assigned him for his sole occupancy during the period of his sojourn. He is free to come and go when and where he listeth, means of locomotion being furnished upon demand. . . . Nothing is left undone to render his stay pleasant, and to prolong it to the utmost. [31]

This same type of hospitality was freely offered at Fort Vancouver, particularly during the first decade or so of its existence. All who came with letters of introduction or with some claim to official position or gentility were made welcome. Of course distinctions were made. Persons obviously of the laboring class, ordinary free trappers, and run-of-the-mill emigrants never saw the inside of the mess hall, though they might be offered housing outside the stockade. [32]

As missionaries, Government exploring parties, and settlers began to enter the Columbia region in ever-increasing numbers during the period 1834 to 1846, however, these visitors became somewhat of a nuisance at Fort Vancouver, to say nothing of a threat to the fur trade. Governor Simpson and the directors in London began to have reservations about Dr. McLoughlin's open-handedness toward outsiders.

During January 1837 the Governor and Committee informed the Columbia District manager that "although it is our wish, that the rites of Hospitality should be shown at our Establishments to Strangers, when properly introduced, or to such as through necessity, or distress be compelled to solicit it, we are averse to keeping open house, for the Entertainment and accomodation of people who have no such claim upon us, but who make a convenience of our Hospitality to acquire a knowledge of our affairs. . . ." [33]

McLoughlin pointed out in reply that to refuse assistance to missionaries and to persons in distress would "expose us to reflections," in other words, would be bad public relations, and he assured the directors that his hospitality involved "no extravagance." Thus the warm-hearted district manager continued to welcome qualified "strangers" at the depot as long as he remained in charge, and his successors did likewise until the development of nearby settlements with accommodations for travelers made it unnecessary to provide visitors with food and lodging.

Unfortunately not many of the persons who enjoyed the hospitality of Fort Vancouver have left records indicating the exact locations of their lodgings. But enough information is available to indicate that the Bachelors' Quarters building was undoubtedly the principal site of such accommodations.

Perhaps the first guest to be housed in the new Bachelors' Quarters, which were completed during the fall of 1838, was John Augustus Sutter, the Swiss adventurer who during the next year established a settlement which was to develop into the present city of Sacramento, California. According to his recollections, Sutter arrived at Fort Vancouver after an overland journey in early October 1838 and was invited by "the Governor"--James Douglas at the time--to spend the winter. His residence in the Bachelors' Quarters may perhaps be inferred from his remark about his companions during that period.: "If they just hadn't smoked so much tobacco I could hardly get my breath in their smoking room." [34]

During 1841 several parties from the United States Exploring Expedition spent time at Fort Vancouver. The officers found comfortable lodgings within the stockade, but as far as this writer has determined, only one named the structures in which he roomed. On July 27, 1841, Lt. George Foster Emmons, U.S.N., remarked in his diary:

"Dr McL--thinking to make me more comfortable insisted upon my vacating a small room in No. 9 ["Quarters for subordinate officers and their families"] & taking No. 3 ["Chaplain or Governor's temporary residence"] where he frequently called to see if his servants had attended to all my wants agreeable to his instructions." [35] In other words, Emmons had first been lodged in the Bachelors' Quarters but was later shifted to the Priests' House.

Beginning with the arrival of Jason Lee in 1834 and the Whitman party in 1836, Dr. McLoughlin went far beyond the requirements of ordinary hospitality to assist missionaries in the Oregon Country, both Protestant and Catholic. For example, when the ship Lausanne anchored opposite Fort Vancouver on June 1, 1840, bearing the "Great Reinforcement" for the Methodist Mission, the kindly manager provided "comfortable accommodations" for each of the fifty-two persons in the party. A private sitting room was set aside for their use, and they ate at a separate table. [36] Surely the larger number of these guests must have been lodged in the Bachelors' Quarters, the only structure within the stockade having a number of rooms suitable for the purpose.

Asa L. Lovejoy, an American overland emigrant of 1842, visited Fort Vancouver many times, but in later years, when he dictated his reminiscences, he could not be sure where the missionaries had been lodged at the depot. Certain apartments, he said, were called the "missionary rooms."

"A good many persons would take their families in those rooms," he added. "Some persons would come to the table there--I was employed by him [Dr. McLoughlin]--but not everybody. They [the H.B.C. officers] were very stringent and aristocratic. It may be that these rooms were the same as the Bachelors' Hall, but I think the missionary rooms were another place. I think there were three or four rooms besides Bachelors' Hall, and one called the missionary room. They were very generous and very kind." [37]

The words of Josiah L. Parrish, already quoted, to the effect that as many as half a dozen missionary families at a time were housed in the same building as that in which the "bachelor's hall" was located, would appear to demonstrate that Lovejoy's "missionary rooms" were in fact in the Bachelors' Quarters building. [38] This view is reinforced, if not actually proved, by the testimony of the Reverend George H. Atkinson, an American missionary who arrived with his wife from Honolulu on June 19, 1848.

"I went on shore and presented a letter of introduction to Mr. Ogden," he wrote in his diary. "He rec'd me very politely and cordially invited us to take up our lodgings at the Fort until we wished to go on. He showed me to rooms in Bachelor's Range. . . . Our table was set separately near our room, and well provided with food." [39]

The question of where certain other visitors were housed is not so easily solved. For example, the two British army officers, Lieutenants Henry J. Warre and M. Vavasour, reached Fort Vancouver toward the end of August 1845 and remained through the winter. Warre kept a journal, but frustratingly he says of his lodgings only that "We had a private sitting room and a bedroom each within the palisade." [40] These quarters could well have been in "Bachelor's Range," but they also might have been in the Priests' House or another structure.

Similarly uninformative is a notation in Clerk Thomas Lowe's diary on October 11, 1845, that the prominent American settler, M. M. McCarver, and his family, accompanied by "several more Americans," arrived at the fort "and got quarters here for the night." [41] One can only speculate that they were housed in the most usual accommodation for guests--the Bachelors' Quarters.

It has been seen that a number of the visitors who enjoyed the hospitality at Fort Vancouver later acknowledged the kindness with which they had been treated. But there is little evidence that many of them made any tangible expression of their appreciation for the food and lodging so freely afforded. One notable exception was Nathaniel Wyeth, who, recorded Clerk George T. Allan, upon his return home to New England sent out a keg of choice smoking tobacco with "a handsome letter to the gentlemen of Bachelors Hall, as we called our smoking room." [42]

4. Sitting room for visitors, the "strangers' room." In several of the quotations from pioneer reminiscences and diaries already reproduced in this chapter, mentions were made of the "parlor, or "private sitting room," or the place where a separate table was set "near our room." All of these terms undoubtedly refer to what was known as the "strangers' room," an apartment set aside, apparently as early as 1840, as a social hall and dining room for visitors. It very probably was identical with Lovejoy's "missionary room."

This apartment was not exclusively for overnight guests, because many settlers and travelers who visited the fort for a few hours to purchase goods at the trade shop or attend to other business also were afforded hospitality. It was customary to feed customers who happened to be inside the stockade when the dinner bell rang.

How this room served its purpose for day visitors was well pictured by John Minto, an American emigrant who, with two companions, came to Fort Vancouver late in 1844 seeking a boat in order to assist other members of their company who had been left at The Dalles. McLoughlin agreed to help, and then he said,

"Young men, perhaps you would like to communicate with your friends in the East. If so, you have an opportunity; a messenger will leave the fort today at two o'clock. . . ." We thanked him and said we were not prepared to take advantage of his kindness, as we had neither pencils nor paper. The Doctor wheeled about toward his office and another servant came running, to whom he said: "Go to Mr. Graham and ask him to send pens, ink and paper to the strangers' room." Then the good man turned to us again and pointing to the open door of the strangers' room said: "Young men, go in there and write your letters, and . . . be sure to be in that room when the bell rings." This we understood to be an invitation to a good English dinner, which was the common usage to all business visitors. [43]

In another version of this same account Minto said that after ordering the writing materials sent to "the strangers' room," McLoughlin pointed "to an open door across the northeast angle of the area from his residence," and said, "Go in there, young men." Thanking him, continued Minto, "we entered bachelors' hall." He also remembered that t McLoughlin said, "But be in that room soon after the bell rings" and that they were served "an excellent English dinner of roast beef and vegetables." [44]

These words quite definitely place the strangers room in the Bachelors' Quarters building at, or near, its north end. While it is not stated beyond question that the dinner was served in that same room, such certainly is the implication.

Another question concerning the strangers room is not so easily answered. It will be recalled that at still another time Minto said, "They [the H.B.C.] always had that bachelor's hall as they called it. . . . When any stranger was there [at the fort] he was sent in there." [45] Here Minto seems to be implying that the Bachelors' Hall room and the strangers room were one and the same, but the situation is confused because the term "Bachelors' Hall" was applied both to a specific room and to the entire Bachelors' Quarters building.

It seems probable that the private "smoking room" of the clerks and subordinate officers would not have been used as a common parlor and dining hall for the missionaries and their families. Evidently visitors entered the club room or "guard room" known as Bachelors' Hall only by invitation, and it seems to have been a male domain. Unless further proof is brought forward, the Bachelors' Hall and the strangers' room will be considered as separate and distinct for the purposes of re construction planning.

5. Place of confinement for officers and clerks. It was not often that one of the Company's "gentlemen" had to be arrested or forcibly detained. But Chief Factor McLoughlin on occasion could display a violent temper. As Governor Simpson recognized, to disagree with him sometimes was tantamount to a declaration of war. On such occasions even the post chaplain was liable to physical attack.

Ordinary servants who violated regulations or otherwise incurred the displeasure of the district manager might be whipped, or manacled, or confined in the fort jail. But such punishments were scarcely suitable for "gentlemen." On one occasion of record, during January 1838, McLoughlin seized the captain of a Company vessel at the tea table and "dragged him into a dark room, whence he was transferred after tea, to the common receptacle of the single officers, called 'Bachelor's Hall,' where he was kept a week in confinement," all because the mariner refused to give up his plans to marry a part-Indian girl. [46] Whether the Bachelors' Quarters were ever again used for such a purpose has not been determined.

6. Library. Both official and personal records provide abundant evidence of the important role played by books in the lives of the Company's "gentlemen." At the more isolated posts, particularly, reading material was a virtual necessity. "Having fortunately a supply of books with me and other means of amusement, I found the winter glide away without suffering much from ennui," wrote John McLean at Great Slave Lake during the winter of 1844-45. [47] Of course there were some officers and clerks who "only Looked at the pictures," but the German botanist Karl Geyer, who had traveled extensively in the West, found the constantly circulating books among the Hudson's Bay posts in the Columbia District to be evidence of "another type of life here from that in the American Fur fort!" [48]

Although not as far separated from society as their fellows in the interior and on the Northwest Coast, the officers and clerks at Fort Vancouver shared the general interest in reading. Several of the "gentlemen" who were stationed there at various times are known to have possessed fairly extensive personal libraries. That of Dr. McLoughlin has already been mentioned. Dr. W. F. Tolmie's journals contain numerous notations of books read and volumes ordered from London. And in 1841 James Douglas sent John A. Sutter "a few German Books" that, he hoped, "may amuse you, more than they have contributed to my entertainment." [49] But as H. M. Robinson pointed out, books, "as the property of private individuals," were less numerous among the Company's employees than might have been expected, due to the difficulty of transporting them when transferred. [50]

This deficiency in private literary resources was compensated for at Fort Vancouver by the existence of two libraries--one owned by the Company and the other belonging to subscribing employees. Whether these libraries were kept separate in location as well as in ownership is not known.

The Company library appears to have had its origin in the collection of books owned by the North West Company at Fort George, which in turn may have been derived from the books brought to the Columbia by the Astorians. When inventoried in the spring of 1821 the Fort George library contained forty-five titles in fifty-four volumes. Upon the union of the North West and Hudson's Bay companies in 1821, these books were taken over by the latter firm along with all other Nor'Wester property, and they were moved to Fort Vancouver in 1825. By 1837 this collection had been reduced to twenty-one titles. [51]

As will be seen by the inventories presented later in this chapter, the depot library never did grow much larger than about twenty-six titles. The books were entirely in the practical vein--dictionaries; handbooks on mathematics, medicine, gunnery, agriculture, and law; a geography; several accounts of voyages; and not much else. They were all necessary aids to district administration and operation.

There certainly was no chance of light reading matter getting into this official Fort Vancouver library. In 1836 the Company's secretary questioned McLoughlin about requests for magazines and papers that appeared in the annual indent or requisition from the Columbia Department. "I am sorry to see that you have fallen into a mistake in regard to the mag[az]ines and reviews sent," replied McLoughlin "it is true they were included in the outfit, but they were on account of individuals the subscribers of the Columbia Library and consequently the Department has none." [52]

As these words clearly indicate, the second library at Fort Vancouver was a distinct entity. Dr. William F. Tolmie later declared that the idea of establishing a circulating library for the gentlemen of the Columbia District originated upon his arrival to take up his duties as surgeon and clerk at Fort McLoughlin on Millbank Sound on December 23, 1833. During the next few days he had ample time for discussion with Clerk Donald Manson and Clerk Alexander Caulfield Anderson. All three had a taste for literature, and the plan to organize a library was a natural result.

Anderson had received orders to report to Fort Vancouver and departed on January 2, 1834. On reaching the Columbia depot he "ventilated" the matter of the library, and it was "readily taken up" by Chief Factor McLoughlin and the other gentlemen at the headquarters. It probably took six months or a year to canvas the officers and clerks throughout the district, but in due time a subscription library was formed. [53]

Exactly how the Columbia Library, as it was termed, was organized is not known. But subscription libraries were not uncommon throughout the territories of the Hudson's Bay Company, and presumably the officers at Fort Vancouver followed a precedent in another district. At York Factory during the 1870s, for instance, commissioned officers subscribed one pound each per year, clerks ten shillings, and such mechanics and laborers as wished to join, five shillings. An apprentice clerk served as librarian, escaping the fee as a reward for his service. The books were selected from catalogues at an annual meeting and ordered from London. High priority was given to bound volumes of standard periodicals and reviews, and "no trash was allowed." The library at York Factory was open only on Saturday evenings. The sole illumination in winter was a single candle, and no stove was provided. Thus, making a week's selection was a speedy affair. [54]

When the Columbia Library actually began to function is unknown. Dr. Tolmie recalled in later years that "a circulating library of papers, magazines, and some books" was in "full blast" by 1836. [55] This date would seem to be about correct, because a credit for the "Fort Vancouver Library" apparently was first shown on the Company's books for Outfit 1836. [56] It has been claimed that this Columbia Library was "the first circulating library on the Pacific Slope," but in view of the earlier libraries of the Astorians and the Nor'Westers this assertion requires more careful examination. [57]

According to Tolmie, "everybody"--presumably all the "gentlemen--in the district subscribed to the library, which was kept at Fort Vancouver. The annual meetings of the subscribers were held there also, one being recorded by Thomas Lowe on March 30, 1846, a week before the departure of the "after express" for York Factory. Perhaps the order for books selected by the subscribers was forwarded on its way to London with these native couriers, although evidently the annual "indent" for books and periodicals to be charged to the account of the "Columbia Library" was ordinarily sent in the vessel that sailed for England each fall. [58] The orders were directed to the Company's secretary, who executed them with London firms such as Burrup & Blight and Smith Elder & Co. and then shipped the books on the annual supply vessels. [59]

At Fort Vancouver the depot surgeon seems to have served as librarian. At least such definitely was the case in 1843 and 1844 when Dr. Barclay, "Librarian," made out the purchase requests. [60] W. F. Tolmie said that the subscribers from the outlying posts the length and breadth of the district sent to Fort Vancouver for such books as they wanted, returning them when read. [61]

It was Tolmie's belief that the Columbia Library remained in existence only until about 1843, but records prove that it had a some what longer life, Accounts of merchandise exported from England show that shipments were made to the "Columbia Library" at least as late as December 1848, but none seems to be recorded thereafter. [62] On the other hand, a debit balance of £5.l.4 for the "Library Vancouver" on the Company's books in 1849 had grown to £27.12.1 in 1854, indicating some activity for a time between those years. Then, during Outfit 1855, the library was credited with £27.12.1 "to clear up deficit." [63] Evidently the library had ceased to exist and probably had been delinquent for several years.

Tolmie said that the books were finally "divided among such of the subscribers as cared about having them." [64] One of these volumes, marked "Columbia Library," is now in the collections of McLoughlin House National Historic Site in Oregon City.

No information seems to be available concerning the physical locations of either of the Fort Vancouver libraries. It is known, however, that at certain Company posts, such as Norway House, the subscription library was housed in the "Clerk's House." [65] Perhaps this was the case at Fort Vancouver. The depot library may have been kept there also for convenience, or it may have been lodged in the office. For purposes of planning the reconstruction, a library will be included in the Bachelors' Quarters.

Employees living in Bachelors' Quarters, 1845-46. Because of the scant information available and because both employees and guests moved into and out of the Bachelors' Quarters with bewildering frequency, it is impossible to state exactly who was living in the building at any given time. To make matters worse, conditions were particularly confusing during Outfit 1845 (June 1, 1845, to May 31, 1846), the very period of most interest for the reconstruction project. During much of that time Fort Vancouver provided lodging for visiting officers of Her Majesty's Navy and for the two British army officers, Henry J. Warre and Mervin Vavasour. Clerk Thomas Lowe's journal shows a great coming and going of Company personnel in connection with the official and personal excursions of these and other visitors as well as in connection with the firm's own business. Thus any attempt to be specific about who lived in the Bachelors' Range during the year is largely fruitless. But probably a few facts, at least, can be pinned down.

When one looks at the personnel lists for the Columbia District for Outfit 1845 in order to find out which subordinate officers and clerks were stationed at Fort Vancouver and therefore to ascertain who might have been living in the Bachelors' Quarters, one meets with more confusion. There are at least five extant lists giving either actual or proposed assignments for the period and not one of them agrees exactly with any of the others as far as those men stationed at the depot or carried under the heading "general charges" are concerned. Most of those persons carried under the latter heading were stationed at Fort Vancouver, but not all.

Consolidating these lists, one comes up with the following employees who conceivably were eligible to live in the Bachelors' Quarters during the year 1845-46:

The following is a brief summary of what this writer has been able to uncover concerning the places of residence of each of the above-listed persons during Outfit 1845, with a statement about the family status of each one who is known to have lived in the Bachelors' Quarters for any significant period during the year:

Dr. Forbes Barclay. As has been seen, Dr. Barclay's place of residence at Fort Vancouver is not known with certainty. For planning purposes it has been assumed that he lived in the Indian Trade Shop building throughout the year, but it is entirely possible that he had quarters in Bachelors' Hall. He was married and had an infant son who lived from December 13, 1845, to December 31, 1847. For further details see Chapter II.

Charles Forrest. An "active, bustling" native of Montreal, Forrest had been in the Company's service from 1825 to 1835. He then retired to Red River and married Nancy Sutherland, by whom he had a child, Julia, in 1837. He rejoined the Company in 1836 as a postmaster and was sent to the Columbia District in 1838. It is not reported that his wife and child accompanied him, but it is known that he formed an alliance with a Lower Chinook woman and had a daughter, Ann, by her. He also fathered a son by a Cowlitz woman. The dates of these attachments seem not to be recorded.

Forrest, a postmaster, was in charge of the Cowlitz Farm during the first half of Outfit 1845, but on January 6, 1846, he arrived at Fort Vancouver in poor health. He remained in Dr. Barclay's care until February l8 when he left to resume charge at Cowlitz. On July 2, 1846, however, he was once more back at Vancouver, "unwell." There is no evidence that he was accompanied by any family he may have had at the time of his brief sojourn at the depot. [67]

James Allan Grahame. The career of this young Scottish apprentice clerk has already been outlined in Chapter XI, volume I. He was in charge of the Sale Shop and was at the fort almost continuously throughout the year. He is known to have had a room to himself, except when crowded conditions forced him to share it with fellow clerks. Very probably this room was in the Bachelors' Quarters. Grahame did not marry until September 5, 1847. [68]

Daniel Harvey. As farmer and miller, Daniel Harvey did not live within the pickets. He had a house a few miles up the Columbia River near the Company's sawmill. [69]

John Lambert. The Company employed Lambert in England to replace the engineer of the steamer Beaver, who had announced his intention of returning home. Sailing from Gravesend in the barque Vancouver on September 8, 1844, he reached Fort Victoria in that vessel after a passage of five months and ten days. Probably because he was in ill health, Lambert did not wait in the Puget Sound area to join the Beaver but traveled overland via Nisqually to Fort Vancouver, where he arrived on March 8, 1845. He was a welcome guest because he brought the annual "packet" of dispatches and letters from Britain.

His physical difficulty, which was described by Thomas Lowe as "Rheumatism," seems not to have improved under Dr. Barclay's care, and by October he was "much debilitated." Nevertheless, it was decided that he would take passage on the Company's schooner Cadboro for Victoria and report for duty on the Beaver. As luck would have it, the Cadboro came and went while Lambert was off on a short excursion to the Willamette Falls, so he was forced to start off on November 5, 1845, by way of the Cowlitz Farm and Nisqually. Thomas Lowe speculated that Lambert probably would not be able to endure the journey, but he did, because he was listed as engineer on the Beaver during Outfit 1846.

It is not known positively that Lambert lodged in the Bachelors' Quarters during his eight-month stay at Fort Vancouver, but such was most likely the case. As an engineer he ranked as a clerk, and his salary, £150 per year, far exceeded that of most of his companions in Bachelors' Hall. [70]

Richard Lane. This "very recherche and good natured" Englishman was born about 1816 and had served the Company as a clerk for about eight years, mostly at Red River, when on June 11, 1845, he was informed by Governor George Simpson that he was being transferred to the Columbia District and was to start two days later. Lane agreed to go, but he obtained Sir George's promise that he could return in the spring to marry his fiancee, Miss Mary McDermott, and then bring her back to Fort Vancouver, where he was to serve as accountant. He traveled west ward with Peter Skene Ogden and Lieutenants Warre and Vavasour, reaching Vancouver on August 26, 1845.

Thomas Lowe's diary reveals that, except for a short excursion or two, Lane remained at the Columbia depot for the next seven months. During January 1846 he had a spell of illness that confined him to bed for a period, but otherwise he seems to have been actively engaged in the office. He evidently was something of a surveyor, because he marked out the land claims of Company employees near the fort. He also frequently assisted in Church of England services in the dining hall. On March 25, 1846, he departed with the York Factory express to claim his bride at Red River. There is no record of exactly where he lodged in the fort, but the Bachelors' Quarters is the most probable place. [71]

Kenneth Logan. Another "son of the country," Logan was born in Red River Settlement and baptized in 1826. He was employed by the Company as an apprentice postmaster in 1841, and his entire service was passed in the Columbia District. By the beginning of Outfit 1845 he was a postmaster stationed at Fort Vancouver. Seemingly he remained at the depot throughout the year, working at a variety of assignments, including assisting in the office, helping in the Sale Shop, and supervising the laborers when the clerk regularly assigned to that duty was ill or absent. On January 30, 1846, he was placed in charge of the men upon the transfer of Clerk William McBean to Walla Walla.

Evidently unmarried at that time, he seems to have been a personable companion in Bachelors' Hall. It was reported that he was several times a guest with some of the clerks at dinners given by the officers of H.M.S. Modeste. Probably he lived in the Bachelors' Quarters. [72]

Robert Logan. Presumably the elder brother of Kenneth Logan, Robert Logan was still considered a "Raw Lad who never had any experience commanding men" when Governor Simpson proposed sending him to Stikine as assistant to John McLoughlin, Jr., in 1841. Chief Factor McLoughlin failed to provide transportation, and thus young Logan escaped being witness to a brutal murder. During Outfit 1845 he was a postmaster, stationed at Cowlitz Farm, although he spent some time at Fort Vancouver during the spring of 1846 boating supplies and wheat between the depot and Willamette Falls Returning from one of these trips on April 20 he brought to Fort Vancouver the first issue of the Oregon Spectator. He can scarcely be considered a permanent resident during Outfit 1845, though he may have lodged in the Bachelors' Quarters for a number of weeks. His family status at that time is not known. [73]

Thomas Lowe. The life of this industrious young apprentice clerk will be treated in more detail in the chapter on the Old Office. Suffice it to say here that although he resided in the fort all during Outfit 1845, he definitely was not housed in the Bachelors' Quarters. He moved out of that structure on May 16, 1845, and took up lodgings in one of the rooms in the office. And there he remained, except when he had to give up his apartment to visiting officers, through the end of the outfit. [74]

William McBean. Partly Indian in blood, William McBean-- pronounced "McBane"--was a different type of person than most of his fellow clerks at Fort Vancouver. For one thing, he was considerably older, being about thirty-eight in 1845. For another, he was married and had several children. His union with his wife, Jane Boucher, who was approximately twenty-four years old in 1845, had been formalized by a Catholic priest at Fort Vancouver in 1844 but had existed in fur trade fashion for many years. Their children during Outfit 1845 were John, born in 1837; Nancy, born in 1839; and Mary, born early in 1844. A child, Sophie "McBain," baptized "under condition" at Fort Vancouver on January 26, 1845, may have been an offspring of McBean, but the record provides no further information.

Described as a man of "very common education," McBean was neither liked nor respected by his peers at the depot. Lowe's journal does not mention him dining with the officers of the Modeste or otherwise partaking in social activities. Seemingly, fellow clerk George B. Roberts was reflecting a general view when he said that the fort's "gentlemen" considered McBean "altogether below the salts."

Yet McBean seems to have functioned well enough as a Company employee. In 1841 he had been placed in charge of the post at Fraser Lake, New Caledonia. By 1844 he was at Fort Vancouver, working in the office, assisting in the Fur Store, supervising the farm for short periods, and visiting subordinate posts to help with the accounts. On April 17, 1845, he was placed in charge of the laborers about the fort and on the farm, a post he continued to fill until January 30, 1846, when he was appointed manager of Fort Walla Walla. He and his family left for their new station on February 2, 1846.

There is no record of where the McBeans lived at Fort Vancouver during the first half of Outfit 1845. They could well have occupied an apartment in the Bachelors' Quarters. [75]

Angus McDonald. Known as Angus McDonald (a) because there were at least two Angus McDonalds in the Company's service--both for a number of years in the Columbia District--this young Scot entered the Company's employ in 1837 and was soon transferred west of the Rockies. He was stationed at a number of posts, and the opening of Outfit 1845 found him in charge of the firm's granary and trading shop at Champoeg in the Willamette Valley Because that establishment was a subordinate post of Fort Vancouver, McDonald's name appears on some lists of depot employees, but Lowe's journal shows he actually resided at the district headquarters for only relatively short periods during the year. His family status in 1845-46 is not known. It is extremely unlikely that he maintained permanent lodgings in the Fort Vancouver Bachelors' Range. [76]

David McLoughlin. The question of whether twenty-four-year-old Clerk David McLoughlin, son of the formidable Chief Factor McLoughlin, lived in the Big House or the Bachelors' Quarters during his occasional sojourns at Fort Vancouver during Outfit 1845 has been discussed on pages 99-100 in volume I of this report. He had removed all his "things" from the depot about December 1844 to January 1845 when he had been transferred to Willamette Falls, but Lowe's journal shows that during the summer and fall of 1845 he spent a considerable amount of time at the fort and performed official duties there. At any rate, he departed on December 15, 1845, to bring his widowed sister and her children back from California, and he did not return until July 13, 1846.

Thus, at best, David McLoughlin's residence at Fort Vancouver during Outfit 1845 did not extend more than from June 14, 1845, when his arrival from Willamette Falls is recorded, to December 15 of the same year. This residence perhaps was not continuous. Where he lodged when at the depot is not known. He was unmarried at that time. [77]

Dugald Mactavish. This able and well-connected Scot, a nephew of Chief Trader John George McTavish, was almost twenty-eight years old when Outfit 1845 opened, and he had been on the staff at Fort Vancouver as a clerk and accountant since 1839. Although still carried on the district books under the heading "General Charges," he was in residence at the depot for only a few weeks during the year. When the outfit opened on June 1, 1845, he was east of the mountains with the York Factory express. He returned to Fort Vancouver on November 9, 1845, but left on December 15 for California and did not see the depot again until July 11, 1846. Thus he scarcely qualifies as a resident of Bachelors' Hall during the period of our interest.

However, Mactavish may have had a family, and if so they very probably were lodged in the fort during his long absences. In their diaries for April 14, 1844, Elkanah and Mary Walker, American missionaries at Tshimakain (not too far from the present Spokane), noted the arrival of "Mr. Mactavish & family" bringing news from the Willamette Valley. This traveler could only have been Dugald Mactavish, who was in charge of the York Factory express in that year also. It is further recorded that in 1842 "Demoiselle" Grace McTavish, domiciled at Fort Vancouver and minor daughter of Chief Factor John George McTavish and "Dame Nancy McKensie," was married at the depot to Clerk Charles Dodd, with Dugald Mactavish as one of the witnesses. But Chief Factor McTavish had discarded his half-breed fur trade wife, Nancy McKenzie, in 1829 and early the next year had married a Scottish woman. It is likely, therefore, that his country daughter, "Demoiselle" Grace, had been sent to the Columbia to be reared by nephew Dugald Mactavish, and this probably would not have been the case had not Dugald had a wife. Undoubtedly additional research could solve this problem, but it was not possible to undertake it within the limits of this study. [78]

Henry N. Peers. The district statement of general charges for Outfit 1845 listed Peers as an apprentice clerk engaged in the "Fort Vancouver Indian Trade" and stationed at the "Umpaqua" post. However, on March 20, 1845, Chief Factor McLoughlin had announced his intention of placing Peers in charge of the men at the depot for Outfit 1845. A year later he told Governor Simpson that Peers was at Fort Vancouver assigned to the "Office & River Communication." Lowe's journal demonstrates that there was some basis of fact for all of these assertions, but the plain truth seems to be that Peers was a sort of trouble-shooter, sent to fill in wherever a qualified "gentleman" was required.

Apparently he had been transferred from the management of Fort Umpqua by the end of the first month of Outfit 1845, for in July he was sent to Fort George to take charge when the manager there should retire. He was back at Fort Vancouver in November but was soon sent off on various errands that kept him away a good deal of the time until December 15. He then took charge of Cowlitz Farm during the illness of Charles Forrest, not returning until February 16, 1846. From then until July 1 he seems to have been at the depot most of the time, although several river journeys and other trips interrupted his residence. One spell of illness during March kept him in bed for at least ten days.

Born in Hampshire in 1821, Henry Newsham Peers was the son of a British Army officer. A rather brief term at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich had given him some knowledge of surveying and mapping- skills he put to good use during 1845 and 1846 when he marked out land claims in the names of Company employees. He entered the firm's service in 1841 and was sent to the Columbia District two years later. One of his fellow employees remembered him as being "of quite a gay temperament, handsome and debonair." He must have added considerably to the festivities in Bachelors' Hall during his intervals of duty at Fort Vancouver. He did not marry until 1849. [79]

George B. Roberts. Clerk George Barber Roberts was in charge of the stores or warehouses at the depot throughout Outfit 1845, but he, his British wife, and infant son born during the last couple of days of July or the first week of August 1845, lived in a separate house within the pickets. Thus he cannot be counted among the residents of the Bachelors' Quarters. [80]

John Simpson. Although still carried on the books of the Columbia District for Outfit 1845 under the heading "General Charges," Sir George Simpson's son by his part-Indian wife, Margaret Taylor, a la facon du pays, had returned east of the mountains in 1844. Thomas Lowe's journal contains no indication that Simpson was at Fort Vancouver during 1845-46. [81]

William Sinclair, Jr. This interesting young man, not quite eighteen years old at the start of Outfit 1845, has the distinction of being the only employee definitely recorded as living in the Bachelors' Range during 1845-46. On June 15 of the latter year Thomas Lowe noted in his journal that this apprentice postmaster "removed his quarters from Batchelor's Hall to the Office in order to make room for Dr. Jenkins and Mr. Grant of the Fisgard." In short, he was "bumped" in favor of two visiting British naval officers.

How he had managed to keep his room that long in view of the constant comings and goings of travelers during the year is somewhat of a mystery. Perhaps he had doubled up with one of the clerks on occasions not recorded by Lowe. But it is worth noting that he was the son of a chief factor, the grandson of Chief Factor McLoughlin's wife, and the brother of Catherine Ermatinger, wife of Chief Trader Francis Ermatinger, then in charge of the Company's store at Willamette Falls and a frequent visitor to the depot.

William reached Fort Vancouver sometime prior to May 1843, when he was sent to San Francisco as an apprentice to William Glen Rae, manager of the Company's California establishment. After Rae's death by suicide, William returned to Fort Vancouver, where he arrived on June 18, 1845. During the next few months he made several long trips to the Willamette Valley, probably spending the time with his sister, but on September 18, 1845, he returned to Fort Vancouver and seems to have remained there quite constantly during the balance of the outfit. [82]

Summary of possible employee residents. From the information given above it can be determined that those "gentlemen" who probably, or almost certainly, lived in the Bachelors' Quarters for a significant portion of Outfit 1845 were:

Charles Forrest, January 6-February 18, 1846, probably no family with him.
James Allan Grahame, entire year, no family.
John Lambert, June 1-November 5, 1845, no family.
Richard Lane, August 26, 1845-March 25, 1846, no family.
Kenneth Logan, entire year, probably no family.
Robert Logan, March 18 to unknown date between late April and July 2, 1846, family status unknown.
William McBean, June 1, 1845-February 2, 1846, wife and three children.
Angus McDonald (a), February 16-24, 1846, and perhaps other periods during spring of 1846, family status unknown .
David McLoughlin, perhaps from June 14-December 15, 1845, no family.
Dugald Mactavish, November 9-December 15, 1845 (his family are listed below as possible residents)
Henry N. Peers, very intermittent, June 1, 1845-February 16, 1846; quite constant, February 16—May 31, 1846, no family.
William Sinclair, Jr., September 18, 1845-May 31, 1846, no family.

Those who possibly resided in the Bachelors' Quarters were:

Family of Dugald Mactavish, possibly entire year, number not determined.
Family of John McIntosh, deceased, possibly June 12, 1845-May 31, 1846; wife (part Indian, aged ca. thirty-five) and eight children. [83]

Transient visitors housed in Bachelors' Quarters, 1845-46. Thomas Lowe's journal reveals that during Outfit 1845 there was a constant stream of "comers and goers" who were accommodated at Fort Vancouver for periods varying from one night to several months. A good many of these visitors were Company officers, clerks, and other employees stationed at other posts or on the firm's vessels who came to the depot on various business errands. The "gentlemen" among them undoubtedly found lodging within the pickets, and in the Bachelors' Quarters when room was available.

There seems little point to mentioning all of these individuals, but a few might be listed to give an idea of the variety:

June 10, 1845: Chief Traders John Tod and Donald Manson arrived with the inland brigade; left on June 28.

June 15, 1845: Chief Trader Francis Ermatinger arrived; a frequent visitor from his post at Willamette Falls until he started east on furlough, March 25, 1846.

July 20, 1845: James Sangster, first officer of ship Cowlitz, arrived; remained intermittently until May 11, 1846.

August 26, 1845: Chief Factor Peter Skene Ogden arrived from Canada and a furlough in Europe; intermittent resident for much of the balance of the year; resided in office during at least part of the time he was at the fort.

November 2, 1845: Chief Trader John Work arrived from Fort Simpson; left on November 24.

December 1, 1845: Patrick McKenzie, postmaster at Thompson's River, arrived, not having been able to get along with his superior, Chief Trader Tod; discharged from the service December 31 and left Fort Vancouver January 9, 1846.

February 27, 1846: Clerk Archibald McKinlay and his wife arrived from Fort Walla Walla; McKinlay was having eye trouble and was soon transferred to Willamette Falls; he returned to Fort Vancouver March 20, 1846, "to see Dr. Barclay about his eyes."

May 3, 1846: Clerk James Birnie and family arrived to attend a play on board H.M.S. Modeste; left on May 19.

Another class of visitors consisted of British army and navy officers who were in the Oregon Country on duties related to the disputed boundary question with the United States. The visit of Lieutenants Warre and Vavasour from August 26, 1845, to March 25, 1846, has already been mentioned. They may have been quartered in the Bachelors' Quarters. Because their mission was secret, they pre tended to be on furlough, and thus there almost certainly would have been no articles of military dress or equipment in their rooms. [84]

H.M.S. Modeste anchored off Fort Vancouver on November 30, 1845, and was there during the balance of Outfit 1845 and considerably longer. Her captain was given quarters in the New Office within the pickets during his long stay, but if any of the other officers were lodged in the fort the evidence has not yet come to light. The case was different with officers from others of Her Majesty's vessels, however. On September 8, 1845, Lieutenant William Peel, son of Sir Robert Peel, and Captain John Parke, both from H.M.S. America, arrived overland via Nisqually. They left two days later to inspect the settlements in the Willamette Valley but were back at Fort Vancouver briefly for a gala dinner on the sixteenth, after which they departed to return to their ship. On May 31, 1846, five officers of H.M.S. Fisgard arrived at the depot and all were quartered "in the fort." They left on an excursion to the Willamette Valley on June 9, but on their return on the seventeenth at least two of them, Assistant Surgeon Jenkins and Passed Midshipman Grant, were lodged in the "Batchelor's Hall."

Still another class of transient lodgers in the fort during Outfit 1845 was made up of missionaries and settlers who visited the post on a variety of social and business errands. The Catholic missionaries will not be discussed here, because they had their separate residence within the palisade. Thomas Lowe's journal scarcely mentions the American Protestant missionaries during this period, but it is not likely that an entire year passed without overnight visits from some of them. It is known that the Reverend George Gary of the Methodist mission and his wife stopped at the fort for about three hours to buy trade goods on April 10, 1846, but Lowe did not record their presence. [85]

Settlers and emigrants likewise received little notice from Lowe during Outfit 1845, with one notable exception. Adophus Lee Lewis, a clerk who had retired from the Company's service during the spring of 1845 to take up a land claim farther down the Columbia, was recorded as a frequent visitor throughout the year. It has al ready been remarked that on October 11, 1845, "General" I. I. McCarver, his family, and several more Americans, mostly newly arrived emigrants reached the fort and "got quarters for the night." Un doubtedly there were others who were afforded the same hospitality, but the fact that Lowe did not mention more of them may be an indication that by Outfit 1845 the officers at Fort Vancouver had at least begun to heed the admonitions of the London directors to not be so generous in their treatment of strangers. Also, by that time the growth of American settlements elsewhere in the Oregon Country had made travelers much less dependent upon the Company for shelter. [86]

Construction details

a. Dimensions and footings. At the time the Bachelors' Quarters building was constructed, James Douglas gave its dimensions as 153 by 33 feet. The two original versions of the 1845 Vavasour ground plan seem to show the structure as measuring 150 by 32 feet and 153 by 33 feet respectively (Plates VI and VII, vol. I). The 1846-47 inventory of structures at Fort Vancouver listed it as "1 dwelling house" for subordinate officers, 170 by 30 feet. [87] And in 1849, when making an appraisal of the Company property at the fort, Major D. H. Vinton estimated the dimensions to be 150 by 30 feet. [88]

In 1950 National Park Service archeologists partially excavated the site of the Bachelors' Quarters with a view to determining its exact location and dimensions. Four footings, counting those at the corners, were found in both the north wall and the south wall. Measuring from the centers of the corner footings, the north wall was about thirty-two feet long, while the south wall was thirty-three feet. Only part of the footings in the west and east walls were discovered in place, but measuring from the corners, the west wall was about 152 feet long and the east wall about the same. [89] In short, the dimensions of 153 by 33 feet given by Douglas were approximately correct, and because it is not certain that the outsides of the walls were centered over the footings, they may have been exactly correct.

The footings were not described by Mr. Caywood in 1950, but probably they were the same as those on several other structures--slabs of wood about three inches thick. They were laid with their long dimensions at right angles to the length of the walls. Those in the north and south walls were, when excavated, not quite evenly spaced, but they were about eleven feet apart on centers. Those in the west and east walls seem to have been about ten feet apart on centers, but the spacing varied from about eight to twelve feet, perhaps showing post-1860 disturbance. [90] Complete excavation of the site of Building No. 20, scheduled for the near future as this chapter is being written, should produce additional information on the footings.

b. General construction. The known historical drawings and paintings of Fort Vancouver either show no more of the Bachelors' Quarters than the roof or are so small in scale as to be of little value as far as structural details are concerned. Fortunately, however, one of the photographs taken of the post by the Royal Engineers during the spring of 1860 shows the entire front or west face of the building. One particularly good print of this photo graph even shows a small section of the south wall (see Plate XLI).

The availability of this photograph makes unnecessary an elaborate discussion of the general structure of the Bachelors' Quarters. It obviously was built in the usual post-on-sill fashion, was one story high with a garret, and had a hipped, shingled roof.

Actually the "Bachelors' Range" was a row of small cottages joined under a single roof. Joseph L. Meek later described the structure as a series of "separate tenements," while Assistant Surgeon Silas Holmes of the Wilkes Expedition mentioned the "houses of the clerks" in the journal of his visit during 1841. [91] Vavasour's plan of 1845 identifies the Bachelors' Quarters building as "Dwelling Houses" (see Plate VII, vol. I). At Fort Qu'Appelle, east of the Rockies, the "dwelling houses" of the servants, similarly connected under a single roof, were separated by log walls carried up to the ridge of the roof, but whether this same method of construction was employed at Fort Vancouver is unrecorded. [92]

One other point relating to the general construction might well be mentioned here. The ground under the Bachelors' Quarters sloped slightly toward the south. The floors of the separate apartments were not stepped to adjust for the slope. Rather, the floors of all the rooms, as can be seen by the photograph, were kept at the same level. Thus the sills at the north end of the building were at, or very close to, ground level, while those toward the south rested on successively higher footings, or supports. The space between the sills and the ground was not left open but was closed in solidly with either planks or squared timbers.

Walls. Judging from the height of the doors, it appears that the walls of the Bachelors' Quarters were about twelve feet high above the sills. There were sixteen upright grooved posts (counting those at the corners) in the east and west walls and four (again counting the corner posts) in the north and south walls. The ceiling joists of the ground floor were morticed through the lintels, or in some places through the horizontal timbers above the lintels, at a height of about eight feet above the floor.

The horizontal infill timbers in the walls were fairly uniform in size and appear to have been sawed. Those toward the south end of the structure seem to have been somewhat smaller than those at the north end.

The 1860 photograph (Plate XLI) clearly shows that the south wall of the Bachelors' Quarters was covered by narrow, ship-lapped weather boards. Because the prevailing rain direction is from the south, such protection might have been required. The front of the building was left with the timbers exposed, and such probably was the case with the north and east walls.

Roof. Drawings made by members of the Wilkes expedition in 1841 show that the Bachelors' Quarters apparently had a hipped roof as early as that date (see Plates IV and LIII, vol. I). Therefore it probably had one from the time of its construction only three years earlier. On the other hand, the original pencil sketch made by Lieutenant Warre in 1845-46 (Plate XLII) and the painting and lithograph made from it (Plates IX and X, vol. I) perhaps show the building with a gabled roof, although it is difficult to tell which structures are depicted by Warre in the southeast corner of the fort. And, in any case, the painting of 1847-48 (Plate XVI, vol. I) and the 1860 photograph both clearly show a hipped roof. It seems safe to assume that the Bachelors' Quarters had a hipped roof during the 1845-46 period.

Although there appears to be no direct evidence on the point, it is also highly probable that the roof was shingled by that date. The shingles used and sold by the Hudson's Bay Company during 1845-46 were largely made by American settlers and by French-Canadian free men and were obtained by bartering clothing and supplies for them. [93] They were made of cedar, fir, and pine, and were purchased in large quantities, nearly 10,000 having been brought to the Vancouver depot from the Company's station at Willamette Falls during Outfit 1844. [94] Records for the early 1840s demonstrate conclusively that the usual shingle employed by the firm, at least on the cruder buildings such as salmon houses and sheep sheds, was a hand-split shake, thirty-six inches long. [95]

Lawyers for the Company attempted in 1866 to lead William H. Gray to testify that the shingles at Fort Vancouver were laid with four inches exposed to the weather ca. 1846, but he failed to give a direct reply of confirmation. [96] It hardly seems probable that thirty-six-inch shingles would have been laid with less than about twelve inches exposed. Thus, if the lawyers were correct, the shingles employed on major buildings were shorter. If the Coode watercolor sketch was accurate, the older structures seem to have had long shingles with a foot or more exposed, while the newer buildings, like the Big House, may have had shorter shingles with much less surface to the weather (see Plate XII, vol. I). The neatly shingled roofs in the 1860 photographs, on which the shingles do seem to have been laid with four inches to the weather, probably did not still carry the covering of 1845-46.

Incidentally, in case there should be a desire to exhibit bundles of shingles somewhere in the reconstructed fort, it might be noted that in 1846 the Company specified that those purchased should be "neatly packed in bundles of 250, and received by measurement--being, 20 inches in width, 2 shingles in length, and 25 rows of shingles at each end." [97] These bundles evidently were tied with "spunyarn Rope." [98]

The 1860 photograph shows that the Bachelors' Hall then could boast of a gutter, probably of metal, below the eaves across the entire front of the building. Five downspouts in that distance each emptied into a large barrel. There definitely was no gutter over the south end of the building, however, and the situation with regard to gutters over the remaining two walls is unknown.

Chimneys. The ca. 1847-48 painting by an unknown artist appears to show five tall, narrow chimneys rising from the eave line along the rear or east wall of the Bachelors' Quarters (see Plates XV and XVI, vol. I). On the other hand the 1860 photograph definitely reveals that by then there were four brick chimneys that emerged from the structure at the ridge of the roof. Whether the five earlier chimneys were still standing is not revealed.

Clearly a change of some sort was made in the heating arrangements between 1847-48 and May 1860, but no certain record of the time or nature of the alteration has yet been discovered. It is known that during Outfit 1852 the sum of $131.62-1/2 was paid for "building Chimneys in Fort," but whether this construction related to the Bachelors' Quarters or to other structures is not stated. [99]

Perhaps future archeological excavations on the site of Building No. 20 will produce additional information about chimney locations. If remains of brick hearths or chimney bases can be found, the types of bricks should indicate the relative ages.

Unless the archeological evidence is overwhelmingly to the contrary, however, it would seem that the testimony of the 1847-48 painting should be followed in locating and designing the chimneys for the 1845-46 period of reconstruction.

Doors. The Emmons ground plan of 1841 (Plate III, vol. I) pictures the Bachelors' Quarters with four symmetrically placed front entrances in the west wall. They opened onto the central courtyard of the fort. Although not indicated, there presumably were four rear doors giving access to a corresponding number of outhouses placed along the east palisade. By 1860, however, there were five doors spread along the front of the building. As will be seen by a study of the photograph, they were not spaced evenly. Two were adjacent to upright posts while three were well within bays but not centered.

Once more it is evident that changes had been made over the years, but no information as to the date or dates of the alterations has yet been uncovered. But there is certain evidence that might possibly throw light upon the matter. Richard Covington, who reached Fort Vancouver during the summer of 1846, draw a map of the post before the end of the year (Plate XIII, vol. I). On it he care fully placed six outhouses behind the Bachelors' Quarters. Thus, if both he and Emmons were accurate in this respect it is possible that the number of separate dwelling units in the Bachelors' Range had been increased between 1841 and 1846, probably by placing additional partitions in the interior. In this case, the number of front doors might well have been increased to five at the same time. There might be a relationship between the five chimneys shown in the 1847-48 painting and the five doors of 1860.

Although it is impossible to be certain on this point, it would seem to be safer for purposes of the reconstruction to assume that the five front doors as shown in the 1860 photograph were in place by 1845-46. An assumption of five doors for the rear wall would also seem reasonable.

The Provincial Archives of British Columbia contains a particularly clear and sharp print of the 1860 photograph. On two different occasions this writer has ordered copies of this print, but no matter how careful the expert photographers at the archives have been, the copies have lost detail in the reproduction. The following data on the doors, therefore, are based upon details noted during personal observation of the original print but that cannot be seen clearly in the photographs submitted with this report.

The doors are six-panel in design. The two middle panels are the tallest, the bottom two are the next tallest, while the top two are short, being slightly wider than they are high. The round door-knob on each seems to be on the left-hand side about opposite the center of the board between the two lower sets of panels.

The lights, or transoms, over the doors contain ten panes of glass arranged in two tiers of five each. Over the frame that surrounds each door-transom unit is a projecting drip board or flashing of some type.

In front of each door is a step or series of steps that project to form a shallow porch. There is one step in front of the northernmost door, two steps each in front of the next two doors toward the south, and three steps each in front of the two most southerly doors. As nearly as can be determined from the photograph, the steps seem to be formed of squared logs with board treads on top. The steps in front of the two southernmost doors are considerably wider than the doors, and all the steps seem to be the same length. In front of the third and fourth doors from the southern end, the bottom steps seem to be wider (north and south) than the top ones.

Large foot scrapers can be the first and fourth doors from the south may have a scraper at seen on the top steps at each side of the southern end. The third door from each side of the bottom step.

Windows. Lieutenant Charles Wilkes, commander of the United States Exploring Expedition, described the windows of his lodgings at Fort Vancouver in 1841 as "French" in style. [100] It is not certain that this reference to casement windows applied specifically to the clerks" quarters, but such very probably was the case. Yet the photograph of 1860 very clearly shows that the windows on the front of the Bachelors' Range, at least,were double-hung.

Ordinarily one would be inclined to give preference to the photo graphic evidence, but in this instance an interesting bit of testimony has recently come to light that would seem to support Wilkes. In 1879 former clerk George B. Roberts told Frances Fuller Victor that the only relics of Astoria in Washington Territory were "the old French windows in my old house [at] Cowlitz Farm." When windows were required for that residence, he continued, "they made new ones at Vancouver & sent the old ones there." [101] Roberts moved to Cowlitz Farm from Fort Vancouver during December 1846, but the date of the transfer of the windows has not yet been determined.

It seems quite reasonable to suppose that the windows from Astoria (renamed Fort George when taken over by the North West Company) were moved to Fort Vancouver after the former post was temporarily abandoned in 1825. Because window sash and glass panes were not easily procured on the frontier, those that had been acquired undoubtedly were used for a lengthy period of time at the depot. They could quite possibly have been installed in the Bachelors' Quarters building when it was constructed in 1838 and then sent to Cowlitz Farm when replacements became more readily available during the late 1840s or the 1850s. It is suggested, therefore, that the windows in the reconstructed Bachelors' Hall be of the French type.

Fortunately, the 1860 photographs provide clear views of the casement windows on the Big House and the Priests" House (Plates XXVIII and XXIX, vol. I). Several windows of this type survive at Fort Langley, but they cannot serve as models, at least without the exercise of great caution, because the central mullion seems to be a later addition. [102]

The 1860 photograph reveals that there were thirteen windows on the front of the Bachelors' Quarters. The southern three of these were sheltered by double louvered shutters in 1860, but whether or not there were shutters in 1845-46 is not known. It is possible to speculate that there were two or three windows in each of the north and south walls and perhaps as many as fifteen in the east wall.

Exterior finish. The 1860 photograph (Plate XLI) shows that the south wall of the Bachelors' Quarters was weatherboarded; it almost certainly was unpainted. The front wall clearly had no outer covering and was not painted. Probably the same conditions pertained with the north and east walls.

In 1860, at least, the trim around the doors and windows, and the window sash, including that over the doors, were painted white. The color of the doors and shutters is not known; probably they were Spanish brown. The gutters and at least some of the downspouts seem to have been painted a light color, perhaps white.

A careful study of the 1860 photograph seems to reveal no signs of chinking or caulking between the wall timbers at the north end of the Bachelors' Hall. Toward the south end light, narrow lines at joints and between timbers are visible at certain points. They may be evidence of caulking or simply projections hit by light. It is extremely difficult to be certain. At any rate, heavy thinking of the type so commonly employed on the Company's structures across much of Canada definitely is absent.

c. Interior finish and arrangement. The inventory of 1846-47 noted that the Bachelors' Quarters structure was lined and ceiled. [103] This description is confirmed by the few visitors who recorded their observations of the interior finish. W. H. Gray, though speaking of 1836, two years before the 1845-46-period Bachelors' Hall was built, said that the partitions in the houses "were all upright boards planed, and the cracks battened; floors were mostly rough boards." [104]

The French traveler, Duflot de Mofras, in 1841 found the dwellings of the clerks to be "a kind of barracks, where nothing recalls the comforts of the English." [105] This opinion was seconded by Assistant Surgeon Holmes of the U. S. Exploring Expedition, who during the same year described the houses of the clerks as being "of the plainest possible construction, unpainted." [106] The leader of the expedition was a bit more charitable. Though admitting that the interiors of the houses were "unpretending" and "simply finished with pine board panels, without any paint," he maintained that they were, on the whole, though plain, "as comfortable as could be desired." [107]

"I believe that the whole row was ceiled inside," swore Lloyd Brooke in 1866 when testifying as to the condition of Bachelors' Hall as he knew it in 1849. The floors, he added, were "rough." [108]

The import of this evidence seems clear. The rooms in the Bachelors' Quarters were lined, walls and ceilings, with unpainted, planed, fir boards. Probably the boards on the walls were placed vertically, and by 1838 battens may no longer have been used. The most common Company practice was to employ tongued and grooved boards, with beaded edges, for room lining. In all likelihood, the rooms much resembled the one in the York Factory Bachelors' Hall illustrated in Plate LXX in volume I of this report.

It is known that in 1849 the Bachelor's Range contained seventeen rooms. [109] Beyond that fact and the indication that the strangers room was at, or near, its north end, nothing certain is recorded concerning the internal room arrangement.

Lieutenant Warre wrote that when he and Lieutenant Vavasour were at the fort, "We had a private sitting room and a bedroom each." [110] It is not known for sure that these officers were lodged in the Bachelors' Quarters, but probably such was the case. Thus Warre s words might indicate that one of the separate "houses" in the row contained three rooms.

The number of dwellings in the range also is not clear. The five front doors, and the five chimneys shown in the 1847-48 painting, might indicate that there were five such units, each about thirty by thirty-two feet. But the uneven spacing of the doors probably eliminates the possibility of any such symmetrical arrangement, although not necessarily so, because one or more apartments could have been entered through interior doors, and at least one might have had two doors.

The inventories of "articles in use" might throw some light upon this question if one knew how to interpret them. One list under this general category in the 1844 inventory is headed "Bachelors Hall & No 1, 2, 3, 4, 5," The same list for 1845 is titled "Bachelors Hall &c Nos 1, 2, 3, 4, & 5." [111] The difficulty is that one does not know whether the name "Bachelors Hall" was used in its restrictive sense, that is to indicate a single room, or in the broader sense, meaning the entire building. In the former case, the heading might be inter preted to indicate that the entire structure contained the Bachelors' Hall proper and five separate dwelling units. In the latter case, the list would have covered the Bachelors' Quarters building and five other structures containing living quarters.

This writer is inclined to favor the former alternative, based upon the fact that the 1844 inventory mentioned above lists only fourteen beds, while that for 1845 lists only seventeen beds and five stoves. On the other hand, the 1848 inventory, which no longer contained the same "Bachelors Hall & No 1, 2, 3, 4, 5" heading but had a new one titled "Dwelling Houses and Mess Room," listed twenty-four beds and eleven stoves. [112] In other words, all the dwelling houses in the fort seem to have contained significantly more beds and stoves than the units designated "Bachelors Hall & No 1, 2, 3, 4, 5." Therefore, nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 probably were not dwellings outside the Bachelors' Quarters building. But, because many more "articles in use" in all categories are listed for 1848 than for earlier years, there may be no validity whatever to this reasoning.

Given the existing information, one can only surmise that the Bachelors' Quarters may have contained the following rooms or dwelling units:

Furnishings

a. General remarks--bedrooms. In Chapter IX of this report, when discussing the furnishings of the Big House (pp. 136-38, vol. I), the simplicity--even austerity--that prevailed in the quarters of the junior officers and clerks throughout the Company's territories was made clear. For such employees to transport any considerable amount of household goods from one assigned post to another was almost entirely out of the question. Therefore the Company provided the basic essentials in the quarters set aside for its officers and clerks. From all available evidence, these furnishings were indeed minimal.

Robert M. Ballantyne has left a description of "Bachelors' Hall" at York Factory as he encountered it in 1843. That structure was one story in height and contained a "large hall"--by which he meant room--from which a number of doors led into the sleeping apartments of the clerks. The rest of the scene is best depicted in Ballantyne's own words:

The whole was built of wood; and few houses could be found wherein so little attention was paid to ornament or luxury. The walls were originally painted white, but this, from long exposure to the influence of a large stove, had changed to a dirty yellow. No carpet covered the floor. . . . A large oblong iron box, on four crooked legs, with a funnel running from it through the roof, stood exactly in the middle of the room; this was a stove. . . . The only furniture that graced the room consisted of two small unpainted deal tables without table-cloths, five whole wooden chairs, and a broken one. . . . Several guns and fishing-rods stood in the corners of the hall. The tables were covered with a miscellaneous collection of articles; and from a number of pipes reposing on little odoriferous heaps of cut tobacco, I inferred that my future companions were great smokers. Two or three books, a pair of broken foils, a battered mask, and several surgical instruments, over which a huge mortar and pestle presided, completed the catalogue.

The different sleeping apartments around were . . . extremely characteristic of the pursuits of their different tenants. The first I entered was very small--just large enough to contain a bed, a table and a chest, leaving little room for the occupant to move about in. . . . None of these bedrooms were carpeted; none of them boasted of a chair--the trunks and boxes of the person to whom they belonged answering instead; and none of the beds were graced with curtains. Notwithstanding this emptiness, however, they had a somewhat furnished appearance, from the number of great-coats, leather capots, fur caps, worsted sashes, guns, rifles, shot-belts, snow-shoes, and powder—horns with which the walls were profusely decorated. [113]

Twenty-four years later another young apprentice clerk, Isaac Cowie, landed at York Factory from England and was assigned to quarters. His later recollection of what greeted his eyes was as follows:

We were met . . . at the landing by Mr. James S. Ramsay, apprentice clerk of three years' service, who . . . convoyed us to the "Summer House," the quarters provided for visitors of our grade. There were bed steads but no bedding in the rooms given us, so Mr. Ramsay sent the steward for a bale of new blankets, which served as mattresses and covering till we got our own bedding.

The rooms were bare and the furniture plain and scanty, for the quarters were only temporary "camping ground" for wayfarers. They may have seemed still more uninviting than they really were from the contrast afforded by the blaze of barbaric decorations on the walls of the rooms of the clerks in "Bachelors' Hall." These consisted of Indian silk and bead and wool work of every hue, which adorned the attire of these "veterans" from head to foot, also their gun-coats, shot pouches, firebags and snowshoes, all of which were hung up round the room, alongside of coloured prints of prize fighters, race horses, hunting scenes, ships and yachts. . . . Each of the bachelors seemed to be a performer on a different musical instrument--one had a violin, another a flute, a third an accordion, and a fourth a concertina, and I think they could all play the Jews' harp. [114]

H. M. Robinson, who during the 1870s wrote a number of accounts of life at the Company's posts, made a graphic statement concerning the general lack of comfortable furnishings in the quarters of the officers and clerks. A part of this description has already been quoted on pages 137-38 in volume I of this report. He then continued with the following passage:

While it must be confessed that the main body of officers confine themselves in this regard to the practical and useful, yet it not infrequently happens that a gentleman of independent taste turns up who, animated by the desire of giving an artistic air to his chamber, graces the useful with more or less of the ornamental. These peculiarities of individual taste betray themselves most strikingly in the selection and disposal of bedroom furniture. Brightly burnished arms, powder-flasks, and shot-pouches, are arranged in fantastic figures upon the walls. Objects of aboriginal handiwork in birch-bark, porcupine quills, and beadwork, impart a certain barbaric splendor to the apartment; while in vivid contrast appear rude frames enclosing highly-colored lithographs of deeds of daring on the British turf, highways, and waters. . . .

Games, too, are in great demand, and every apartment possesses its well-thumbed pack of cards, its rude cribbage-board, and sets of wooden dominoes. . Parties not studiously inclined often pass the spare hours in exercising their skill upon one of the musical instruments. [115]

Several times throughout this report it has been shown that the families of officers and clerks were sometimes housed in the Bachelors' Range and that occasionally these families were large. Present-day readers may find it incredible that a couple and as many as nine or more children might live in a single room, particularly when the inventories demonstrate that there could not have been more than one or two beds in each apartment. The following quotation from a description of a typical French-Canadian voyageur's dwelling reveals how this miracle was accomplished:

Internally the house is one single apartment; occasionally, in the better class, though rarely, two apartments. The floor is of planks sawed or hewed by hand; the ceiling, if there is any, of the same material. In one corner is the only bed, a narrow couch, painted, generally, an ultra-marine blue, or a vivid sea-green. . . . A table, one or two chairs, a few wooden trunks or boxes--doing duty with this people everywhere as table, chair, clothes-press, and cupboard--and a dresser, constitute the furniture. About the walls somewhere, more especially over the bed, hang colored prints of the Virgin, the sacred heart, etc., together with a rosary. It may be that the daughter of the house--and there always is a daughter--has come under the influence of a convent for a season, and can read; perhaps write. In that event, there is a copy of the "Lives of the Saints" on a bracket; and, it may be, a few periodicals. For the rest, the apartment is cheerless and uninviting. It may be clean, but the chances are that it is not. . . .

In this apartment the family herd--a squaw mother often, and children so numerous and dirty as to be a wonder to behold. . . . on the approach of night, when the dusky brood are all housed, the question of where they are to sleep becomes startlingly prominent.

We remember well our first experience in the solution of this difficulty. Caught one stormy winter's evening, [we] . . . halted before the door of a small cabin, and asked permission to remain over-night. . . . the request was readily granted. After a meagre supper . . . we began to look about for a couch for the night. Nothing was visible save one narrow bed, in which our host and his swarthy consort soon retired. Now, in addition to ourselves and guide, there were thirteen of the family, composed of children, male and female, from infancy to mature age. . . . Finally . . . from trunks and boxes were produced blankets and robes, and a shake-down made on the floor, into which we were directed to crawl. Scarcely had we done so, when our bed began to widen, and in a few minutes extended from wall to wall. Soon we found ourselves the central figure in a closely packed bed of thirteen, filled promiscuously with males and females. [116]

That these general conditions were reflected in the living quarters at Fort Vancouver is amply demonstrated by the testimony of persons who were given shelter within the palisade. Charles Wilkes in 1841 recorded that inside the "unpretending" houses "bunks are built for bedsteads." [117] Another member of the U. S. Exploring Expedition stated that the "houses of the clerks" contained "no other furniture than a few stools or wooden bottomed chairs and a coarse pine table." [118] A French visitor during the same year wrote that the furniture in the clerks' dwellings consisted "of a little table, a chair or bench and a camp bed of boards, infested with insects, with two woolen covers." [119]

The construction of one of the oft-mentioned bunk beds at Fort Vancouver, and the bedding, were well described by Narcissa Whitman in 1836. Her words have already been reproduced on page 159, volume I of this report. Another missionary visitor in 1837 confirmed her testimony concerning the almost universal use of bunk beds at the post when he later recalled that while there he had slept in a "berth-like fixture, then the only beds of the country." [120]

This general picture of austerity given by visitors is supported by the inventories of Company-owned "articles in use" found in the dwelling houses. Two of these are reproduced below, but, as has al ready been explained, it is not known if they applied to the Bachelors' Hall proper and five other units in the Bachelors' Quarters building or to the entire Bachelors' Range plus five additional dwelling units elsewhere in the fort:

Inventory of Sundry Goods . . . remaining on hand at Fort Vancouver Depot.

Spring 1844

Articles in Use

Bachelors Hall & No 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Inventory of Sundry Goods . . . remaining on hand at Fort Vancouver Depot.

Spring 1845

Articles in Use

Bachelors Hall & No 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

The fact that the inventory taken in the spring of 1848 contained revised subheadings under the category "Articles in Use" has already been mentioned. The subheading that included the Bachelors Quarters, titled "Dwelling Houses and Mess Room," was so broad that it seems of little help in throwing light upon what furnishings were in the clerks" lodgings.

Yet the list under that subheading is of much interest. It includes items such as bedroom candlesticks, snuffers, mirrors, and tumblers that do not appear in the earlier inventories but that almost certainly were present in the Bachelors' Quarters. As has been mentioned in previous chapters, it is not known why the 1848 inventory included so many more articles than those of 1844 and 1845. For what light it may shed upon the furnishings of the Bachelors' Range, the pertinent section of the 1848 inventory is reproduced below. It will also be recognized that this list, which was not seen by this writer until after the completion of volume I of this report, provides important additional information concerning the furnishings of the mess hall in the Big House:

[1848]
--Dwelling Houses and--
--Mess Room--

It will be noted that the 1848 inventory appears to reflect an increased sophistication--almost luxury when compared with the bare-bones earlier lists--in living arrangements at the fort. As has been pointed out previously, the reason for the larger number of items recorded in 1848 is not entirely evident, but probably such articles as the lamp, the clocks, the mirrors, etc., reflect the increased importation of general merchandise as the Company's business in Oregon shifted in emphasis from fur trading to the retail trade after about 1846.

The inventories reproduced above provoke several comments. First, it seems clear that lighting in the bedrooms was by candles. Probably each apartment had at least one tin candlestick well before 1848. Second, it appears that each room also contained an earthenware wash basin and water jug. Third, each main dwelling unit seems to have had a stove. These stoves would have been of the Canadian type, probably with protective metal shields on the floors beneath and on any nearby walls (see pp. 143-45, vol. I, for a discussion of stoves at Fort Vancouver). The stoves in the Bachelors' Quarters were installed each fall and removed each spring. [124]

Fourth, each bedroom seems to have contained a wooden bed (bunk), a couple of plain wooden chairs (evidently with cane seats by 1845), a table, and, generally, a baize tablecloth. Fifth, those dwelling units that had sitting rooms seem also to have had a wooden sofa and perhaps an extra table and several chairs.

No pictures of the interior of any dwelling unit at Fort Vancouver are known to exist. However, a sketch dated 1848 and titled "Interior of H.B.C. Post at Pembina" probably depicts the room of a clerk or even a commissioned officer and conveys an impression of the accommodations provided throughout the Company's territories. While not applicable to Fort Vancouver in all details, its representation of a general crudity of furnishings undoubtedly would have been equally true of the Columbia depot's Bachelors' Quarters. It is reproduced as Plate XLIII.

Another sketch (Plate XLIV), this one of the interior of a Red River settler's home during the early nineteenth century, also depicts items of furniture that might well have had their counter parts at Fort Vancouver.

Personal effects. In the comparative descriptions of clerks' quarters noted earlier in this section, a good deal is made of the fact that the plainness of the furnishings was somewhat relieved by the displayed possessions of the occupants and by such decorative features as the individual clerks and officers might fancy. It may not be amiss, therefore, to examine the question of what personal effects the typical clerk or junior officer might have owned and carried with him from post to post.

The most conspicuous object, perhaps, was the ubiquitous cassette or small wooden trunk used by clerks and officers for carrying personal effects on journeys by boat or horse. An apprentice clerk ordinarily would not have had more than one of these useful articles, but senior clerks and officers might have had two or three. [125] One Long-time Company employee expressed the importance attached to these devices when he wrote that this "dovetailed constructed trunk, made honestly," served as the container of the clerk's "personal wealth in clothes, relics or souvenirs of civilization, and when the lid was closed, as an extra seat." [126]

The best available description of a cassette appears to be that written by Malcolm McLeod, the son of a fur trader. Cassettes, he said, were:

Trunks made of best and well seasoned pine, and made as strong and light as dovetailing, grooving, iron binding, and good workmanship can make them. The stuff throughout, is three quarters of an inch thick. The dimensions are two feet four inches in length, and one foot four inches in width and depth, and beveled on top to the extent of nearly an inch, Leaving the sides about fifteen inches and a quarter deep, of this depth, the cover [made to fit closely to a lap in the body of the box] takes from four to three and a quarter inches. Of the "Cassettes" used in the country, this is the largest size, and the smallest does not vary more than an inch, in any way. They are well painted, and are proof against any accident but fire. [127]

A traveling case was another item possessed by nearly every "gentleman." Unfortunately an exact description of these compartmented boxes does not seem to be available. They were designed to carry everything a man might need on a long journey except the main stores and bedding. The compartments were lined with soft cloth, "good baize generally," the space for the liquor bottle being especially well padded. [128]

Another necessity was a traveling basket. These were made of "strong willow," also "with compartments, and suitable tin cases, for meats, sugar, and other groceries; those for meats being in variably finely perforated on the top." Placed on top of all the other contents was a frying pan possessing "a good strong hinge." [129]

Among the other items that might be found hanging on the walls, resting on tables, or standing in corners were guns of various types, powderhorns, shot bags, fishing gear, books, musical instruments, and articles of Indian manufacture or natural curiosities such as rock specimens. The custom of indulging in small private suppers in the Bachelors' Quarters has been mentioned, and for this purpose a certain number of cooking and eating utensils, dishes, and glasses were kept on hand. Pieces of a delicate wine glass and other glasses etched on the bottoms with the initial "L" or the name "A L Lewes"--obviously once the property of Adolphus Lee Lewes, a clerk who temporarily left the Company s service shortly before the start of Outfit 1845--were uncovered during excavations of trash pits or privies along the east stockade wall in 1966, demonstrating that touches of elegance were not lacking in these domestic arrangements (see Plates XLV and XLVI).

A reasonably good idea of the personal possessions of a typical clerk can be gained from a memorandum of "Sundries left in Trunk at Fort Vancouver" by Edward Ermatinger while he was away on a trip to York Factory during the late 1820s. Omitting the articles of clothing, the list was as follows:

1 parcel Music viz
   1 Duett [sic] for two Flutes--Tauberplatz [?]
   1 Duett [sic] for two Violin Viotte
   1 Duett [sic] Overture to Lodviska [?]
   1 Instruction for Violin--I. Loder
   2 Old Books Scotch Reels
      Sundry Sheets Psalms &c
      My ain Kind Dearie
1 Small Bugle no mouth piece
Goughs Arithmetic & Key--2 vols
Tates Arithmetic & Key-- 1 vols
Keith on the use of the Globes
French Exercis[es] "Perrin"
1 dressing case--less nail Brush
1 pr Boat Hooks
1 Violin Bow
1 Bridle dble reined [130]

Articles of clothing were also much in evidence. One fur trade clerk, though not in the Company's service, listed his "personal outfit" in 1800 as "a corderoy [sic] round-about, pants and vest, four striped cotton shirts, four pair of socks, and four 'two and a half point blankets' sewed up in canvas--with two pair of blankets to cover me." [131] A Company clerk of more than half a century later said that the "approved uniform" for clerks on a journey was "a greyish blue cloth 'Illinois capote with silverplate buttons, and a broad scarlet worsted sash, the regulation headgear being a fine navy blue cloth cap with leather peak." [132] This mention of "uniform" and "regulation" clothing seems to have been merely an indication of the prevailing custom, because this writer has been unable to find that the Company's formerly prescribed "sky-blue" uniform was still required as late as the 1840s.

Perhaps an even better idea of the clothing that would have been found in a typical clerk's room can be gained from the list of articles that Clerk Francis Ermatinger ordered from London in 1828:

A still more detailed list was provided by Francis Ermatinger's brother, Edward, in a "Memorandum of Articles belonging to me, 21st Sept 1826," evidently written at Fort Vancouver:

For exhibit purposes, various items of British naval uniforms of the period might be hung on the walls of one or two of the rooms to indicate occupation by visiting officers.

According to John Dunn, who was a postmaster in the Columbia District for many years, the native or part-native wives of clerks and officers generally dressed "after the English fashion," but they retained one feature from their Indian backgrounds--"the leggin or gaiter, which is made (now that the tanned deer-skin has been superseded) of the finest, and most gaily-coloured cloth, beautifully ornamented with beads." Evidently these leggins were worn mainly when riding, because in speaking of the wives of the ordinary servants, Dunn said that in dress they imitated the officers' wives but retained the moccasin in place of adopting the low-quartered shoe." [135]

The American naval officer, Charles Wilkes, in 1841 confirmed Dunn's observations, noting that the ladies of the country were dressed "after our own bygone fashions, with the exception of leggins, made of red and blue cloth, richly ornamented." He noted that the officers' wives exercised great taste in making tobacco and fire pouches, shaped "like a lady's reticule," which were "as essential a part of dress in a voyageur's wardrobe as in a lady's." The pouches were usually made of red or blue cloth, "prettily worked" with beads and usually further ornamented with several long tails that were "worked with silk of gaudy colours." [136]

The inventories reproduced in Chapters XI and XII in volume I of this report contain much information on the articles of clothing, both men's and women's, available at Fort Vancouver."

b. The "Bachelors' Hall" proper. Robert M. Ballantyne's general description of the Bachelors' Quarters at York Factory in 1843, already quoted, provides a reasonably good picture of the smoking room or "public sitting room" for officers and clerks known as "Bachelors' Hall." At another place in his narrative, however, he added the information that this room was illuminated "by means of a number of tallow candles, stuck in tin sconces round the walls." [137]

Another comparative description of the "common" room in the clerks' quarters at York Factory, this one dating from 1879, confirms Ballantyne's picture. "The furnishings were simple in the extreme," later wrote the employee-author, "a long table, a country-made settee, and half a dozen easy chairs, whose backs could be gauged to different angles, or let down altogether . . . [and] two large Caron stoves. . . . The only adornment on the walls was a large framed engraving of the Relief of Lucknow." [138]

Fortunately, there is a modest amount of specific information available concerning the furnishings of the Bachelors' Hall at Fort Vancouver. Thomas Jefferson Farnham recorded on November 15, 1839, that he enjoyed a comfortable seat "by the stove in 'Bachelor's Hall." [139] Evidently there was no fireplace in the smoking room.

John Dunn, who left the Columbia for England in 1838, later wrote:

The smoking room or "Bachelor's Hall," presents the appearance of an armoury and a museum. All sorts of weapons, and dresses, and curiosities of civilized and savage life, and of the various implements for the prosecution of the trade, may be seen there. [140]

c. Library. It has been stated that there were two formal libraries at Fort Vancouver, one belonging to the Company and the other a subscription affair known as the "Columbia Library." It is not known that either one was housed in the Bachelors' Quarters building, but for planning purposes it is being assumed that they were both kept in a single, separate room in that structure.

Probably most of the books were kept on open wooden shelves ranged around the walls. A typical example of such shelving in the library at a Company post is shown in Plate XLVII.

There is also a chance, however, that the Company-owned books were kept in a separate, and perhaps locked, bookcase. In 1879 former clerk George B. Roberts stated: "There is a relic at Victoria of Astoria--a large Book Case." [141] The furnishings from the former Astoria were moved to Fort Vancouver in 1825, from whence they were transferred to Victoria when the Company abandoned its old Columbia depot in 1860. It is quite possible that this bookcase held the books also sent from Fort George to Vancouver and that it continued to be used for that purpose as long as the latter post remained active. Perhaps this historic piece of furniture can still be located in British Columbia!

The contents of the Company-owned library are known quite precisely. As listed in the depot inventory made during the spring of 1844, the books were as follows:

It also appears that the Company annually imported bound volumes of several newspapers for circulation in the Columbia District. Included in the requisition for Outfit 1843 (to be shipped in 1841) was an order for complete files of the following newspapers for one year up to the ship's departure date: Old Times, Sunday Times, and Morning Chronicle. [143]

No lists of the books in the subscription-supported Columbia Library have yet come to light; but it probably would not be too difficult to produce the names of two or three hundred volumes that might well have been in such a collection during the period 1845-46. The libraries at York Factory and at Fort Simpson, or what remained of them in recent years, have been preserved in Hudson's Bay House in Winnipeg. A study of the titles would reveal what books available between about 1830 and 1845 had been considered suitable and desirable by a wide range of officers and clerks. [144] Also, the journals and correspondence of several Company employees contain numerous references to books and periodicals read during this period. [145]

From such sources one gathers that bound volumes of periodicals such as the Edinburgh Evening Post, Chambers's Journal, The Penny Magazine, and The Day, as well as the Quarterly Review and the Universal Magazine (for 1786!), might have been found in the Columbia Library. Among the books might have been titles such as Lockhart's Life of Scott, Rose's translation of Orlanda Furiosa, Percy's Relics of Ancient English Poetry, Washington Irving's Astoria, translations of The Odyssey, The Subaltern, Bracebridge Hall, Life of Garrick, translations of Euripides, Herodotus, and Livy, Alison's History of Europe during the French Revolutionary War (20 vols.), sets of Shakespeare, Voltaire, and Corneille, Philosophy of Living, The Way to Enjoy Life and Its Comforts, Death-Bed Triumphs of Eminent Christians, History of Miranda's Attempt to Effect a Revolution in South America, Timothy Night's Theology Explained and Defended, and many more. [146]

Recommendations

a. It is suggested that when archeological excavations are con ducted on the site of the Bachelors' Quarters, particular attention be given to seeking evidence of fireplace or chimney locations. Archeology might also be able to throw light upon certain questions, such as whether the sills at the north end of the building rested on the ground or were raised, and whether the infill material between the ground and the sills was composed of solid timbers or merely boards.

b. It is recommended that the Bachelors' Quarters be reconstructed in accordance with the construction data supplied in the body of this chapter. The 1860 photograph, preferably an enlarged print directly from the original glass negative in the Royal Engineers Library, should be followed religiously in all details except the roof shingles, the windows, and possibly the chimneys. Special attention is called to the following suggestions:

(1) The walls should be constructed of sawed timbers, except possibly for the long sills and plates that may have been hewn. Caulking at joints should be kept to a minimum, with the edges of the infill timbers not beveled.

(2) The south wall should be covered with horizontal, lapped weatherboards similar to those used on the Big House. On the remaining sides of the building the wall timbers were left exposed.

(3) The roof should be covered with hand-split shakes, with about six inches exposed to the weather.

(4) The number and locations of the chimneys will depend upon the results of archeological excavations. If any supporting evidence is found, five chimneys ranged along the east wall are recommended. Evidently there were no fireplaces in the Bachelors Quarters, but archeological excavations may provide evidence to the contrary. The chimneys should be made of reproductions of British bricks .

(5) It is suggested that the 1860 photograph be followed with regard to the number and positions of the west-wall doors. Five or six doors might be placed in the east wall. The doors should have six panels and ten-pane transoms above.

(6) It is recommended that French or casement windows be installed instead of the double-hung ones shown in the 1860 photo graph .

c. The exterior of the Bachelors' Quarters should be unpainted, except for white trim around the doors and windows, white window sash (including that of the transoms), and Spanish brown doors and shutters (if shutters are used on the three southernmost windows on the west wall). The roof gutters and downspouts appear to have been white, though this is not certain. The interior should not be painted.

d. The interior walls should be lined with vertical fir boards, planed, random width, tongued and grooved, with beaded edges. Interior partitions probably were constructed of single thicknesses of similar boards. The same type of boards also formed the ceilings. Floors probably were of unplaned, heavy, tongued and grooved planks.

e. The interior room arrangement will depend largely upon the locations of the chimneys as determined by archeological excavations. When laying out the plan, it should be remembered that the usual living quarters for clerks and subordinate officers consisted of a series of small cubicles opening off a central sitting room. Stoves were sometimes at considerable distances from the chimneys, with which they were connected by long stovepipes that might extend through more than one room. In at least one case (Lower Fort Garry) a stove was placed in a wall opening between two bedrooms. In addition to fourteen bedrooms and bedroom/sitting rooms, the structure should contain a large room for the Bachelors' Hall, a smaller "strangers' room," and a rather small library room. There should be no closets.

f. It is suggested that at least the northern end of the Bachelors' Quarters building, including the Bachelors' Hall, "strangers' room," library, and several bedrooms and bedroom/sitting rooms, be re furnished and employed as a house museum.

1. H.B.S., 4:260.

2. Herbert Beaver, Reports and Letters of Herbert Beaver, 1836-1838, Chaplain to the Hudson's Bay Company and Missionary to the Indians at Fort Vancouver, ed. Thomas E. Jessett (Portland: The Champoeg Press, 1959), p. 140.

3. Ibid.

4. During Outfit 1852 the Vancouver Depot was charged $131.62-1/2 "for building Chimney's [sic] in Fort" and another $3.00 was paid for "work on Chimneys," but whether or not any of the chimneys were in the Bachelors' Quarters is not indicated. H.B.C., Fort Vancouver, Account Book, 1852 [Invoices, Outfit 1852], H.B.C.A., B.223/d/205, MS, fols. 119, 120.

5. Affidavit of W. E. Place, Washington, D. C., February 27, 1873, in U. S., Department of the Interior, General Land Office Records, Old Townsites Series, Docket I (165) [Vancouver], Box No. 31, MS, in Division of Interior Department Records, National Archives (hereafter cited as G.L.O., Old Townsites).

6. "Proceedings of a board of officers, Fort Vancouver, June 15, 1860," A.G.O., Ore. Dept., Doc. File 212-S-1860, in National Archives.

7. Affidavit of W. E. Place, Washington, D.C., February 27, 1873, G.L.O., Old Townsites, Docket I (165), Box No. 31, in National Archives.

8. Beaver, Reports and Letters, p. 76. Beaver was speaking of the Bachelors' Quarters that immediately preceded the structure completed in 1838.

9. Lowe, "Private Journal," p. 1A.

10. Josiah L. Parrish, "Anecdotes of Intercourse with the Indians," MS, in the Bancroft Library, University of California, pp. 102-3.

11. Beaver, Reports and Letters, pp. 81-82.

12. Dunn, Oregon Territory, p. 144; Helmcken, "A Reminiscence of 1850," p. 6. Married chaplains were often exceptions to this rule.

13. Douglas, "Royal Navy Ships on the Columbia River," p. 40.

14. McTavish, Behind the Palisades, p. 42.

15. "Fort Vancouver," extract from A. Begg, History of British Columbia (Toronto, 1894), typescript, in Vertical File, Provincial Archives of British Columbia; Helmcken, "Reminiscences of John Sebastian Helmcken," 3:51.

16. H.B.C.A., D.5/10, MS, fol. 247.

17. Lowe, "Private Journal," p. 4.

18. Ibid., p. 17.

19. Allan, "Copies of Letters and Journals," p. 10.

20. Lowe, "Private Journal," pp. 22-23.

21. See pp. 128-30 in vol. I of this report.

22. Parrish, "Anecdotes," pp. 102-3.

23. William Henry Gray, A History of Oregon, 1792-1849, Drawn from Personal Observation and Authentic Information (Portland and New York, 1870), pp. 150-51.

24. Pipes, "Extract from Exploration," p. 155.

25. Dunn, Oregon Territory, p. 102.

26. McTavish, Behind the Palisades, p. 58.

27. Helmcken, "A Reminiscence of 1850," p. 1.

28. Lowe, "Private Journal," p. 11.

29. Ibid., pp. 31-32.

30. Ibid., p. 32. For generalized descriptions of dances in the Bachelors' Halls at other posts, see Ballantyne, Hudson Bay, pp. 196-99; and Robinson, Great Fur Land, p. 103.

31. Robinson, Great Fur Land, pp. 91-94; See also ibid., pp. 66-67.

32. Several examples of such treatment might be cited, but probably the experiences of W. H. Gray, told in his History of Oregon, pp. 149, 153, were representative of all.

33. H.B.S., 4:203.

34. Erwin G. Gudde, Sutter's Own Story: The Life of General John Augustus Sutter and the History of New Helvetia in the Sacramento Valley (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1936), p. 16.

35. George Thornton Emmons, "Extracts from the Emmons Journal," Oregon Historical Quarterly 26 (September, 1925): 267.

36. Cornelius J. Brosnan, Jason Lee: Prophet of the New Oregon (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1932), p. 163.

37. Henry E. Reed, ed., "Lovejoy's Pioneer Narrative," Oregon Historical Quarterly 31 (September, 1930): 258-59.

38. Parrish, "Anecdotes," pp. 102-3.

39. E. Ruth Rockwood, ed., "Diary of Rev. George H. Atkinson, D. D., 1847-1858," Oregon Historical Quarterly 40 (June, 1939): 180-81.

40. Warre, "Travel and Sport in North America, 1839-1846," p. 137, quoted by the kind permission of Mr. Michael Warre of London, England.

41. Lowe, "Private Journal," p. 27.

42. Allan, "Copies of Letters and Journals," p. 5.

43. John Minto, "What I Know of Dr. McLoughlin and How I Know It," Oregon Historical Quarterly 11 (June, 1910): 189-90. Minto actually did spend the night at Fort Vancouver, but in a house outside the pickets.

44. John Minto, "Reminiscences of Experiences on the Oregon Trail in 1844--II," Oregon Historical Quarterly 2 (September, 1901): 235—36.

45. Parrish, "Anecdotes," p. 102.

46. Beaver, Reports and Letters, p. 76.

47. Wallace, John McLean's Notes, p. 348.

48. Glazebrook, Hargrave Correspondence, p. 451; Grace Lee Mute, "A Botanist at Fort Colvile," The Beaver Outfit 277 (September, 1946): 30.

49. James Douglas to "Captain Sutter," Barque Columbia, March 9, 1841, in Fort Vancouver, Correspondence Outward, July 13, 1840-May 24, 1841, Letters Signed by James Douglas, MSS, in Provincial Archives of British Columbia.

50. Robinson, Great Fur Land, p. 102.

51. Robert C. Clark, "The Archives of the Hudson's Bay Company," Pacific Northwest Quarterly 29 (January, 1938): 5.

52. H.B.C., Correspondence Book, Fort Vancouver, 1836-1837, H.B.C.A., B.223/b/l5, MS, fols. 53d—54.

53. Hubert Howe Bancroft, History of British Columbia, 1792-1887 (San Francisco: The History Company, 1887), p. 63; Tolmie, Journals of William Fraser Tolmie, pp. 258-60.

54. McTavish, Behind the Palisades, pp. 60-62.

55. William Fraser Tolmie, "Letter from Dr. Tolmie," in Transactions of the . . . Oregon Pioneer Association for 1884, p. 31.

56. H.B.C., District Statements, York Factory, 1836-1837, H.B.C.A., B.239/1/7, MS, p. 89.

57. Bancroft, History of British Columbia, p. 63.

58. Lowe, "Private Journal," pp. 36-37. It is interesting to note that Lowe called the library the "Vancouver Library"; H.B.C.A., A.11/70, MS, fols . 39, 95.

59. H.B.C., Merchandise Exported, 1842-1854, H.B.C.A., A.25/7, MS, fols. 6-8, 8d-9, 45d-46, 66d-69.

60. H.B.C.A., A.11/70, MS, fols. 39, 95.

61. Bancroft, History of British Columbia, p. 63.

62. H.B.C.A., A.25/7, MS, fols. 66d-69.

63. H.B.C.A., B .223/187, MS, fol. 14; B.223/g/10, MS, p. 21; B.223/g/11, MS, p. 19.

64. Bancroft, History of British Columbia, p. 63.

65. Robert Watson, "The Story of Norway House," Canadian Geographical Journal 1 (August, 1930): 298.

66. H.B.C.A., B.223/b/32, MS, fols. 85-85d, 86d-87; B.223/b/34, MS, fols. 15—29d; B.223/d/162, MS, pp. 22—32; B.239/l/16, MS, pp. 36-68.

67. H.B.S., 6:389—90; Lowe, "Private Journal," pp. 31, 32, 34, 43; Warner and Munnick, Catholic Church Records, p. A-27.

68. Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria, B. C., Parish Register, Marriages, 1837-1872, MSS, photostat in Provincial Archives of British Columbia, p. 4; Lowe, "Private Journal," p. 23.

69. H.B.S., 6:390—91; Lowe, "Private Journal," pp. IA, 4, 6, 11, 45.

70. H.B.C.A., B.239/l/17, MS, p. 66; Lowe, "Private Journal," pp. 13, 27, 28, 29.

71. H.B.S., 7:314; Lowe, "Private Journal," pp. 22-23, 24, 26, 27, 31. 32, 33, 36; MacLeod, Letters of Letitia Hargrave, pp. 75 fn. 86.

72. H.B.S., 7:38 fn.; Lowe, "Private Journal," pp. 2, 7, 10, 11, 15, 33.

73. H.B.S., 6:150, 356, 357; H.B.S., 7:38 fn. and index; Lowe, "Private Journal," pp. 36, 37, 38, 43.

74. Lowe, "Private Journal," pp. 17, 23, 30.

75. Drury, Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, 2:159-60; Lowe, "Private Journal," pp. 4, 8, 10, 12, 16, 22, 33; Roberts, "The Round Hand of George B. Roberts," p. 206; Augustus J. Thibodo, "Diary of Dr. Augustus J. Thibodo of the Northwest Exploring Expedition, 1859," Pacific Northwest Quarterly 31 (July, 1940): 342; Warner and Munnick, Catholic Church Records, Vancouver II, pp. 40, 41, 56, 81.

76. H.B.S., 6:393-94; Lowe, "Private Journal," pp. 20, 25, 31, 34, 35.

77. H.B.S., 6:395-96; Lowe, "Private Journal," pp. 9, 10, 11, 12, 18, 21, 22, 30—31, 44.

78. Clifford Merrill Drury, ed., First White Women over the Rockies: Diaries, Letters, and Biographical Sketches of the Six Women of the Oregon Mission Who Made the Overland Journey in 1836 and 1838, 3 vols. (Glendale, California: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1963—1966), 2:266—67; H.B.S., 6:397-98; Lowe, "Private Journal," pp. 8, 11, 14, 23, 29, 30-31, 43; Sylvia Van Kirk, "Women and the Fur Trade," The Beaver Outfit 303, no. 3 (Winter, 1972): 14-18, 21; Warner and Munnick, Catholic Church Records, Vancouver II, p. 9.

79. James Robert Anderson, "Notes and Comments on Early Days and Events in British Columbia, Washington and Oregon, Including an Account of Sundry Happenings in San Francisco; Being the Memoirs of James Robert Anderson," typescript, in Provincial Archives of British Columbia, pp. 144-45; H.B.C.A., B.223/b/32, MS, fols. 86d-87; B.223/b/34, MS, fols. 15-29d; B.239/l/16, MS, p. 66; H.B.S., 7:318—20; Lowe, "Private Journal," pp. 8, 19, 29, 30, 31, 34, 35-36, 38, 40, 41, 45.

80. Lowe, "Private Journal," pp. 4, 10, 21.

81. H.B.C.A., D.5/10, MS, fol. 393d; MacLeod, Letters of Letitia Hargrave, p. 205 fn.

82. H.B.S., 7:320-21; Lowe, "Private Journal," pp. 18, 21, 26, 37, 42.

83. Lowe's journal entry for June 12, 1845, records the arrival of the interior brigade with the "family of the deceased Mr. McIntosh" who were "brought down to be left here." Thereby hangs a tale. John McIntosh, a part-Indian clerk who was described as "boastful and tactless," had long served in New Caledonia. On July 8, 1844, he was shot to death by a Sekanis Indian while tending his fish nets at McLeod's Lake during a time of famine. His wife, Charlotte Robertson, made secure both the fort and the Company's property, including the furs, before abandoning the place with her family and the only other male employee. The reason for her being taken to Fort Vancouver is not stated in records thus far examined, but evidently the Company felt an obligation to provide for her. Her children in June 1845 were: Archibald, age unknown; Catherine (Kitty), ca. 14 years; Donald, ca. 10 years; Elizabeth, age unknown; John, Jr., ca. 5 years; James aged 1 year, 7 months; and Julia, age unknown. In addition, there was Marie, ca. 2-1/2 years, the natural daughter of John McIntosh by Nancy, a woman of the Carrier tribe. Mrs. McIntosh was still at Fort Vancouver with several children in 1850. At that time she seems to have been living inside the fort, and perhaps had done so since 1845. At least two of the sons later entered the Company's service. H.B.C.A., D.5/12, MS, fols. 202-203d; Lowe, "Private Journal," p. 18; U.S., 7th Census, Population Schedules . . . 1850, Oregon, pp. 73, 74; Warner and Munnick, Catholic Church Records, p. A-54, and Vancouver II, pp. 60, 96, 107, 121, 127, 151.

84. For an account of the "superfine beaver hats," frock coats, figured vests, tweed trousers, buckskin trousers, shirts, shoes, and other articles of clothing, to say nothing of the tobacco, pipes, wines, whiskies, and "extract of roses," with which these gentlemen actually outfitted themselves at Vancouver, see, among other places, Archie Binns, Peter Skene Ogden: Fur Trader (Portland: Binfords & Mort, 1967), p. 305.

85. Charles Henry Carey, ed., "Diary of Reverend George Gary--III," Oregon Historical Quarterly 24 (September, 1923): 306-7.

86. This section on transient visitors is based largely on Lowe, "Private Journal," passim.

87. Br. & Am. Joint Comm., Papers, [2:]118-19.

88. D. H. Vinton to P. F. Smith, Fort Vancouver, October 1, 1849, in Br. & Am. Joint Comm., Papers, [9:]133.

89. Caywood, Final Report, p. 17, and Excavation Drawings, sheets 6 and 9.

90. Ibid.

91. Br. & Am. Joint Comm., Papers, [8:]86; Holmes, "Journal," 2:306.

92. Cowie, Company of Adventurers, p. 211.

93. Testimony of W. H. Gray, in Br. & Am. Joint Comm., Papers, [8:]181-82.

94. H.B.C., Account Books, Fort Vancouver, 1844-1845 [Abstract, Cost and Charges of Goods Received], H.B.C.A., B.223/d/158, MS, p. 120.

95. John McLoughlin to Angus McDonald, Vancouver, April 18, 1842, in Fort Vancouver, Correspondence Outward, Letters Signed by John McLoughlin, MSS, in Provincial Archives of British Columbia; Roderick Finlayson to John McLoughlin, Fort Victoria, June 25, 1845, in H.B.C.A., B.226/b/1, MS.

96. Br. & Am. Joint Comm., Papers, [8:]181-82.

97. Peter S. Ogden and James Douglas to [W. F.] Tolmie, Fort Vancouver, July 12, 1846, in Fort Vancouver, Correspondence Outward, 1845-1849, Letters Signed by Peter Skene Ogden and James Douglas, in Provincial Archives of British Columbia.

98. H.B.C., Fort Vancouver, Account Book, 1848-1849 [Columbia District Transfers, Outfit 1844], H.B.C.A., B.223/d/183a, MS, fol. 10.

99. H.B.C., Account Book, Fort Vancouver, 1852 [Invoices], H.B.C.A., B.223/d/205, MS, fol. 11d.

100. Charles Wilkes, Diary of Wilkes in the Northwest, ed. Edmond S. Meany (Seattle, 1926), p. 40.

101. Roberts, "The Round Hand of George B. Roberts," p. 224.

102. Peeps, "A Preliminary Survey of the Physical Structure of Fort Langley," p. 20.

103. Br. & Am. Joint Comm., Papers, [2:]118-19.

104. Gray, A History of Oregon, p. 150.

105. Pipes, "Extract from Exploration," p. 155.

106. Holmes, "Journal," 2:306.

107. Charles Wilkes, Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition during the Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842, 5 vols. (Philadelphia, 1845), 4:331.

108. Br. & Am. Joint Comm., Papers, [8:] 129.

109. D. H. Vinton to P. F. Smith, Fort Vancouver, October 1, 1849, in Br. & Am. Joint Comm., Papers, [9:]133.

110. Warre, "Travel and Sport in North America, 1839-1846," p. 137.

111. H.B.C.A., B.223/d/155, MS, fol. 86; H.B.C.A., B.223/d/160, MS, p. 145.

112. H.B.C.A., B.223/d/181, MS, fol. 84d.

113. Ballantyne, Hudson Bay, pp. 175-77.

114. Cowie, Company of Adventurers, pp. 102-3.

115. Robinson, Great Fur Land, pp. 96-97 102-3.

116. Ibid., pp. 45-47.

117. Wilkes, Narrative, 4:331.

118. Holmes, "Journal," 2:306.

119. Pipes, "Extract from Exploration," p. 155.

120. A. J. Allen, Ten Years in Oregon: Travels . . . of Dr. E. White and Lady, West of the Rocky Mountains (Ithaca, 1850), p. 65.

121. H.B.C.A., B.223/d/155, MS, p. 165.

122. H.B.C.A., B.223/d/160, MS, p. 145.

123. H.B.C.A., B.223/d/181, MS, fol. 84d. It is quite obvious that the forty "wooden Chairs w stuffed seats" were in the mess hall along with the two tablecloths described as for the "Hall." Because dwellings such as the Priests' House and any quarters that might have been in the Indian shop were probably covered by the inventory, it seems impossible to say which of the remaining/items were in the Bachelors' Range, though probably most were.

124. Lowe, "Private Journal," p. 50. For further information on Canadian stoves, see Hussey, Historic Furnishings Report, Bakery, Fort Vancouver, pp. 109-10. The same work also contains illustrations of typical tin candlesticks and chairs used in Canada during the early to mid-nineteenth century.

125. For a discussion of the baggage allowances of the various grades of "gentlemen,"see p. 138 in vol. I of this report. For a list of the number of cassettes actually transported for several clerks and officers on a transcontinental journey, see Edward Ermatinger, "Edward Ermatinger's York Factory Express Journal . . . 1827-1828," in Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, 3d ser., vol. 6, sect. 2 (1912), pp. 103—5.

126. McTavish, Behind the Palisades, p. 156.

127. Archibald McDonald, Peace River: A Canoe Voyage from Hudson's Bay to Pacific by the Late Sir George Simpson . . . in 1828: Journal of the Late Chief Factor, Archibald McDonald, (Hon. Hudson's Bay Company), Who Accompanied him, ed. Malcolm McLeod (Ottawa: J. Drurie & Son, 1872), p. 43. Cassettes evidently were manufactured at Fort Vancouver, because cassette hinges were among the items imported annually from England. These were iron butterfly hinges, each leaf of the larger size measuring 3.8" by 3.6". H.B.C.A., B.223/d/207, MS, pp. 86-87.

128. McDonald, Peace River (1872), p. 43.

129. Ibid. Evidently these baskets also contained, besides the food and seasonings, a teapot, a small tin kettle in which to boil tea water, a tin cup, two tin plates, two knives and forks, and two iron spoons. Thomas Gummersall Anderson, "Personal Narrative of Capt. Thomas G. Anderson," in Report and Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, vol. 9 (1880—1882), p. 139.

130. Edward Ermatinger, "Old Memo. Book & Journal of E. Ermatinger, 1823-1830," MS, item 1, vol. 4 of Edward Ermatinger Papers, MS Group 19, ser. A2(2), in Public Archives of Canada, n.p.

131. Anderson, "Personal Narrative," p. 139.

132. Cowie, Company of Adventurers, p. 116.

133. Edward Ermatinger to John Clowes, York Factory, July 27, 1828, in Edward Ermatinger, Business Papers, 1818-1833, MSS, vol. 5 of Edward Ermatinger Papers, in Public Archives of Canada, pp. 6-9.

134. Edward Ermatinger, "Old Memo. Book, n.p.

135. Dunn, Oregon Territory, pp. 104-5.

136. Wilkes, Narrative, 4:370.

137. Ballantyne, Hudson Bay, p. 196.

138. McTavish, Behind the Palisades, p. 28.

139. Farnham, Travels, p. 28.

140. Dunn, Oregon Territory, p. 103.

141. Roberts, "The Round Hand of George B. Roberts," p. 224.

142. H.B.C.A., B.223/d/155, MS, fol. 75d. This list is re produced as written, with no attempt to correct spelling or punctuation or to identify titles or editions, except as indicated in brackets. The inventory for 1848 lists even fewer titles but provides additional information on one item: "1 pr Globes, celestial & terrestral." H.B.C.A., B .22 3/d/181, MS, fol. 82.

143. H.B.C.A., B.223/d/207, MS, p. 110.

144. See "Books of the North: Old Books," The Beaver Outfit 288 (Winter, 1957): 60-61; C. E. L'Ami, "Priceless Books from Old Fur Trade Libraries," The Beaver Outfit 266 (December, 1935): 26-29, 66; "The Old Library of Fort Simpson," The Beaver 5, no. 1 (December, 1924): 20—21.

145. For examples, see McLeod, Letters of Letitia Hargrave, pp. xxxii, xxxiii, lxiii; Tolmie, Journals of William Fraser Tolmie, pp. 248, 251, 276.

146. The names of authors and titles are given as they appear in correspondence, articles, etc. No attempt has been made to correct spelling or to check for exact titles or dates of publication.