Fort Vancouver Historic Structures Report

History and location

Known as the "countinghouse," the "clerks' office," or, more generally, simply as the "office" until a second or "new" office was built in the late summer of 1845, the Old Office was one of the oldest structures within the stockade by the 1845-46 period. [1] In fact, a visitor of 1841 had described it as "old" at that time. [2]

Situated within the stockade lines of the fort as it was constructed in 1829, the office as an essential feature of district administration probably was erected at that time. Indeed, it may have been brought down piece by piece from the first fort site on the hill and reconstructed.

It stood a few yards from the east palisade wall of the 1829 fort and about seventy-five feet from the north wall. When the fort was doubled in size ca. 1836 by an expansion toward the east, the old east palisade of the 1829 post was demolished, leaving the office, the chapel, and a carpenter shop as an isolated row of buildings that divided the expanded enclosure into two courtyards (see Plate III, vol. I).

Archeologists have not yet excavated the site of the Old Office. "Considerable" testing was conducted in the vicinity during 1947-52, but no traces of footings were encountered. [3] Thus the exact outlines of the structure cannot be plotted at present, though the maps by Emmons and Vavasour permit the location to be fixed within close limits. The position of the Old Office is today known as Building No. 11 on the site plan of Fort Vancouver National Historic Site.

As is well documented by the Emmons, the "Line of Fire," and the Vavasour ground plans (Plates III, V, VI, vol. I) and by much other evidence, the countinghouse continued to stand well into 1846 and probably until 1847. But on August 8, 1845, an event occurred that marked the beginning of the end for the Old Office. Clerk Thomas Lowe noted in his diary that day: "Commenced building a new Office, in front of the bellfry [sic]." [4] There seems to be no record of when this New Office, as it was called, was completed, but it is known that it was habitable by late December 1845. [5]

Evidently it had been intended to move the accounting functions into the new structure as soon as it was finished and then to demolish the Old Office. But on November 29 the old structure got a reprieve. On that day Her Majesty's Sloop Modeste anchored off the fort for her second visit, and her captain, Commander the Honourable Thomas Baillie, was given quarters ashore in the New Office before the end of the next month. Thus, noted Lowe on June 18, 1846, "we cannot as yet move into it from the old one." [6]

The Old Office was listed in the inventory of 1846-47, but strangely enough it does not appear on the map by Richard Covington that is said to have been drawn in 1846 (Plate XIII, vol. I). [7] In fact, the old countinghouse cannot be found on any known map drawn later than 1845. It would appear, then, that the Old Office was torn down about the time of Captain Baillie's final departure from Fort Vancouver on May 3, 1847. [8]

Office operations. From information in earlier chapters of this report concerning the conduct of business in the Sale Shop, the ware houses, the Fur Store, and the Indian shop, it has been made evident that the management and operation of the Columbia District involved a vast amount of bookkeeping. Only by examining the work of the depot office, however, can the nature, importance, and sheer bulk of the records be truly comprehended.

The limits of this project have not permitted a detailed study of the Company's accounting system, but an examination of a fairly wide range of records in the search for data on the physical structure of Fort Vancouver has resulted in an impression that the bookkeeping was somewhat more complicated than described in available secondary sources. Having had absolutely no training or experience in accounting, the writer freely admits that he has not always been able to understand the nature or import of certain account entries. Thus the following description of the work of the depot clerks must be regarded merely as a preliminary sketch, and it is presented with considerable trepidation.

The various types of records maintained and processed by the clerks at Fort Vancouver can be roughly classed under the following headings:

a. Journals. The Standing Rules and Regulations of the Northern Department of Rupert's Land required that each district and each post maintain a "Journal of Occurrences," in which were recorded the principal happenings of each day, particularly such matters as how the men were occupied, the weather, arrivals of Indian trading parties or of employees from other posts, and construction of new buildings. This record was to be transmitted annually to the superintendent of the district along with a report "conveying every requisite information" concerning the state of the trade, with comparative statements of the closing and immediately preceding outfits, suggestions for the improvement of the business , and an "abstract" of the local Indian population. After the district manager had reviewed these documents, he forwarded them to the accountant at York Factory. [9]

Because no journals from Fort Vancouver are known to be extant, the notion has been advanced that Chief Factor McLoughlin was lax in this respect. [10] Clerk George B. Roberts, however, said that a journal was kept at Fort Vancouver and that for many years he personally was responsible for making the daily entries. Such work, he said, was the duty of the gentleman in charge of the out side work. [11] It may be assumed that a clean copy was made by the clerks in the office for transmittal to York Factory. Evidently four or even five copies were made of the annual reports or "despatches"--one to be retained at the post, one for the district headquarters, two to be sent overland to York Factory (one of which was forwarded to London), and one copy to be sent by the annual ship from Vancouver to London. [12]

b. Correspondence books. The Standing Rules and Regulations also required the clerks and officers in charge of each post and district to keep "correct copies" of all official correspondence. Letter books containing these copies were transmitted annually to the district headquarters and to York Factory. [13]

At small posts the clerk in charge generally wrote his own letters, often drafting each directly into a letter book that was kept at the post. The letter to be sent was then copied from the draft, and later a clean copy was made in a second letter book to be transmitted to headquarters.

Dr. Burt Brown Barker, who in 1940 acquired one of Dr. McLoughlin's letter books, believed that the usual procedure at a large post was for the writer to "communicate his ideas to a clerk who wrote them in the letter book and then transcribed them in letter form to go to the person addressed. The writer of the letter signed it." [14] At Fort Vancouver Dr. McLoughlin evidently operated in this manner, though he often wrote out the drafts in the letter book himself. [15]

Of course clean copies of the letters were later entered by the clerks into a second letter book that was forwarded to York Factory and eventually to London. A comparison of the only known extant original letter book made during Dr. McLoughlin's tenure as Columbia District manager with the clean copy in the Company's archives reveals that a fairly substantial number of letters, mostly of minor significance, were not reproduced in the book sent to York Factory. Also, there occasionally were material differences between the original letter book copies and those that reached London. The handwriting demonstrates that more than one clerk was involved in transcribing both the drafts and the clean copies. [16]

This use of clerks to copy Columbia District letters, particularly the annual reports, or "despatches," caused the Governor and Committee in London some concern, because they felt that such correspondence should "be open only to persons holding an interest in the business." Dr. McLoughlin did not promise any change in procedure when informed of this opinion, but he did reveal that he maintained a private letter book for sensitive correspondence. [17]

c. Inventories. When considering the various accounts kept in the depot office, perhaps the most logical place to start is with the inventories. When received from all the posts of the district, they permitted the superintendent to judge which goods traded well and which were in little demand, they helped him to estimate the types and quantities of goods that should be ordered from London for future operations, and they told him what trade articles and supplies were excess to the needs of each post and which were in short supply so that he could transfer the surpluses at one post to meet the shortages at another. [18]

The Northern Department's Standing Rules and Regulations provided that at the close of each business year, or outfit, every gentleman in charge of a post or district was required to furnish a priced inventory showing in detail all trade goods, country-made articles, and country produce remaining on hand, together with a list of the articles in use at each post, "distinguishing them according to their condition as Good, Half worn, much worn, also a list of Cattle or other live stock and the number of Acres in cultivation, and quantity of seed sown for the next crop with quantity reaped the preceding Summer." [19]

Although the inventories were generally labeled as having been taken in the spring of each year, and although in later years and at eastern posts the inventories seem actually to have been taken on May 31, the day each outfit closed, the realities of geography required that in places as distant from York Factory as the Columbia District the accounting be made much earlier, in time for the results to be carried eastward by the express that usually left Fort Vancouver each March. [20] At Fort Nisqually, four instance, the inventory was usually taken in January or February of each year, and a copy was sent off to the Columbia depot shortly thereafter. [21] At Fort Vancouver the inventory was begun still earlier. November or December was the usual time, but occasionally, as in 1846, the clerks started to take the depot inventory in September. [22]

Taking the inventory was an arduous task for the clerks. Isaac Cowie, at another post and at a later date, remembered working "from dawn to dark" until everything belonging to the Company was "weighed, messured and counted, both inside and outside the establishment." Once all the thousands of items were recorded in pencil, the list was taken to the office, where it fell to one of the clerks, "day and night," to recapitulate them in alphabetical order under the various headings, such as "Depot," "Sale Shop," "Fort Vancouver Indian Trade," etc. Then the items had to be priced, the total values calculated, and the whole entered in the post account book for the outfit. [23]

Further, the inventories from all the subordinate posts had to be checked and then copied to make up the district inventory. Copies were made four York Factory and evidently for London.

d. Indents. The gentleman in charge of each post submitted annually to the district superintendent a list of the goods, provisions, stationary, medicines, and other supplies that would be needed to operate his establishment for a year, exclusive of what the post itself could provide. These orders, requisitions, or indents, as they were variously called, were made out several years in advance.

The basis of the indent was the inventory four the previous outfit. To the amounts in that list were added all goods and pro visions received during the current outfit by invoices from the district depot, transfers from other posts, or local production. These amounts were the receipts. From them were deducted the items transferred to other posts or districts and the inventory for the current outfit. The remainder was the expenditure, which served as the general guide for making the requisitions for future outfits. Allowances were made for such contingencies as changes in taste on the part of the natives, unusual fluctuations in the numbers of furs available, and the need to meet increased competition. [24]

When these local indents from the posts and subdistricts (such as Colvile and New Caledonia) reached Fort Vancouver, the district manager examined and adjusted them in accordance with certain overall requirements and limitations. These requisitions were employed to form the "scheme indents" or "scheme books four outfits," which showed the goods necessary for district operations during the outfit under consideration. The "scheme," in turn, was the basis upon which the manager prepared the Columbia order, or requisition, for transmission to York Factory by the spring express. As has been explained previously, this requisition during the 1840s was sent about three and a half years in advance of the time the ordered goods would finally be employed in the trade. [25]

Some idea of how this process actually was conducted in the Fort Vancouver office may be gathered from the brief notes kept by Clerk Edward Ermatinger in a personal memoranda book. On January 12, 1828, he wrote, "Assisted the Doctor [Chief Factor John McLoughlin] 2 Days with Schemes for Outfits 28 & 29." Eleven days later he noted: "1st took Inv[entor]y of the Stationary provs. &c then worked out the Expenditure thereof--afterwards with the Doctor carried them thro' 3 Schemes four O's 28, 29, 30. . . . settled the order for Sales [Shop?], Fort Vancr. & New Cal[edonia]--a [?] Requisitions--in Scheme '31. . . ." On February 3 his entry included: "last week--2 days Classing the order according to the Tradesmens Bills-- then copied one Scheme for Ot 31 ready to enter the figures when completed--."

On March 2 Ermatinger reviewed his work for the preceding week: "Sunday employed copying the Order into Order Book . . . filled up the Order Scheme--valued the Order." Finally, seven days later, he noted: "last week . . . made a copy of the Order & finished it for Eng[lan]d." [26]

Needless to say, the lengthy annual requisitions were made out in several copies. Two went east with the spring express, one four the Northern Department accountant at York Factory and the other to be forwarded to London. Then, in the fall, an additional copy was sent to England in the vessel bearing the returns. [27]

e. Returns. As has been seen in Chapter II of this volume on the Indian Trade Shop, all furs and other returns received were first entered in a "blotter," a rough book that could be carried around by the clerk. At some posts, at any rate, these notations were later copied into a more permanent "day book." These records, in turn, formed the basis of the "fur receipt book," in which the pelts received were noted on double pages ruled into columns. Each column was headed by the name of a kind of skin, ranged alphabetically from badger to wolverine, with subcolumns for the size and condition. At the close of the outfit the furs in each column were totaled and checked against the number of pelts counted and packed for shipment. If the figures in the fur book did not agree with the actual returns, "there was a strict investigation." [28]

A copy of a consolidated version of this fur book, called a " statement of furs traded," or "returns--furs by kind," was forwarded by each post, including the Fort Vancouver Indian shop, to the Columbia headquarters, where all were again checked with the actual returns. [29] From these copies, consolidated statements of returns, invoices, and bills of lading were prepared for the home office.

f. Invoices, packing accounts, and bills of lading. When the annual ship from England landed its cargo, generally in March, a busy time began for the clerks. The incoming goods had to be checked against both the requisition and the invoices that accompanied the order. Then came the arduous task of "working out the cost landed of every article." [30] This labor seemingly resulted in a document called "Abstract, Cost & Charges of Goods Received," which, together with a detailed, priced list of the goods landed, was in due time sent off to London. [31]

Then, of course, there were invoices to prepare four all shipments of goods and supplies dispatched from the depot to the subordinate posts for the annual outfits or four other purposes. As has already been detailed in Chapter XII volume I, every shipment was accompanied by a packing account listing the contents of each bale, bundle, box, or other container. There may even have been a smaller list tucked into each bundle enumerating its contents.

Every cargo going by sea to London or to a foreign port was accompanied by a bill of lading that listed the contents. Those made out for the annual returns, for instance, listed the number of each kind of fur, the weight of such items as feathers and isinglass, and the number and type of damaged skins. Bills of lading were generally printed forms on which the particulars of each shipment were noted in ink. [32] Also accompanying the returns was an "Invoice of Furs and Peltries, Returns of the Columbia District, Outfit --- , which listed in detail the mark and contents of each bale, cask, keg, puncheon, and case. [33] In addition, a "Valuation of Furs, Returns of Columbia, Outfits --- ," which listed the numbers and types of skins, with their estimated values, was also prepared. [34]

g. Post and district accounts. Each post, subdistrict (such as New Caledonia and Colvile), and district maintained a complicated series of accounts to determine its annual profit our loss. [35] Of course the actual results could not be determined until the returns were auctioned in London--a process that could take several years-- but estimated or assigned values for the several types of skins were used for drawing tentative balances. Fort Vancouver, as an individual trading post, as a subdistrict headquarters (the Fort Vancouver Indian Trade), and as Columbia District depot and headquarters, was involved at all three accounting levels.

The types of accounts kept were so numerous that it would be impractical to list them all here. In fact, the writer would be unable to do so. Suffice it to say that in addition to the inventories, indents, statements of returns, invoices, and other records described above, the determination of the account between Fort Vancouver and the Company involved the keeping of records that included the following:

Servants' accounts. It has been seen that the officers, clerks, and "servants"of the Company were not paid in cash. At the end of each outfit the wages, gratuities, our, in the case of chief traders and chief factors, specified shares of the profits were credited to the accounts of every employee. Deducted from the income were items such as charges for clothing, blankets, extra provisions, and other articles purchased at the posts or depot; penalties for the careless loss of Company equipment, unauthorized granting of gratuities, etc ; drafts or bills authorizing payments to relatives in Canada or Britain, payments to London merchants, or for investments; and such miscellaneous charges as those for freight. Credit balances, when there were such, were retained in London, where they accumulated interest. Each year every employee received an individual statement of his account. [36]

As may be imagined, the preparation of these accounts involved a vast amount of bookkeeping, beginning at the trade shops of the individual posts and depots. These detailed accounts, called "Sales to Servants," were sent annually, in duplicate, to the district head quarters at Fort Vancouver along with other information needed to determine the balances. [37] It was the task of the clerks in the district office to reconcile all this data and to prepare summaries, or "abstracts," for shipment to York Factory with the spring express. [38]

This chore was not easy, as Edward Ermatinger's notebook reveals. On December 30, 1827, he recorded: "Began 1st abstract--Names, Parishes &c then the Balances with various other perplexing matters such as Snake Balances & Sailors Accts. --laid this job by four the present-- to be re-considered bye & bye--." [39]

The end products of this labor, evidently, were three account books known as "Abstract of Servants' Accounts," "District Statements 'A,'" and "District Statements 'B.'" These records, which between them detailed the name, place of origin, wages, occupation, years of service, balances, and other information about each employee in the district, provided important checks on expenditures for labor. As usual, copies were prepared for York Factory and London.

Transfer books. For one reason or another there amount of trade between posts and between districts. instance, pack cords were imported into New Caledonia was a fair At times, for from across the Rockies. Certain establishments produced agricultural surpluses of items, such as pickled salmon, which were sent to other posts, exported, or shipped to the depot for redistribution. Articles, produce, or services supplied or received in this manner were charged for or credited exactly as if the dealings had been with outsiders. Records of all such transactions were kept in local "Transfer Accounts, " copies of which were forwarded to Fort Vancouver for use in determining the profit and loss of both the individual posts and the district depot. [40]

At Fort Vancouver the transfer accounts were extensive, because not only supplies going to other posts were recorded, but also pro visions to the Company's shipping and a number of other business dealings. Charges were made four items such as milling flour for other establishments and four barrels produced in the depot cooper's shop and used for shipping flour or salmon, etc.

All of these transactions were summarized, or sometimes listed in detail, in two sets of books--"District Transfer 'A,'" and "District Transfer 'B.'" Again, copies went to both York Factory and London.

Miscellaneous. Other accounts mentioned in various sources include one for the receipt and expenditure of provisions at each post and at the depot. The outlays noted in these books were listed under headings such as "Officers' Mess," "Servants," "Voyaging," "Visitors," "Charity," etc, [41]

An annual "Expenditure Scheme" was prepared, as was a "Recapitulation of Book Debts." Then, of course, there were expected records such as the "Cash Account," "Bills Receivable," "Abstract of Accounts Current," "Accounts Current, " and several more.

Plainly, the Northern Department accountants at York Factory and the Governor and Committee in London, with these books before them, could analyze the operations of the fur trade in minute detail. And, when contemplating the number of these records, one can readily under stand why each fall a cart was used to haul the accounts going to London from the Old Office down to the wharf on the riverbank. [42]

h. Summary. Perhaps information was issued periodically by the Company specifying the types of accounts that were to be kept at the several levels of fur trade operations. But if any such explanations of the accounting system exist in the firm's archives, the writer has not yet encountered them. Governor George Simpson came close to providing such an overview in 1822 when he sent to the London directors a list of documents that he considered "of the most consequence four arranging the general accouncs of the Northern Department." [43] This very useful enumeration has been employed in preparing the material presented in this chapter, but it was not applicable in its entirety to the Columbia District, and it appears to have been obsolete in certain respects by the period of our chief interest.

Perhaps of more utility in understanding the work conducted in the Fort Vancouver office are two later lists. The first was prepared by James Douglas when he left John Kennedy in charge of Fort Taku on the Northwest Coast in 1840. "The following," he advised, "are the Accounts you have annually to furnish L to Fort Vancouver], vizt.

The second is a packet list itemizing the contents of "a box containing a copy of the Oregon Department accounts for Outfit 1858" forwarded "by Express to the Hudson's Bay House, London." The list was as follows:

A clerk's life. George B. Roberts, who had firsthand knowledge, later recalled that three clerks were generally employed in the Fort Vancouver office. [46] But as has been seen in Chapter IV on the Bachelors' Quarters, the clerks were so frequently transferred to other duties or to other posts that there was an almost constant fluctuation in the number of persons working in the office. Actually, during the mid-1840s there were only two men classified as bookkeepers or accountants at the depot, and one of them was absent for much of the year accompanying the accounts to York Factory and then returning with the fall express. Other clerks evidently were called in from their duties elsewhere about the depot to help with the "writing" when the occasion demanded.

Ordinarily, clerks entered the Company's service through the route of apprenticeship, engaging for a term of five years at an annual salary that started at £20 and could be increased gradually to a maximum of £50. Nearly all apprentice clerks came from Britain, where there was an excess of applicants for the few openings to be filled each year. Those accepted nearly always had some family connection with the firm or were sponsored by a director or other influential officer. [47]

According to Isaac Cowie, who started with the Company as an apprentice clerk in 1867, most of the recruits were well educated and knew something of accounting prior to their employment. But there were a few, "foisted into the service by family influence, " whose penmanship and spelling, to say nothing of bookkeeping, did not meet the firm's standards. Such persons were given old journals and records to copy until they learned the arts they should have acquired in school. [48]

That some such training took place in the Columbia District may be indicated by the fact that an account book in the Fort Nisqually Collection at the Huntington Library shows evidence of having been employed to practice handwriting. Blank pages are covered with phrases such as "Keep your crop clear of weeds and reap it in season, " "Honesty is the best policy," and "Oh Caledonia, stern and wild," repeated over and over. [49]

If an apprentice proved himself competent by the end of his five year engagement, he was eligible for promotion to the rank of clerk. Salaries of clerks could begin as low as L40 per annum and were raised with increased responsibilities to a maximum of L150. After a service of about thirteen or fourteen years a clerk could begin to anticipate pro motion to chief trader and a share of the Company's profits, but this entrance into the commissioned officer ranks was sometimes long in arriving, and for some it never came. [50]

Every attempt was made to see that only reliable and loyal clerks were permitted to work in the office. The Company desired that its affairs remain a closed book to the outside world, and it kept as much information from its employees as was reasonably possible. Thus in 1843 Governor Simpson reprimanded Dr. McLoughlin, saying, "Considering the circumstances under which Mr. [J. ] O'Brien was removed to Vancouver, he ought not to have been employed in the countinghouse, where he must necessarily have acquired more information connected with the details of our business than it is desirable a retiring clerk should possess." But as McLoughlin pointed out in reply, the chronic shortage of help made it necessary to employ whoever was available. [51]

This same paucity of personnel meant that the office clerks frequently were required to work long hours at the Columbia depot. At York Factory during the 1840s it was customary during the winter for the gentlemen to have breakfast at nine o'clock, after which the clerks applied themselves in the office until one, when dinner was served. After that meal, work at the desks continued until tea at six o clock, following which there was more writing until eight. The remainder of the evening was free. [52]

But in 1830 Chief Factor McLoughlin wrote that both officers and clerks at Fort Vancouver "Kept Constantly Employed from day light to Eleven at night." [53] A decade later conditions were not much better. "I do not believe that there is an office in Montreal that has so much to do as ours," wrote Clerk John McLoughlin, Jr. from Fort Vancouver to a friend: "We are in it from 1/2 past 6 in the morning till nine at night." [54] Two years later one of Clerk Dugald Mactavish's acquaintances reported that at the Columbia depot Dugald "begins work at 4 AM, & leaves off at 11 at night the whole year round." [55] What was more, even on supposedly free evenings McLoughlin would occasionally call the clerks back to copy letters or perform other chores. [56] Similarly, the imminent departure of a vessel or express would often mean that the clerks in the office would have to work all day on Saturdays and on holidays. [57]

There naturally was grumbling at these long hours. On December 13, 1849, Thomas Lowe noted in his journal, "I am suffering much from sore eyes brought on by working too much in the office by candlelight." [58] And perhaps the clerks suspected that sometimes there were other reasons for their confinement than the press of business, for Dr. McLoughlin once wrote that "most young men are ruined by not being kept busy."

In actuality, all was not work four the clerks, even for those in the office. On April 23, 1845, Thomas Lowe recorded that he had "left off going to the office after supper." [59] Lowe's journal reveals that during the summers the gentlemen were usually able to get away each day long enough for a "bath" in the river; and Friday and Saturday afternoons and Sundays were usually free for rides through the woods, for sailing, picnics, and hunting. One of the favorite sports was lassoing the beef cattle, long-horned brutes brought from California and as wild and dangerous as buffalo. Holidays in a country where most of the servants were Roman Catholics were not in frequent, and they were often marked by card parties, balls, and various types of excursions.

The Old Office as residence. It is known that the office included living quarters as early as 1833. In May of that year Dr. W. F. Tolmie noted in his journal: "Sat chatting with Mr. [Robert] Cowie [Chief Trader] last night in his apartments adjoining the office till nearly 11."[60]

On May 16, 1845, Apprentice Clerk Thomas Lowe, one of the depot "accountants," recorded in his diary: "I slept to night in the Office, having removed my quarters from Bachelors Hall to one of the rooms in the office." [61] But Lowe was temporarily evicted on August 27 after the arrival a day earlier of Chief Factor Peter Skene Ogden from Canada. "I slept in Mr. Grahame ' s room, Mr. Ogden occupying mine in the office, as all the others were full," Lowe noted in his journal. Two days later he recorded, "Sleep in the office to night, though Mr. Ogden is still there." Ogden left the next day for Fort George, but when he returned to the depot on September 9 Lowe wrote, "He slept in my room in the Office." [62] As has already been seen , Apprentice Postmaster William Sinclair "removed his quarters " from Bachelor's Hall to the Old Office on June 15, 1846, to make room for two visiting British naval officers. [63]

These entries do not make clear how many bedrooms were located in the Old Office structure. That there was one is certain, and the evidence seems to indicate that there was at least one more room that served as living quarters during emergencies. It is entirely possible, of course, that another clerk in addition to Lowe lived in the office on a permanent basis and that Lowe merely failed to mention him in his journal.

As far as is known, no married clerk was ever quartered in the Old Office at Fort Vancouver, but it is quite possible that visiting Company officers and their wives and children may have been housed there for short periods. For such family groups accommodations in the countinghouse were far from ideal.

Clerk Robert Clouston discovered this fact when he brought his bride to York Factory in 1849. As quarters he was assigned a room next to the office. In fact, his chamber and the office were heated by the same stove, which was placed in a hole cut in the wall between the two rooms. "During office hours," Clouston wrote his father-in-law, "there is nothing like privacy for in one room with the door shut, you can hear a pin drop in the other." The clerk asked to have the space around the stove "shut up" with sheet iron, but the request only produced from his superiors a "tirade about what people had to put up with formerly--and that 'the Company did not recognize families'--they were merely tolerated." [64]

Thomas Lowe. The only person who can be identified as a "permanent" resident in the office during Outfit 1845 was Thomas Lowe. Born on November 30, 1824, Lowe was the son of Dr. John Lowe of Coupar Angus, Perthshire, Scotland. He entered the service of the Hudson's Bay Company as an apprentice clerk during January 1841, and in August of that year he sailed in the firm's ship Vancouver for the Columbia River.

Upon reaching Honolulu, Lowe was upset at being abruptly ordered to transfer to the Cowlitz by Sir George Simpson, who was bound for Sitka in the latter vessel. The reason for the change became clear during the northward voyage, when Lowe found himself kept constantly busy reading to the Governor and acting as his amanuensis. His private journal kept during this period reveals Lowe to have been a well-educated and literate young man.

At Fort Durham (Taku), far up the present Alaska "panhandle," Lowe was left ashore as assistant to Dr. John Kennedy, the clerk in charge. But about a year later that post was closed and its staff moved to Vancouver Island. There, in 1843, nineteen-year-old Thomas Lowe witnessed the beginnings of Fort Victoria. Within a few days he set out with Chief Factor James Douglas for Fort Vancouver, where he arrived on June 15. The very next day Dr. McLoughlin put him to work in the office.

During Outfit 1845 young Lowe was still a bachelor. He did not marry Rose Birnie, daughter of retired Clerk James Birnie, until May 26, 1849.[65]

Lowe himself retired from the Company's service in 1850. He became a well-known merchant in Oregon City, San Francisco, and Victoria. In 1872 he returned to Scotland and lived there until his death in 1912.[66]

Construction details

a. Dimensions and footings. The Old Office scales out on the three versions of the Vavasour map of late 1845 as measuring thirty feet square. The 1846-47 inventory also gives the dimensions as thirty by thirty feet. [67]

These measurements cannot yet be confirmed by archeological findings, because during 1947-52 no traces were found of the footings of this structure despite "considerable testing " in its immediate vicinity. [68] The site has not yet been explored during the series of excavations being conducted during the early 1970s. Because of the rather remarkable unanimity of the historical sources, however, it is not likely that the footings, if eventually found, will reveal a structure which was other than about thirty feet square.

Although no footings have yet been found, it is possible to anticipate with some certainty that if they should be uncovered , there will be four on each wall, counting those at the ends in each case. Such a prediction is possible because the general design of the Old Office, as the structure is pictured in the Coode watercolor of 1846-47, clearly shows it to have been built in the Canadian style (Plates XI and XII, vol. I). Thus there almost surely was a footing at each ten-foot interval around the perimeter of the structure.

b. General construction. There are no known verbal descriptions of the Old Office, but fortunately it has a prominent place in the Coode watercolor. With the east and south sides of the building clearly pictured, it is possible to reach certain conclusions concerning its overall design.

First, the height of the eaves above the tops of the windows reveals the basic post-on-sill construction. Probably, however , this height was not actually as great as it appears to be in the Coode drawing. In that picture the walls of the Priests' House (second building from the right) are shown as rising the full height of a framed window above the tops of the windows. In actuality, however, the walls rose only about half a window height above the windows, as is proved by the 1860 photograph (building at extreme left in Plate XXVII, vol. I). If Coode's proportions were equally in error in his depiction of the Old Office, the walls were somewhat lower than he apparently shows them to have been. Very probably the proportions of the Old Office were much closer to those of the Fort Kamloops building sketched in Plate LVIII or of the office-like structure at York Factory shown at the extreme left in Plate LIX.

But the walls were sufficiently high to permit the usual garret above the ground floor. The Old Office was topped by a gable roof, the ridge of which ran north and south. If the Coode watercolor was reasonably accurate, the sills were at, or close to, the ground surface; or, if they were raised on blocks, the space between the sills and the ground was closed in with planks or timbers.

Walls. If the proportions of the Old Office were as surmised in the preceding section, the walls probably rose about ten or eleven feet above the sills to the tops of the plates. Of Canadian type construction, each wall undoubtedly contained three evenly-spaced bays. In such an old structure, the timbers probably were hand hewn. At the gable ends, the walls above the plates probably were formed of horizontal infill timbers.

There is no evidence that proves that the exterior of the Old Office was covered by weatherboards, but this probably was the case. It is known that the New Office, which succeeded the structure under discussion, was weatherboarded, and evidently that type of finish was traditional for important buildings such as chief factors' houses countinghouses, and sales shops. In all likelihood, the Old Office was finished on the outside much as was the small building at Fort Edmonton shown in Plate LX.

Roof. As the Coode watercolor clearly demonstrates, the Old Office had a gable roof, the ridge of which ran north and south. If the roof had been covered with boards, Coode's drawing probably would have shown some evidence of that fact. Therefore, it is likely, but not certain, that the roof was shingled. Incidentally, the shingles in the lower courses at Fort Vancouver do not seem to have been pointed as were those at many other posts.

Chimney. The Coode drawing shows a chimney rising above the ridge line of the Old Office, about midway between the north and south ends of the building. Whether this chimney was centered on the ridge line or situated a short distance west of it is not clear from the picture. The chimney is shown with a cap around its top, a fact that would appear to indicate brick rather than stone construction, although there can be no certainty on this point.

Doors. According to the Emmons ground plan of 1841, the Old Office had only one exterior door, and that was situated at the center of the west wall (Plate III, vol. I). Such an orientation could be expected of a structure built in that location during the period when the fort enclosure was about one hundred yards square. Although no picture of this door is known to exist, it is possible to speculate that it was of six-panel construction like those in the Bachelors' Quarters. It is also reasonable to assume, upon the basis of traditional Company construction, that there was a light or transom over the door.

Windows. The Coode watercolor shows three ground-floor windows in both the east and south walls of the Old Office. It is logical to assume that the pattern was repeated on the other two walls, resulting in three windows in the north wall and two windows and the central door in the west wall. In other words, each wall bay probably contained a centered opening.

The watercolor also depicts the windows in the south wall as being smaller than those in the east wall. It will be noted, however, that this same difference is shown in the windows of the New Office (the structure immediately to the right of the Old Office in Plate XII, vol. I), but in this latter instance, at least, it is highly probable that all the windows were the same size.

It is impossible to tell from the Coode watercolor whether the windows in the Old Office were of the casement type or double-hung. Very probably, however, the ground-floor windows were of the casement variety. They may even have been relics of Astoria. There were no shutters.

The Coode sketch also reveals that there were two garret windows on the south side of the Old Office. Very probably this same pattern was repeated on the north side. The frames of these windows rested on the plates. They quite likely were twelve-pane or nine-pane, side hinged windows much like the garret window shown in Plate LIX.

Exterior finish. As has been mentioned, it is quite likely that the exterior of the Old Office was weatherboarded. In the Coode watercolor the building is pictured as being brown in color, a much darker brown than the warehouses. The window trim is also dark brown. In the colored reproduction of the picture that appeared in the autumn, 1970, issue of The Beaver, the trim seems to be darker than the walls, but in the original copy painting in the Company's archives the trim is scarcely distinguishable from the walls.

The question thus arises, was the Old Office so dark in color because it was painted or merely because it had been exposed to the elements for such a long time? Apparently there is no way to answer this question from the historical data available. [69]

If this writer were to make a guess, it would be that the weatherboards were stained with a thin coat of Spanish brown paint, while the door and the door and window trim were painted the same color but more heavily. The window sash would have been painted white. The total appearance would have been much like that of the office-like structure at Fort Edmonton shown in Plate LX.

c. Interior finish and arrangement. Aside from the fact that the Old Office contained one or more bedrooms in addition to the office proper and that there was a garret, nothing certain is known concerning the interior room arrangement. It has been seen throughout this study, however, that there were often general architectural patterns that were common to Hudson's Bay Company posts across the entire continent. That is not to say that exact designs were repeated, but there seems to have been a consensus as to what constituted a proper warehouse or a proper manager's residence. Thus an office at one depot might be expected to bear some resemblance to a countinghouse at another. Fortunately, comparative data are available concerning offices.

At Fort William on Thunder Bay, off Lake Superior, for instance, the "Counting House," which measured about forty by fifty feet, was divided in front into one large room, twenty-five by fifty feet, across the rear of which opened four equal-sized cubicles. One front corner of the large room had been partitioned off to form a sixth room. [70] The basic pattern revealed in this case appears to have been one large room for the office proper with a number of smaller offices or bedrooms immediately adjoining.

Confirmation of this assumption is found in the layout of the countinghouse at Upper Fort Garry during the 1840s or thereabouts. And as usual it is former Clerk Robert M. Ballantyne who provides the classic description of this typical Company office:

Everyone knows the general appearance of a counting room. There are one or two peculiar features about such apartments that are quite unmistakable and very characteristic; and the counting-room at Fort Garry, although many hundred miles distant from other specimens of its race, and, from the peculiar circumstances of its position, not therefore likely to bear them much re semblance, possessed one or two features of similarity, in the shape of two large desks and several very tall stools besides sundry ink-bottles, rulers, books, and sheets of blotting-paper. But there were other implements there, savouring strongly of the backwoods and savage life, which merit more particular notice.

The room itself was small, and lighted by two little windows, which opened into the courtyard. The entire apartment was made of wood. The floor was of unpainted fir boards. The walls were of the same material, painted blue from the floor upwards to about three feet, where the blue was unceremoniously stopped short by a stripe of bright red, above which the somewhat fanciful decorator had laid on a coat of pale yellow; and the ceiling, by way of variety, was of a deep ochre. As the occupants of Red River office were, however, addicted to the use of tobacco and tallow candles, the original colour of the ceiling had vanished entirely, and that of the walls had considerably changed:

There were three doors in the room (besides the door of entrance), each opening into another apartment, where the three clerks were wont to court the favour of Morpheus after the labours of the day. No carpets graced the floors of any of these rooms, and with the exception of the paint aforementioned, no ornament whatever broke the pleasing uniformity of the scene. This was compensated, however, to some extent by several scarlet sashes, bright-coloured shot-belts, and gay portions of winter costume peculiar to the country, which depended from sundry nails in the bedroom walls; and as the three doors always stood open, these objects, together with one or two fowling-pieces and canoe-paddles, formed quite a brilliant and highly suggestive back ground to the otherwise sombre picture. A large open fireplace stood in one corner of the room, devoid of a grate, and so constructed that large logs of wood might be piled up on end to any extent. And really the fires made in this manner, and in this individual fireplace were exquisite beyond description. . . . The billets are usually piled up on end, so that the flames rise and twine round them with a fierce intensity that causes them to crack and sputter cheerfully, sending innumerable sparks of fire into the room, and throwing out a rich glow of brilliant light that warms a man even to look at it, and renders candles quite unnecessary. [71]

Upon the basis of these precedents, one may venture a hypothesis that the Old Office at Fort Vancouver was laid out as follows: The one outside door, in the west wall, gave entrance to the office proper, a room about fifteen by thirty feet that occupied the entire west half of the ground floor. Three doors in the east wall of this room opened into three cubicles, each about ten by fifteen feet, ranged side by side. Also on this east wall, perhaps somewhat north of center, was a fireplace. Somewhere in the office proper a stairway led to the garret, which probably could be closed off by a trapdoor. Very likely the garret was used for the storage of the voluminous old post and district records.

Although the room arrangement must remain a matter of speculation, there does exist a certain amount of firm historical information concerning the interior finish. The Company's inventory of 1846-47 does not list the Old Office among the structures that were "lined & ceiled," but W. H. Gray, describing the fort buildings as he first saw them in 1836, said that the floors were mostly rough boards, except for those in "the office and the governor's house, which were planed." [72] It is highly improbable that a structure graced by the rare planed floors would not have been lined and ceiled. Another witness, J. W. Nesmith, who arrived in 1843, later testified that he thought the office was ceiled. [73] Thus there is every reason for believing that the Old Office was included among the "dwelling houses and some other buildings" that Thomas Lowe later swore were "ceiled with tongued and grooved dressed boards." [74]

In fact, it is quite likely that the office proper, at least, was finished in the same style as was the Big House, with vertical fir siding, chair rail, and perhaps very small, square moldings at floor and ceiling. The bedrooms may have lacked the trim.

There is no firm evidence that the interior was painted. It has been seen, however, that office interiors so treated were not unknown at the Company's posts. J. W. Nesmith said of McLoughlin's house and the office: "They, I think, were ceiled and painted." [75] Un fortunately he did not indicate whether the paint was on the inside or outside, and it is possible that he had the New Office in mind when making this statement.

Heating arrangements. On October 30, 1845, Clerk Thomas Lowe noted in his journal: "Had a fire in the Office to day, for the first time this year." [76] This entry confirms what the chimney, already described, makes evident--that the Old Office was heated either by a stove or a fireplace--but it does not say which.

As will be observed from the data presented in the next main division of this chapter, the office inventories for 1844 and 1845 (the furnishings of the office seem not to have been listed separately in 1846 and 1847) make no mention of stoves, though they do include "1 pair fire Tongs." No stove appears in the inventories of articles in use in the office until 1848, and that list, of course, pertained to the New Office, an entirely different structure.

It seems fairly clear, therefore, that the Old Office was heated by a fireplace. Because of the structure's early date, the fireplace could very well have been built of rough local stones of random size. In such case the exterior probably would have been plastered. Such a fireplace undoubtedly would have looked much more like those depicted in Plates XLIII and XLIV than the more elaborate one illustrated in Plate LXI. Of course, if the chimney was of brick the fireplace could have been also, in which case there may have been a simple mantel.

Furnishings

a. General remarks--bedrooms. Rather detailed annual inventories of "articles in use," plus supplementary information available in a variety of sources, provide a quite satisfactory basis for refurnishing the office proper. Strangely, however, the inventories include no beds, "washhand Basins," "E. Ware Jugs," or other items associated with living quarters.

One is left to assume that the bedrooms in the Old Office were among the apartments inventoried under the heading "Bachelors Hall & No 1, 2, 3, 4, 5" already noted in Chapter IV on the Bachelors' Quarters. Or, because the number of articles listed under that heading appear to have been little more than sufficient to furnish the Bachelors' Quarters adequately, the sleeping apartments in the office may have been overlooked. The Fort Vancouver inventories appear at times to have some unaccountable lapses.

At any rate, it is hardly necessary to discuss here the furnishings in the rooms of the clerks at Fort Vancouver. This topic has already been adequately treated in Chapter IV, while the quotation from Ballantyne in this chapter links the general description to the particular circumstances associated with quarters attached to an office. When reading Ballantyne, however one should bear in mind that canoe paddles would not normally have been among the sporting paraphernalia of an employee at the Columbia depot, because by 1845-46 canoes were seldom used west of the Rockies except by natives. [77]

b. Office proper--furniture and equipment. The logical place to begin a discussion of the office furnishings appears to be the annual inventories, although as will be realized, these lists apparently were not complete. The Fort Vancouver Depot inventory taken in the spring of 1844 contained the following list under the general heading "Articles in Use":

In a different section of the same 1844 inventory of "Articles in Use" appears the following list:

There is no indication in the inventory that these mathematical and surveying instruments were physically situated in the office, but such a location seems logical. Thus the list is included here for what it may be worth.

The list of "Articles in Use" in the office made during the spring of 1845 is much like that of 1844, but there are enough differences to make its reproduction worthwhile:

The major contribution of the 1845 list, of course, is the inclusion of three desks. The omission of these important items from the 1844 inventory is difficult to explain. The 1845 inventory also contains a list of "Mathematical Instruments," but except for spelling and punctuation it is identical with that of 1844, and there thus seems to be no reason to reproduce it here. But a section headed "Nautical Instruments" may be of interest, although, as with the "Mathematical Instruments," there is no indication that these valuable articles were housed in the Old Office:

The inventories of 1846 and 1847 do not appear to contain lists of articles in use in the office, but as usual the inventory made during the spring of 1848 is quite detailed in this respect. Of course the office inventoried in 1848 was the New Office and not the Old Office, but a number of the items appear to have been the same ones that were listed in 1844 and 1845. Clearly, they had merely been shifted over to the new building.

This 1848 list is highly instructive. Several items appearing thereon, such as the stove and the additional tables, were almost certainly new acquisitions required for the larger structure. But it is difficult to see how the Old Office functioned without such articles as candlesticks, penknives, and snuffers, which were not mentioned in 1844 and 1845 but which appear in the 1848 inventory. Other items, such as the iron cash box and the case of scales and weights, may or may not have been present in the Old Office. For these reasons the New Office inventory of 1848 is presented as a part of this discussion of the Old Office:

Before attempting to make a summary of the information provided by these inventories, it seems desirable to discuss certain items in the lists as well as certain others not included in the inventories but that are known from other sources to have been either surely or probably present in the Old Office. In roughly alphabetical order, they are as follows:

Bookcase. As has been seen in Chapter IV on the Bachelors' Quarters, a "large Book Case" from Astoria probably was utilized at Fort Vancouver from 1825 to 1860. As was also discussed in that chapter, this book case very probably housed the "Library" of the Company-owned books at the depot. The titles of those books are known.

It was suggested in Chapter IV that this bookcase and the depot library may have been located with the employee-owned subscription library, possibly in the Bachelors' Quarters. It is quite as likely, however, that the Company's books may have been placed in the office in the bookcase listed in the inventories. In fact, this listed bookcase may have been the very one that was a relic of the early American post at the mouth of the Columbia. And if so, it may some day be identified and returned to the reconstructed Old Office.

It should also be recognized, however, that it evidently was not unusual for offices at the Company's establishments to contain book cases, sometimes rather crudely made, for the storage of journals, letter books, and account books of various types. For a photograph of such a case at Fort Chipewyan, see Plate LXII. That the bookcase in the Old Office may have been for this latter use possibly is indicated by the words of Clerk Thomas Lowe, who wrote in his journal on August 20, 1845, that he was "busy arranging the old Books and papers in the office."83 In actuality, given the meagerness of the evidence, any decision as to the type and contents of the bookcase in the Old Office will be purely guesswork.

Book press. In his diary for August 20, 1845, Lowe mentioned that he had spent time "getting the Book Press repaired." [84] It will have been noted that the office inventories reproduced earlier mention no such article, yet there clearly was one in the depot and almost surely in the office, because that apparently was where Lowe was making things tidy on that day.

Exactly what sort of a device Lowe's "Book Press" was is not clear, but perhaps it resembled the small book or letter press illustrated in Plate LXI.

Cash box. Although it is sometimes believed that a safe now on display in the visitor center at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site was employed at the Columbia depot during the period of Dr. McLoughlin s service as manager, there apparently is no valid evidence to support such a notion. This writer has examined a number of inventories for 1846 and prior years, and no mention of a safe can be found. In fact, not even a strongbox is listed until the inventory of 1848, when "1 cast iron cash Box" is reported as being in the New Office ( as has been mentioned, there seem to be no office inventories for 1846 and 1847).

Yet it seems likely that there was a strongbox of some type at the fort by 1845-46. Although coin and gold dust figured little in Columbia District trade until the California gold rush, there probably was often a certain amount on hand that required safekeeping. A strong box may have been kept in the Chief Factor's residence and may even have been his personal property, because none appears on the inventories of Company-owned articles prior to 1848.

At McLoughlin House National Historic Site in Oregon City there is a small strongbox, or safe, that is said to have belonged to Dr. McLoughlin at the fort. This writer is not aware of the basis for this identification, but the box is here mentioned as a possible subject for further study. What may be this same item, labeled "Dr. John McLoughlin's safe and strong box," is pictured on the first page of a pamphlet entitled Souvenir Book, Historical Story of the Hudson's Bay Company and Old Fort Vancouver (published in Vancouver, Washington, 1925). A copy of this booklet may be found in the Provincial Archives of British Columbia in Victoria.

Another possible model for a strongbox to be exhibited at Fort Vancouver is a small iron chest on display in the British Columbia Maritime Museum in Victoria. Identified as a Hudson's Bay Company "Strong Box," it is 20-1/8 inches long, 14-3/8 inches wide, and 14-1/8 inches high. It is black in color and has handles at each end and a lock on the hinged top. [85]

Desks. The inventories give no hint as to the design of the desks in the office, but based upon the custom of the time it seems reasonably safe to assume that they were the high, long-legged, slant-top desks of the type almost universally employed in British countinghouses. A desk of this sort is in the restored and refurnished office at Lower Fort Garry. [86]

Maps. In March 1844, when making out his indent for Outfit 1847 to be shipped in 1845, McLoughlin ordered six Arrowsmith maps of North America and two of South America. [87] Although the intended use of these maps is, of course, not mentioned in the requisition, it is not beyond reason to imagine that at least one of each type was designed for use at the depot. And in what more logical place could they have been hung than in the office, where officers and clerks kept track of the district's far-flung operations? Additional copies perhaps were in the manager's personal office in his residence. It is possible that the maps ordered in 1844 were available at Fort Vancouver during the spring of 1846, because it was not unusual to break into the reserve outfit for special items.

Scales. Early in 1841 the Governor and Committee in London became worried by reports that a large number of counterfeit Spanish and Mexican coins had been sent to the Pacific region to be passed off at the establishments of the Hudson's Bay Company and the Russian American Company. "In taking dollars in payment for goods," they warned Governor Simpson on March 1, "it will be necessary to examine the coins with great attention" and to weigh them. For this purpose they forwarded three "sets of scales and weights (troy)," one of which was directed to Fort Vancouver. [88]

The writer has not been able to examine all the invoices or lists of Columbia imports to see when, or if, these scales were received, but perhaps they constituted the "1 case brass Scales and Weights 1 oz to 1/2 grain" listed in the 1848 office inventory.

Stools. Robert Ballantyne described the stools in the office at Upper Fort Garry as "very tall." [89] Undoubtedly the stools in the office at Fort Vancouver were also of this traditional type. In fact , the listing of stools in the inventories is an additional argument for believing that the desks were also tall.

Summary. An examination of the available evidence leads to the conclusion that the Old Office could well have contained the following items of furniture and equipment during Outfit 1845:

c. Office proper--account books, stationery, and supplies. In order to restore the interior of the Old Office to an approximation of its appearance in 1845-46, more will be needed than merely furniture and equipment. Account books of various types should be open on the desks and filed on shelves much as shown in Plate LXII. Sheets of blotting paper and letter paper should be scattered about on desks and tables as if the clerks had just dropped their work at the sound of the dinner bell. A few printed forms in French and English for employee "engagements" or contracts and printed bill of lading forms might well be in evidence. And of course such supplies as pencils, pens, "pink office tape," colored wafers, red sealing wax, India rubber, and ink powder should be conveniently at hand.

Long lists of stationery and supplies might be reproduced here from various indents and lists of imports, but they would add little, if anything, to the inventory of "Stationary" on hand at the Fort Vancouver Depot in the spring of 1844 that is reproduced on pages 279-80 of volume I of this study. That list contains many more items than could possibly be obtained and exhibited in the restored Old Office.

While the inventories give reasonably good information concerning the types and sizes of stationery employed in the Columbia District, determining the actual appearance of these papers and obtaining specimens for display will be difficult. In 1844 the stationery for the Columbia District was purchased from the firm of Burrup & Blight in London, and penknives were obtained from George Lowcock. [90] It is possible that these firms or their successors are still in business and may be able to provide information. And, of course, examples of correspondence in the Company's archives may be examined with a view to determining if the papers can be duplicated.

The account books are a still more difficult matter. As has been seen in the earlier sections of this chapter, there were many different types of blotters, cash accounts, journals, letter books, and other record books kept at Fort Vancouver. If surviving examples from both the Columbia depot and other posts are representative, these books differed considerably in size and ranged from mere assemblages of paper sheets roughly stitched together to form a volume, sometimes with heavier paper covers and sometimes not, to large leather-bound ledgers elaborately stamped with the Company's arms.

In an attempt to provide curators with something more helpful than this generalized characterization, there follows descriptive information concerning several types of Company ledgers and account books drawn from personal observation and a variety of documentary sources:

Journals. No original Fort Vancouver "Journal of Occurrences" is known to survive, but many from other posts are still in existence. The best place to observe them, of course, is the Hudson's Bay Company Archives, although a number exist in repositories closer at hand. For example, sixteen volumes of the Fort Nisqually journal, 1833-70, are in the Huntington Library. Taking several at random, volume 9 (1852-54) is a bound ledger, measuring 8 inches by 12-1/2 inches by 1/2 inch. It has a stiff, marbled—paper cover, with a binding of red leather at the spine; the outer corners are guarded by triangles of red leather. A label on the inside of the front cover reads:

Burrup, Son &. Blight
Stationers and Account Book Manufacturers
12 East Front, Royal Exchange, London

Volume 2 (1835-36) is the same type and size, but it is only about 1/4 inch thick, and there is no leather at the corners. Volume 3 (1836-37) is about 3/8 inch thick and has black leather at the spine and no leather at the corners. Volume 5 (1846-47) has red leather at the binding edge and no corner protection. Most of the Nisqually ledgers and account books have white paper labels pasted on the outsides of the front covers, and the titles of the volumes are hand written on these labels in ink.

The original "Fort Kamloops Journal, August 3, 1841-December 19, 1843," kept by John Tod, is preserved in the Provincial Archives of British Columbia. It measures 12-1/2 inches by 7-3/4 inches and has stiff, marbled-paper covers with a calf back strip and corner angles. A label reveals that it was obtained from "Blight & Burrup, Stationers, 56. Lombard St., London."

Letter books. The only original letter book actually kept at Fort Vancouver That is known to have survived is now preserved in the Oregon Historical Society, Portland. It covers the period 1829-32. It is said to be "leather-bound" and of foolscap size. [91] Copies of the Fort Vancouver letter books are to be found in the Hudson's Bay Company Archives.

Inventory books. Sometimes listed in indents as 1 quire (24-25 sheets), but more usually 3-1/2 or 4 quires. [92]

Indents. As has been seen, the preparation of the annual district indent or requisition evidently required at least two different books:

(1) Columbia scheme books. On at least one occasion invoiced as being "38 Sheets s[uper] fine imperial sewed stiff M. C. [marble-covered] hot pressed"; also listed at times simply as "1-1/2 quires [38 sheets]." [93] But two "Scheme Books" requisitioned for Outfit 1838 were described as "10 sheets impt. [impl.?] ft [faint] x [ruled? ]." [94]

(2) Columbia indent books. Generally described in inventories and invoices as "3/4 quire demy. ruled." [95]

Fur invoice books. Ordered as 3/4 quire, sometimes 3/8 quire. Store invoice books. Ordered as 3 quires.

Servants' account books. Several of these books kept at Fort Nisqually can be seen at the Huntington Library. They are bound ledgers, 8 inches by 11-1/2 inches by 3/8 inch, with stiff marbled-paper covers and red leather at the spine. These apparently were different from the Servants' fur trade bill books that appear in certain inventories. [96]

Abstract of accounts or abstract books. Evidently these books ordinarily came in a 2-quire size, but books of 1-1/2 and 4 quires were also used. At times sheets of paper for these accounts were ordered separately (unbound), as "1 quire Imperial quarto Paper ruled & printed pr abstract of accounts." [97]

District statements "A". Ordered in both 1-quire and 2-quire sizes, occasionally described as one quire, S[uper] fine demy." Sometimes books were ordered of only twelve sheets, "demy, ft [faint] x [ruled?]." [98]

District statements "B". Ordered in both 1/2-quire and 1-quire sizes, as, for example, "1/2 quire, S. fine demy." [99]

Accounts current, Columbia District. Usually 1-1/2 quires, but sometimes 1-1/4 quires.

Transfers "A" and Transfers "B". Not much information about these books appears in the Fort Vancouver indents and inventories, but evidently books of three quires were employed at York Factory, at least on occasion. [100] Perhaps stock blank ledgers were used for this purpose at Fort Vancouver.

Memoranda books. Listed as "Basil Memorandum Books," or sometimes as "Bound Basil Octavo, 1/3 quire," or "Octo. Mema. Books." [101]

Shop accounts. What evidently are examples of this type of book are to be found in the Fort Nisqually Collection in the Huntington Library, under the heading "Indian Accounts. " They measure 8 inches by 11-1/2 inches by 3/8 inch, and have stiff marbled-paper covers with red leather at the spine. Other account books in the same collection, also evidently kept in the shop, have the same dimensions, but there is no leather on the marbled covers; some merely have covers of plain heavy paper.

Engagement_register. In 1838 an order was sent to London from Fort Vancouver for the following: "1 Engagement Register 9 quires Sr fine medium bound in rough calf Russia banded and shod printed & ruled according to Pattern sheet in Packet Box--Alphabet letters on vellum outside the edge of sheet, Lettered on the Back 'Columbia Engagement Register' Company's Arms on the side." [102]

Ledgers. There were several other specific types of account books that apparently were ordered from London by the several districts, but it is not certain that they were used in the Columbia District. And at any rate, very little is known about them by this writer.

Evidently such volumes were sometimes printed and ruled for the types of accounts to be recorded.

On the other hand, the Columbia indents frequently called for general ledgers identified merely as "Books." rhese came in a variety of types and sizes, and evidently the clerks had to rule the columns according to the needs of the business at hand. [103]

The multiplicity of these "books" is illustrated by the following selection of entries from several requisitions. Prices and quantities have been omitted, and there may be some duplication:

Books Bound Basil octavo 1/3 quire
       Bound Basil octavo 1/4 quire
       Bound Russia Octavo 1/2 quire
       Bound Calf Folio 6 quire
       Bound Calf Folio 4 quire
       Bound Calf Folio 3 quire
       Bound Calf Folio 2 quire
       Bound Calf Folio 1 quire
       Bound Calf Quarto 2 quire
       Bound Calf Quarto 1 quire
       Bound Half Royal 1-1/2 quire
       Bound Half Folio 4 quire
       Bound Half Foolscap 6 quire
       Bound Half Foolscap 4 quire
       Bound Half Foolscap 3 quire
       Bound Half Foolscap 2 quire
       Bound Half Foolscap 1-1/2 quire
       Bound R. R. 4 quire
       Bound R. R. 3 quire
       Bound R. R. 2 quire
       Bound R. R. 1-1/2 quire
       Bound Mar[ble] Covd. Folio 1 quire
       Bound Mar[ble] Covd. Folio 3/4 quire
       Bound Mar[ble] Covd. Folio 1/2 quire
       Bound Mar[ble] Covd. Folio 1/4 quire
       Bound Mar[ble] Covd. Foolscap 1 quire
       Bound Mar[ble] Covd. Foolscap 3/4 quire
       Bound Mar[ble] Covd. Foolscap 1/2 quire
       Bound Mar[ble] Covd. Foolscap 1/4 quire
       Bound Mar[ble] Covd. Quarto 1/2 quire
       Bound Mar[ble] Covd. Quarto 1/4 quire [104]

       Demy 6 Quire Books calf bound
       Demy 1 Quire Books half bound calf back
       Demy 3/4 Quire Books half bound calf back
       Demy 1/2 Quire Books half bound calf back [105]

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Recommendations

a. It is suggested that the entire site of the Old Office be excavated, and with great care, because even the footings may have been removed when the building was demolished in or about 1847 In that case the imprints of the footings might still be evident. The location of the chimney is an important question that may be answered through archeology.

b. It is recommended that the Old Office be rebuilt in accordance with the construction data supplied in the body of this chapter. The following detailed suggestions are made:

(1) It will make little difference whether the wall timbers are hewn or sawed, because they will be covered inside and out by boards (except for the interior of the garret, which probably will not be open to visitors).

(2) It is suggested that the exteriors of the walls be covered by weatherboards.

(3) It is recommended that the roof be shingled with hand split, drawknife-finished shakes, with about six inches exposed to the weather.

(4) The chimney probably was of brick, but its base could have been either brick or stone. Archeology may throw light on this question. If the base is of brick, the fireplace should have a simple mantel similar to that shown in Plate LXI. If the base is of stone, the fireplace should be designed as suggested in the main text.

(5) In the Coode watercolor the windows on the south side of the Old Office appear to be evenly spaced but smaller than those on the east wall. However, if the main interior partition touched the north and south walls at or about their midpoints, the windows on those walls could not have been evenly spaced as Canadian-style buildings ordinarily were constructed. Archeology may be of assistance on this point by revealing the location of the chimney, which evidently was at this partition. If the chimney base is not found, it is recommended that the partition be placed at the midpoints and that the locations and sizes of the windows be adjusted accordingly. There were no shutters.

(6) It is recommended that the windows be of the casement type, similar to those on the Priests' House as shown in the 1860 photograph.

c. The weatherboards on the exterior should either be left unpainted or given a thinned coat of Spanish brown paint. The door and the door and window trim should be painted Spanish brown and the window sash white.

d. The interior walls should be lined with vertical fir boards, random width, tongued and grooved, with beaded edges. The ceiling should be lined with similar boards, perhaps without beaded edges. In the office proper a chair rail and a small square finish strip at floor and ceiling would be in order. The floor was of planed boards.

e. It is suggested that the ground floor of the Old Office be completely refurnished and exhibited. It is suggested that only two of the small rooms at the rear be furnished as bedrooms; the third might contain a table, chair, and other items of the inventoried furnishings to form a separate office that might have been used by one of the chief factors. There is evidence that McLoughlin and Douglas occasionally transacted business in the office.

1. For examples of uses of these names, see Beaver, Reports and Letters, p. 11; Emmons, "Journal," 3: entry for July 25, 1841 (Plate III, vol. I); and Lowe, "Private Journal," pp. 16, 17.

2. Holmes, "Journal," 2:305.

3. Caywood, Final Report, p. 13.

4. Lowe, "Private Journal," p. 21.

5. Ibid., p. 31.

6. Ibid., pp. 30, 31, 42. Certain other sources give the date of the Modeste's arrival as November 30, 1845. Perhaps the discrepancy is due to the difference between land and sea time. See, for example, Barry M. Gough, The Royal Navy and the Northwest Coast of North America, 1810-1914: A Study of British Maritime Ascendancy (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1971), p. 74.

7. For the date, see H.B.S., 7: map opp. p. 48.

8. Gough, Royal Navy and the Northwest Coast, p. 82. Un fortunately, Lowe was absent from the depot for a number of weeks prior to Baillie's departure, and thus there is no available day-by-day record of events at the post during what was a critical period as far as the fort's physical structure is concerned.

9. "Minutes of the Council of the Northern Department," pp. 849-50.

10. Barker, Letters of Dr. John McLoughlin, p. 348. There are several documents classified as Fort Vancouver "journals" in the Company's archives, but they are largely journals of expeditions; not one is a "journal of occurrences."

11. Roberts, "The Round Hand of George B. Roberts," p. 185.

12. Barker, Letters of Dr. John McLoughlin, p. 348.

13. "Minutes of the Council of the Northern Department," pp. 849-50.

14. Barker, Letters of Dr. John McLoughlin, p. 348.

15. Ibid., p. ii.

16. Ibid., pp. i-ii.

17. H.B.S., 4:157 fn., 177-78.

18. Barker, Letters of Dr. John McLoughlin, p. 339.

19. "Minutes of the Council of the Northern Department," p. 850.

20. Cowie, Company of Adventurers, p. 280.

21. Fort Nisqually, Annual Accounts, MSS, vols. I and II, passim, in Fort Nisqually Collection, Huntington Library. At Fort Colvile, which was directly on the express route and where an accountant from Fort Vancouver generally made the final closing of the Columbia accounts, the outfit seems to have ended in April, at least during certain years. David H. Chance, Influences of the Hudson's Bay Company on the Native Cultures of the Colvile District, Northwest Anthropological Research Notes, Memoir no. 2 (Moscow, Idaho: University of Idaho, 1973), p. 52.

22. Lowe, "Private Journal," pp. 9-10, 49-50.

23. Cowie, Company of Adventurers, pp. 280-81.

26. Ermatinger, "Old Memo. Book," n.p. Presumably the order, or requisition, that Ermatinger copied four England was that for Outfit 1831, prepared from the "Scheme '31" mentioned by him. However, this writer has not examined the original requisition for 1831 to see when it was signed. It is known that the requisition for Outfit 1833 was prepared during March 1830, about three and a half years in advance, but the writer is not sure that goods were ordered that far ahead in 1828. Such could have been the case, because even by then McLoughlin was planning to have always on hand a year's stock in advance. H.B.S., 4:56.

24. Ibid., pp. 104-5.

25. Barker, Letters of Dr. John McLoughlin, p. 337; H.B.S., 3:388.

27. Barker, Letters of Dr. John McLoughlin, p. 337.

28. Cowie, Company out Adventurers, p. 225.

29. Fort Nisqually, Annual Accounts, 1834-1836, MSS, 2 vols., in Fort Nisqually Collection, Huntington Library; James Douglas to John Kennedy, "Fort Tako," July 22, 1840, typescript, in Fort Vancouver, Correspondence Outward, July 13, 1840-May 24, 1841, Letters Signed by James Douglas, in Provincial Archives of British Columbia.

30. McTavish, Behind the Palisades, p. 37.

31. For an example, see H.B.C., Account Book, Fort Vancouver, 1845-1846, H.B.C.A., B.223/d/161, MS, pp. 6—54.

32. Four examples see H.B.C.A., B.2 23/z/4, MS, n.p.

33. For an example, see H.B.C.A., B.223/d/154, MS, fols. 2d-6.

34. For an example, see H.B.C.A., B.223/d/212, MS, fol. 94.

35. Cowie, Company of Adventurers, pp. 226-27.

36. Ibid., p. 104; Evidently interest was only paid on balances exceeding £10. H.B.S., 3:387.

37. James Douglas to John Kennedy, "Fort Tako," July 22, 1840, in Fort Vancouver, Correspondence Outward, July 13, 1840-May 24, 1841, Letters Signed by James Douglas, in Provincial Archives of British Columbia.

38. Actually, the final closing of the Columbia District accounts was done at Fort Colvile, where a clerk from Fort Vancouver spent several days incorporating data from New Caledonia, the Snake Country, and other outposts that could not reach Fort Vancouver prior to the departure of the express. George T. Allan, "Journal of a Voyage from Fort Vancouver . . . to York Factory, March 22-July 14, 1841," type script, in Provincial Archives of British Columbia, p. 2; Wallace John McLean's Notes, pp. 190-91.

39. Ermatinger, "Old Memo. Book," n.p.

40. James Douglas to John Kennedy, "Fort Tako," July 22, 1840, in Fort Vancouver, Correspondence Outward, July 13, 1840-May 24, 1841, Letters Signed by James Douglas, in Provincial Archives of British Columbia.

41. Cowie, Company of Adventurers, p. 225.

42. Lowe, "Private Journal," p. 9.

43. H.B.S., 3:387-88.

44. James Douglas to John Kennedy, "Fort Tako," July 22, 1840, in Fort Vancouver, Correspondence Outward, July 13, 1840-May 24, 1841, Letters Signed by James Douglas, in Provincial Archives of British Columbia.

45. James A. Grahame to George Simpson, Vancouver, July 20, 1859, in H.B.C.A., A.11/71, MS, fols. 979-981. By 1859 the old Columbia District had long been discontinued, and the posts south of the 49th parallel constituted the new Oregon Department.

46. Roberts, "The Round Hand of George B. Roberts," p. 197.

47. Barker, Letters of Dr. John McLoughlin, p. 344; Cowie, Company of Adventurers, pp. 75-76.

48. Cowie Company of Adventurers, pp. 227-28.

49. Fort Nisqually Settlers' Accounts, Feb. 1842-Jan. 1843, MSS, in Fort Nisqually Collection, Huntington Library, pp. 18, 20, 21, 25. There is some indication that these exercises were written in 1847 by Charles Ross. If so, the writer may not have been a clerk but a son of Chief Trader Charles Ross who died in Victoria in 1844.

50. Barker, Letters of Dr. John McLoughlin, p. 344.

51. H.B.S., 6:163 and 163 fn.

52. Ballantyne, Hudson Bay, p. 136.

53. Barker, Letters of Dr. John McLoughlin, p. 164.

54. Burt Brown Barker, The McLoughlin Empire and Its Rulers, Doctor John McLoughlin, Doctor David McLoughlin, Marie Louise (Sister St. Henry): An Account of Their Personal Lives, and of Their Parents , Relatives and Children; in Canada's Quebec Province, in Paris, France, and in the West of the Hudson's Bay Company (Glendale, California: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1959), p. 245.

55. McLeod, Letters of Letitia Hargrave, p. 123; Duflot de Mofras who visited Fort Vancouver in 1841, said that the clerks assembled at their desks at 7:00 A.M. and worked until 9:00 P.M., "save for the time necessary for meals." Pipes, Extract from Exploration," p. 155.

56. Tolmie, Journals of William Fraser Tolmie, p. 177.

57. Lowe, "Private Journal," p. 16.

58. Ibid., p. 69.

59. Ibid., p. 16.

60. Tolmie, Journals of William Fraser Tolmie, p. 173.

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

62. Ibid., pp. 22-24.

63. Ibid., p. 42.

64. Robert Clouston to Donald Ross, York Factory, September 28, 1849, in Robert Clouston, Correspondence to 1849, MSS, in Ross Papers, Provincial Archives of British Columbia.

65. Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria, B.C., Parish Register, Marriages, 1837-1872, P. 6.

66. Except where otherwise indicated, this sketch of Lowe's life is based on J. R. Anderson, "Notes and Comments," p. 103; H.B.S., 6:393; H.B. S., 29:187-88; John T. Walbran, British Columbia Coast Names, 1592-1906, . . . Their Origin and History (reprint ed., Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1972), pp. 306-7.

67. H.B.C.A., B.2 23/z/5, MS, fol. 265.

68. Caywood, Final Report, p. 13.

69. J. W. Nesmith, an emigrant of 1843, later testified that he thought the office was painted, but it is not clear whether he was referring to the Old or New Office. Br. & Am. Joint Comm., Papers, [9:]23, 34.

70. R. L. Moffat, del., Plan of Fort William, 1803-1820, As Reproduced from Lord Selkirk's Original Sketch of 1816, processed map (n.p. : McIntosh & Associates, February 1962). Until 1821 Fort William was a North West Company Post, but the architectural style was that adopted by the Hudson's Bay Company.

71. Ballantyne, Young Fur-Traders, pp. 31-32.

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

73. Br. & Am. Joint Comm., Papers [9:]23, 34.

74. Ibid., [2:]33

75. Ibid., [9:]34.

76. Lowe, "Private Journal," pp. 28-29.

77. In 1844 the Fort Vancouver farm inventory included one "North West" canoe and two "Cheenook" canoes, but by 1845 there were no canoes listed as belonging to the depot. H.B.C.A., B.223/d/155, MS, p. 168; B.223/d/160, MS, p. 147. The Company ordinarily used boats and bateaux in its business in the Far West, but when canoes were required, as occasionally was the case, they and the men to handle them were generally hired from the natives. Evidently the canoe continued in more common use in New Caledonia.

78. H.B.C.A., B.223/d/155, MS, p. 148.

79. H.B.C.A., B.223/d/155, MS, p. 157.

80. H.B.C.A., B.223/d/160, MS, p. 140.

81. H.B.C.A., B.223/d/160, MS, p. 133.

82. H.B.C.A., B.223/d/181, MS, pp. 162-63.

83. Lowe, "Private Journal," p. 22.

84. Ibid.

85. Visit to British Columbia Maritime Museum, May 6, 1973.

86. Visit to Lower Fort Carry National Historic Park, October 4, 1970.

87. H.B.C.A., B.223/d/207, MS, fol. 142.

88. H.B.C.A., D.5/6, MS, fols. 71-71d.

89. Ballantyne, Young Fur-Traders, p. 31.

90. H.B.C., Merchandise Exported, 1842-1854, H.B.C.A., A.25/7, MS, fols. 22d—26.

91. Barker, Letters of Dr. John McLoughlin, pp. i, 348.

92. H.B.C.A., B.239/m/13, MS.

93. H.B.C.A., B.223/d/207, MS, fol. 142.

94. H.B.C.A., B.239/n/71, MS, fol. 162. For further data see p. 279 in vol. I of this report.

95. H.B.C.A., B.223/d/181, MS, p. 80; B.223/d/207, MS, fol. 142.

96. H.B.C.A., B.223/d/181, MS, p. 80.

97. Ibid.; B.223/d/161, MS, p. 32; B.223/d/207, MS, fol. 142d.

98. H.B.C.A., B.223/d/181, MS, p. 80; B.239/m/13, MS; B.239/n/71, MS, fol. 162.

99. H.B.C.A., B.223/d/207, MS, fol. 142.

100. H.B.C.A., B.239/m/13, MS.

101. H.B.C.A., B.239/m/13, MS; B.239/n/71, MS, fol. 162.

102. H.B.C.A., B.223/d/207, MS, p. 63.

103. Cowie, Company of Adventurers, p. 225. Cowie said that the ledgers came ruled horizontally only, so that the clerks had to rule the columns.

104. H.B.C.A., B.239/m/13, MS.

105. H.B.C.A., B.239/n/71, MS, fol. 162.

106. H.B.C.A., B.223/d/181, MS, p. 80.