FORT VANCOUVER The History of Fort Vancouver and its Physical Structure

¹Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 124.

²John Scouler, "Dr. John Scouler's Journal of a Voyage to N. W. America," in Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, VI (June, 1905), 174.

³It is understood that an unpublished report by Governor Simpson for the year 1826/27 contains descriptive matter concerning Fort Vancouver. J. Chadwick Brooks to J. A. Hussey, London, January 21, 1948.

⁴Scouler, "Journal," in Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, VI (June, 1905), 174.

⁵For descriptions of Fort George see Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, XIX (December, 1918), plate opposite p. 271; XXXVIII (December, 1937), 414-417.

⁶Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 122-124. In the possession of the Vancouver Historical Society, Vancouver, Washington, is an old Hudson's Bay Company flag—white with the arms of the Company painted on it in colors—which, it has long been claimed, was used at the dedication of Fort Vancouver in 1825. The documentation on this point, however, is not all that could be desired. Oregon Historical Quarterly, XXXIX (September, 1938), 327. (See plate XXXIX).

⁷Hubert Howe Bancroft, History of the Northwest Coast (2 vols., San Francisco, 1886), II, 324.

⁸David Douglas, Journal Kept by David Douglas During His Travels in North America 1823-1827... (London, 1914), 107.

⁹Governor and Committee to G. Simpson, London, February 23, 1826, in Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 266.

¹⁰Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 122-123.

¹¹G. Simpson to J. McLoughlin, March 10, 1825, as quoted in H. B. S., III, xxxv; H. B. S., IV, lii-liii. McLoughlin's extended powers were later confirmed by a resolution of the Council for the Northern Department.

¹²Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 122. A valuable picture of the freighting operations is given in Nellie B. Pipes, ed., "The Journal of John Work, March 21-May 14, 1825," in Oregon Historical Quarterly, XLV (June, 1944), 138-146.

¹³J. McLoughlin to Governor and Committee, Fort Vancouver, October 6, 1825, in H. B. S., IV, 5-6.

¹⁴Scouler, "Journal," in Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, VI (September, 1905), 277.

¹⁵S. A. Clarke, Pioneer Days of Oregon History (2 vols., Portland, Ore., 1905), I, 184-185; Clinton A. Snowden, History of Washington; the Rise and Progress of an American State (4 vols., New York, 1904), I, 477.

¹⁶J. McLoughlin to Governor and Committee, Fort Vancouver, October 6, 1825, in H. B. S., IV, 1-5, 21; Governor and Committee to G. Simpson, London, June 2, 1824, in Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 210.

¹⁷J. McLoughlin to Governor and Committee, Fort Vancouver, October 6, 1825, in H. B. S., IV, 1-11.

¹⁸Douglas, Journal, 106-107, 152.

¹⁹H. B. S., IV, 32.

²⁰Ibid., lv-lvi.

²¹Ibid., lxxiii.

²²J. S. Smith, D. E. Jackson, W. L. Sublette to J. H. Eaton, St. Louis, October 29, 1830, in 21 Cong., 2 Sess., Senate, Ex. Doc. No. 39, pp. 21-23. Smith's statement regarding the armament is interesting in view of the fact that two years before his visit the fort is known to have had two 18-pound cannon. The Fort Vancouver inventory for 1826 listed the following items of artillery as being "in use": 2 carronades, "9 pdrs. p. William & Ann"; 2 18-pound guns with carriages; 4 6-pound guns with carriages; 4 4-pound guns with carriages; 7 iron swivels; 2 wall pieces; 1 iron cohorn; and 2 brass 1/2-pounders. Donald H. Clark, "Iron Interpreters," in The Beaver, outfit 285 (September, 1954), 51.

²³This account of crop raising at Fort Vancouver is based largely upon contemporary letters, to be found in the following sources: H. B. S., IV, 31, 44, 50-51, 66-67; Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 270, 291, 301; 21 Cong., 2 Sess., Senate, Ex. Doc. No. 39, p. 22. See also "Copy of a Document Found among the Private Papers of the Late Dr. John McLoughlin," in Transactions of the . . . Oregon Pioneer Association; for 1880, 46; Scouler, "Journal," in Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, VI (September, 1905), 174.

²⁴21 Cong., 2 Sess., Senate, Ex. Doc. No. 39, p. 22; J. R. Cardwell, "The First Fruits of the Land. A Brief History of Early Horticulture in Oregon," in Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, VII (March, 1906), 28.

²⁵Narcissa Whitman, "A Journey Across the Plains in 1836. Journal of Mrs. Marcus Whitman," in Transactions of the . . . Oregon Pioneer Association for 1891, 63.

²⁶See Bancroft, History of the Northwest Coast, II, 441.

²⁷H. Bingham to J. Everts, February 16, 1829, in George Verne Blue, "Green's Missionary Report on Oregon, 1829," in Oregon Historical Quarterly, XXX (September, 1929), 264-265.

²⁸For a short biography of Lieut. Simpson, see H. B. S., III, 454-455.

²⁹See sources cited in note 23 above; also Hagen, Report, appendix, 48; J. McLoughlin to [J. McLeod?], Fort Vancouver, March 1, 1833, in Washington Historical Quarterly, II (January, 1908), 167-168.

³⁰H. B. S., III, lxiv, 106, 115-116; H. B. S., IV, liv; Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, p. 76, note 133.

³¹Governor and Committee to G. Simpson, February 23, 1826, in Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 266.

³²H. B. S., III, 145.

³³Ibid., 187.

³⁴H. B. S., III, passim; Oliver, The Canadian North-West, I, 637-688; II, 689-871.

³⁵Oliver, The Canadian North-West, II, 809, 846.

³⁶G. Simpson to the Manager, Russian American Company, March 20, 1829, as quoted in H. B. S., IV, liv.

³⁷G. Simpson to H. U. Addington, London, January 5, 1826, in Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 264-266. It should be borne in mind that in this letter Simpson was giving the government material to be used in the boundary negotiations, and he probably magnified the case for the Columbia and against the Fraser to suit the requirements of the occasion.

³⁸Governor and Committee to G. Simpson, London, February 23, 1826, in Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 267.

³⁹H. B. S., IV, lix.

⁴⁰H. B. S., III, lxv-lxvi; H. B. S., IV, lviii.

⁴¹Governor and Committee to G. Simpson, London, January 16, 1828, in Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 294-295.

⁴²H. B. S., IV, lvi; Winther, The Great Northwest, 62.

⁴³H. B. S., IV, lxv; see also H. B. S., III, lxvi-lxviii.

⁴⁴H. B. S., III, lxix.

⁴⁵H. B. S., IV, lxviii-lxix; see also H. B. S., III, 448-450; and Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 88-89.

⁴⁶H. B. S., IV, lxviii-lxix; Winther, The Great Northwest, 70-71.

⁴⁷Oregon Spectator (Oregon City), June 25, 1846.

⁴⁸This sketch of the coastal trade is based almost entirely upon H. B. S., III, lxix-lxxi; H. B. S., IV, lxix-lxxiv, 29, 61-62.

⁴⁹H. B. S., III, lxix.

⁵⁰Bancroft, History of the Northwest Coast, II, 476-483; H. B. S., IV, 43-44, 53; Robie L. Reid, "Early Days at Old Fort Langley," in British Columbia Historical Quarterly, I (April, 1937), 71-85.

⁵¹J. McLoughlin to Governor and Committee, Fort Vancouver, October 6, 1825, in H. B. S., IV, 16.

⁵²Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 267.

⁵³J. McLoughlin to Governor and Committee, Fort Vancouver, September 1, 1826, in H. B. S., IV, 37.

⁵⁴H. B. S., IV, lxxiii, 54.

⁵⁵Ibid., xciii; Winther, The Great Northwest, 83-84.

⁵⁶H. B. S., IV, xcii; Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 298.

⁵⁷H. B. S., IV, xciii, 77.

⁵⁸J. McLoughlin to G. Simpson, Fort Vancouver, March 20, 1827, in Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 291.

⁵⁹H. Bingham to J. Everts, February 16, 1829, in Oregon Historical Quarterly, XXX, 264-265.

⁶⁰A. G. Harvey, "David Douglas in British Columbia," in British Columbia Historical Quarterly, IV (October, 1940), 221-243. Accompanying Douglas to the Columbia in the William and Ann was Dr. John Scouler, surgeon of the vessel. He, too, was a botanist, but his chief interest was the fauna of the region. Before the ship sailed for England in the fall, Scouler made two visits to Fort Vancouver, and upon his final departure he recorded in his journal his obligation to "every individual connected with the establishment" for the kind and polite reception he had received. Since he was on the Company's payroll, however, he can scarcely be described as a visitor.

⁶¹Douglas, Journal, 242. For a biography of Douglas, with an extensive account of his work in the Northwest, see Athelstan George Harvey, Plant Explorer: Douglas of the Firs: A Biography of David Douglas, Botanist (Cambridge, Mass., 1947).

⁶²J. S. Smith, D. E. Jackson, W. L. Sublette to J. H. Eaton, St. Louis, October 29, 1830, in 21 Cong., 2 Sess., Senate, Ex. Doc. No. 39, pp. 21-23. For the story of Jedediah Smith and his stay at Fort Vancouver, see H. B. S., IV, 68-70, and the authorities cited therein. A good account of the incident is in Francis A. Wiley, Jedediah Smith in the West (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of California, Berkeley, 1941). See also Dale L. Morgan, Jedediah Smith and the Opening of the West (Indianapolis and New York, 1953), 267-289.

⁶³For a journal of this journey see Archibald McDonald, Peace River, A Canoe Voyage from Hudson's Bay to the Pacific by the Late Sir George Simpson . . . in 1828: A Journal of the Late Chief Factor, Archibald McDonald . . . (Ottawa, 1872).

⁶⁴Hagen, Report, appendix, 48-49; see also H. B. S., IV, lxxv; and Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 229-301.

⁶⁵G. Simpson to J. McLoughlin, Fort Vancouver, March 15, 1829, in Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 308.

⁶⁶Ibid., 308-310.

⁶⁷H. B. S., III, lxxi; Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 311-312, 313-317.

⁶⁸H. B. S., IV, lix.

⁶⁹J. McLoughlin to Governor and Committee, Fort Vancouver, October 6, 1825, in H. B. S., IV, 21.

⁷⁰H. B. S., IV, 35-36, 39.

⁷¹Clarke, Pioneer Days of Oregon History, I, 182-183.

⁷²Wilkes, Narrative, IV, 335.

⁷³Ibid.; Emmons, "Extracts from the Emmons Journal," in Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, XXVI (September, 1925), 269.

⁷⁴War Department, Surgeon-General's Office, A Report on Barracks and Hospitals, with Descriptions of Military Posts (Circular No. 4, Washington, 1870), 421.

⁷⁵J. S. Smith, D. E. Jackson, W. L. Sublette to J. H. Eaton, St. Louis, October 29, 1830, in 21 Cong., 2 Sess., Senate, Ex. Doc. No. 39, pp. 21-23.

⁷⁶The fate of the old fort on the hill remains somewhat in doubt. Probably some of the buildings were dismantled and reconstructed on the new site. Titian R. Peale, who visited Fort Vancouver with the Wilkes Expedition, later testified that no trace of the old fort was visible in 1841. Br. & Am. Joint Comm., Papers, [IX], 345-346. On the other hand, Dr. H. A. Tuzo, Hudson's Bay medical officer at Vancouver, swore that some remains could still be seen at the time of his arrival at the post in 1853. Ibid., [II], 177-178.