Visit to Fort Vancouver National Historical Reserve

Drove back into Portland and visited the Fort Vancouver National Historical Reserve which has served the area for almost 200 years. Strategically located on the Columbia River, the fort provided a means of support and supplies for trappers and settlers. The fort, in it’s prime, boasted of supporting over 800 people and had many buildings.  The main objective of the Hudson Bay Company was to provide skins, specifically beaver, for the making of the popular top hat.

Fort's walls and the Bastian (never had to fire canons)

Infirmary and the blacksmith shop to the left

The Hudson Bay Company served present day areas of Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia in supplying trappers from as far north as Russian Alaska to the Mexican California territory.  By 1860 the fort was abandoned and the US Army took up residence and the fort had a continuous presence until just after World War 2.  Many functions have served the area - a spruce mill for building airplanes in World War 1, shipbuilding, an airstrip, training of the Army, and establishment of a hospital which would eventually become the Veterans Hospital of Vancouver of today.  Some notable people have passed through the Army fort - Ulysses S.Grant, George McClellan, Phillip Sheridan, George Marshall.  And of course, John McLoughlin (Father of Oregon) was the first chief factor (head) when the fort was built before he retired and moved to Oregon City.

The warehouse where furs were processed and bundled for shipping

Actual furs - the round ones in front are beaver pelts

Hospital dispensary

The infirmary

Blacksmith shop

The ovens for baking

The well and Bachelor quarters

Chief Factor's house

Children's room - love the flip up beds

Only men ate here - 3 meals a day - were  business meals -
women and children ate in different room.

Vibrant colors

This sampler is original - made in 1845

Because the buildings were made of wood ‘back then,’ within 30 years most of the striations had rotted away.  The Park Service has done excavation of the HBC fort and has many documents and artifacts and by 1947 the process of reconstructing the HBC fort began.  Journals, diaries, and much more were used to replicate the fort as if we were visiting it in 1845.  Pretty neat.

Lovely gardens

The original fort had over 8 acres of gardens that provided fresh fruit, vegetables, and herbs.  A small sample was planted and the variety of what we saw in the garden made me feel nostalgic for my days as a Master Gardner back in Ohio.