Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Fort Vancouver...

Sometimes, you come upon the unexpected.

That's what happened to me yesterday. I had an appointment in the morning and, upon finishing with that, decided to drive north to Vancouver, Washington. Now, ask me why I went to Vancouver? Hell, I don't know; seemed like the thing to do at the time.

Actually, I'd hoped to meet up with a buddy for lunch but, for whatever reason, I wasn't able to leave him a voicemail. His phone just kept dropping out. So, since I wasn't going to be having lunch with my buddy, I decided to follow the advice another friend had send me in a text, and go check out Fort Vancouver. I didn't have the 5D or the 40D with me, so the trusty Canon G12 would get the nod:

The entrance to Fort Vancouver...
 
Fort Vancouver wasn't a fort in the traditional sense, as it wasn't built for the Army to have a forward, yet protected, presence in the Pacific Northwest. It was originally built by the Hudson Bay Company in 1824, as an outpost to facilitate trade. In June of 1860, HBC abandoned the fort, and the fort was immediately taken over by the US Army. It contains a large parcel; some 166 acres, and contains a number of facilities, including the US Army's Pearson Field:

The hangar at Pearson Field...

The hangar at Pearson Field...
 
Most of the fort burned to the ground in 1866.What stands now is a reconstruction of the fort that burned. Materials and techniques used in the 19th century were used to build what now stands.

This is where furs were stored. It now houses the Fort Vancouver Archaeological Laboratory...

Fort Vancouver had only one guard tower...

The "Counting Room"...

Some of the buildings within the ramparts of Fort Vancouver...

Since this fort is a recreation of the original, I figured I'd recreate an old photograph of Fort Vancouver...

The Chief Factor's (Manager) house...

One of the recreated buildings within the rampart walls...

The "Bake House"...

Fort Vancouver remains an active archaeological site...

Inside the laboratory...
 
The National Park Service assumed responsibility for the fort in 2012, which ended Fort Vancouver's reign as the US Army's longest continuing operation west of the Mississippi River.

Fort Vancouver is also the site of what's believed to be the largest fireworks display west of the Mississippi River. In 2008, the display featured over 5,400 shells, and it lasted for over half an hour.

Today, volunteers and docents take visitors back into the mid 19th century to try to convey what life was like here, on the Columbia River, 150 years ago:

This is Carpenter Tom Holloway. The block of Maple he's holding will soon become a potato masher...

The Carpenter Shop at Fort Vancouver...

For me, Fort Vancouver simply solidifies my position that there are things to see; very cool things, right here in our own backyard. Everyone loves to travel, but not everyone knows that the trip doesn't have to be a long one. Fort Vancouver sits a whopping 15 minutes or so north of Portland, just over the Columbia River.

How hard is that?

2 comments:

  1. Thanks very much for stopping by, Steve, for taking the photos, and for posting them. Anyone wanting to know more could do a Google search on "Fort Vancouver National Historic Site" if this URL gets filtered out: .
    And for some more bits an pieces on the history of the place you could check out my blog, Fur Fort Fun Facts
    But nothing beats a personal visit to the real thing.
    Tom Holloway, carpenter shop volunteer

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tom, thanks so much for taking time yesterday. A truly cool experience, and I hope you got that potato masher made!

    ReplyDelete

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