-PLEASE READ THE RULES BEFORE HEADING OUT FOR THIS BOX-
The Hudson's Bay Company's Fort Vancouver was a surprising place: it was a headquarters and primary supply depot for fur trading operations, but employed more people at agriculture than any other activity. It was a large corporate monopoly that kept order and stability by employing many different ethnic groups. It was a British establishment, but the primary languages were Canadian French and Chinook Jargon. It represented British territorial interests, yet made American settlement in the Pacific Northwest possible. Even those who wished it gone praised the hospitality and assistance they found there.
The subsequent U.S. Army post at the site - known as Columbia Barracks, Fort Vancouver, or Vancouver Barracks depending on the era - was equally surprising. Its goal was to provide for peaceful American settlement of the Oregon Country, yet it did so, in part, by battling and dispossessing the native American Indian inhabitants. For more than 150 years it housed and supported thousands of soldiers and their families, yet it also incarcerated American Indian families and Italian prisoners of war.
Helping visitors make personal connections to the people, places, stories and collections represented at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site is a major goal of National Park staff and volunteers. Click on the picture above and it will link you to a site so you can learn more about this historic location.
Locate the gazebo on the grounds of the General's Quarters. Look under the steps for the box.