Could these posts be scaffolding posts used during the construction of the
building?  I have found scaffolding posts associated with brick chimneys and
houses and they do vary in size.  Your posts sound like they are a bit
larger, however.  For what its worth...
Susan C. Andrews
Wilbur Smith Associates
Lexington, Kentucky

----- Original Message -----
From: "Douglas C. Wilson" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, November 12, 2002 4:53 PM
Subject: Powder Magazine at Fort Vancouver


> Fort Vancouver National Historic Site in Vancouver, Washington (near
> Portland, Oregon) contains the remains of a 1829-1860 Hudson's Bay Company
> trading post, headquarters, and supply depot.  The park is currently
> researching the history and archaeology of the ca. 1832 powder magazine.
> The historical record identifies a magazine variously as a vaulted brick,
> brick and stone, or stone structure, about 18 ft. square.  Excavations in
> 1947 (Caywood) and 1972 (Hoffman and Ross) identified a foundation
composed
> of stone rubble and coral-derived lime placed in a shallow trench filled
> with silty clay.  Hoffman and Ross (1974:81) suggest that the foundation
> was made from a shallow trench, approximately 2 ft. wide, soaked with
> water, then filled with stone rubble mixed with coral lime. A large, flat
> stone laid and centered along the northern wall may represent a sill for a
> door. Bricks did not appear to be part of the foundation, but were
probably
> associated with the walls of the structure above.  These were almost all
> British statute-size bricks which are consistent with Gurke's (1982) Type
> 01 brick. Post casts were identified in the southeast (Feature 483) and
> northeast (Feature 491) corners of the rubble fill foundations.  The casts
> were 10 in. (25 cm) square and were excavated deep below the Magazine
> foundations (1.4 to 1.5 ft. [43-46 cm]).  Contrary to Caywood's (1947)
> findings, these features suggested squared timbers, and only a single cast
> was recorded in the southeast corner (as compared with the two post casts
> shown in Caywood's 1947: Plate 3).  There was very little wood found in
the
> casts.  Caywood's excavations previously identified posts in the northwest
> and southwest corners of the foundations.
>
> The function(s) of the posts on the outside edges of the stone foundation
> is unknown.  Does anyone have other examples of excavated small brick
> structures with post casts and have some good ideas on how these posts may
> have functioned?  We are also interested in brick bonding patterns, brick
> vaulting, flooring, roofing and other architectural details.  We have one
> image that shows that the structure had a pyramidal roof and there is some
> tenuous evidence for tin-shingled roofing (for fire-protection).  Other
> people's experience with archaeological or still-standing structures from
> the 18th or 19th centuries would be greatly appreciated.
>
> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
> Douglas C. Wilson, Ph.D.
> Archaeologist
> Vancouver National Historic Reserve
> Fort Vancouver National Historic Site
> 612 East Reserve Street
> Vancouver, Washington 98661
>
> Phone: (360) 696-7659 x24
> Fax:  (360) 696-7657
>