CAROLINE D. CARLEY the social, cultural, and economic center of the (Hussey 19572). In addition to the established fort proper, a Historical and Archaeological village for employees, called Kanaka Village, grew up southwest of the stockaded quarters, Evidence of 19th Century stores, and warehouses. South of this village, Fever Epidemics and Medicine another cluster of structures was established. Referred to today as the Riverside Complex, at Hudson’s Bay Company’s this group of buildings near the riverbank in- cluded boat sheds, a cooper’s shop, a hospital, tan pits, and several domestic dwellings. ABSTRACT The Riverside Complex was discovered on a narrow stretch of land between a major state During the Hudson’s Bay Company’s occupation of highway and a railroad embankment during Fort Vancouver in the , fevers in excavations of 45CL300 in the summers of epidemic proportions occurred intermittently through- 1974, 1975, and 1977. The projects were out the late 1820s and early 1830s, severely affecting the Company’s employees, operations, and aboriginal funded by the State Highway population. Department, through the Office of Public Evidence of these epidemics has been found in the Archaeology at the University of Washington. archaeological record of a little known complex associ- The features and artifacts recovered indicated ated with Fort Vancouver. The investigation of 19th the presence of diverse Hudson’s Bay Com- century medical beliefs and practices aided in the in- terpretation of site activities as responses to the epi- pany activities in the area. A stockade trench demics. and numerous fire pits filled with charcoal were among the more unique features un- Introduction covered (Chance 1976, Chance and Chance 1976, Carley n.d.). In the winter of 1834-1825, Hudson’s Bay Subsequent research located an historical Company established a fur trading post and source which referred to a stockade along the supply depot on the north bank of the Co- riverbank; it enclosed the hospital (Emmons lumbia River, 100 miles inland from its mouth 1841). This hospital was presumably built as a at the Pacific Ocean. This post, Fort Van- response to fever epidemics which occurred couver, was the administrative headquarters annually for a number of years, severely af- for the Company’s Columbia Department, fecting the Company’s operations, employees which reached from the Rocky Mountains to and the aboriginal population. the Pacific Ocean and included the entire Co- The investigation of 19th century concepts lumbia River watershed. Here, all furs of the of hospitals, epidemics, and the causes and trade of the department were gathered and cures of diseases has aided in the interpreta- sent to England. Supplies from England ar- tion of the archaeological data from the River- rived at Fort Vancouver on ships navigating side Complex. A combination of historical and the and were subsequently archaeological information had led to an dispatched to other HBC posts in the North- understanding of why the hospital was built at west and to ships participating in the coastal such a distance from the fort, why it was sur- trade. Until 1843, Fort Vancouver was the rounded by a stockade, what archaeological only major establishment in the vicinity of evidence remains from an early 19th century what is now Vancouver, Washington, an area hospital, and how unique features of the site which was jointly occupied by both British can be explained in terms of period medical and American citizens. For years the post was concepts and activities. 20 HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY, VOLUME 15, NUMBER 1 Intermittent Fever Epidemics their disease-worn companions, shrieked and howled in the last sharp agony. In the late 1820s and early 1830%fever epi- demics spread rapidly throughout the Pacific Chief Factor John McLoughlin estimated Northwest, especially in the areas of the that nine-tenths of the native population were Columbia River and its tributaries. The har- swept away by these epidemics (Parker 1967: shest epidemics occurred between the years 178). Writing of the fever’s ruinous impact 1830 and 1834 (Rich 1941:88, 104, 129-130), upon the aboriginal population Dr. William though the fevers continued to disrupt daily Fraser Tolmie (1963: 183), stated in 1833 that: life until at least 1839 (Rich 1943:224), and . . . on the lower bank and just opposite to Coffin is- were mentioned as late as I84 1 (Rich 1943:4 I). land is the site of an indian village, which a few years The epidemics had a devastating impact upon ago contained two or three hundred inhabitants, but at the aboriginal population of the area, annihi- present only its superior verdure distinguished the spot lating entire villages and taking the lives from the surrounding country. Intermittent fever which of hundreds of individuals. Though deaths has almost depopulated Columbia R. of the aborigines, committed its fullest ravages and nearly exterminated among the Euroamerican population of the the villages, thy. few survivors deserting a spot where area were not numerous, these people often the pestilence seemed most terribly to wreck its ven- were weakened or totally debilitated for gence. weeks or months at a time. It was not unusual for the Company’s activities to come to a Sufferings of the Company complete halt when the epidemics peaked seasonally during the late summer and early Though there are accounts of large numbers fall months. At times, everyone at the fort was of individuals on the sick list at Fort Van- agitated by the fever, some suffering up to couver, death rarely resulted among the Euro- four relapses. The pestilence was usually re- american population contracting intermittent ferred to as “fever and ague” or, more com- fever. monly, “intermittent fever,” known today as In writing of the early years of the fever, malaria. Peter Skene Ogden (1933:139) stated that in the autumn of 1830, upon returning to the fort, Impact on the Natives he found several servants suffering from the illness. Twenty days after the symptoms first Those to suffer most with the coming of the appeared, the whole garrison, comprising 80 malady each year were the native Americans servants and 5 gentlemen, with the exception living near the Columbia River. John Kirk of 2, had been struck by the disease. Accord- Townsend (1905:333) wrote in 1834, after the ing to Chief Factor McLoughlin, it was not initial impact of the epidemics had lowered the uncommon for the sick list to be comprised of native population substantially, that: 75 individuals and for work about the fort to halt substantially (Rich 1941:94). In 1830, The depopulation here has been truly fearful. A gentle- there were 104 males employed at Fort Van- man told me, that only four years ago, as he wandered near what had been a thickly peopled village, he couver (Kardas 197 I : 169), thus 75 men on the counted no less than sixteen dead, men and women, sick list at once was a large portion of the lying unburied and festering in the sun in front of their population at the fort and included most of the habitations. Within the houses all were sick; not one working force. had escaped the contagion; upwards of a hundred indi- By 1834, the fever subsided somewhat and viduals, men, women, and children, were writhing in agony on the floors of the houses, with no one to McLoughlin reported that it was not as pre- render them assistance. Some were in the dying strug- valent that summer as previously “. . . but it gle, and clenching with the convulsive grasp of death is a fact that since it first began in 1830 it so EVIDENCE OF 19TH CENTURY FEVER EPIDEMICS AND MEDICINE AT FORT VANCOUVER 21 much weakened our people that it was with animal, vegetable or mineral; dispersed over the sur- the greatest difficulty we got through our face of the earth, and which is capable of being dis- work” (Rich 1941: 130). solved by water, consumed by fire, or volatized by heat, is diffused in endless variety and proportion Fewer cases of intermittent fever appeared through the different strata of air. When, therefore, we in 1836, but in 1839, the epidemics appeared consider that at every inspiration this fluid is applied to again with enough rage to inhibit ongoing an expanded tissue of the most delicate blood vessels work at the post (Rich 1941:158). As James in the lungs we cannot but conclude that its every vary- Douglas wrote from Fort Vancouver in that ing properties, temperature, density, and impregna- tions, must have a predominant influence on the health year: of the human race [Johnson 1820:1].

At this moment and for the last month, we have been In 1822, after much research and observa- so severely afflicted by the prevailing fevers of the tion, John Armstrong concluded that inter- country as to render it a matter of difficulty to carry on our work. A fourth or upwards of our effective force, mittent, remittent, and typhus fevers were are now in hospital, and fresh cases appearing every- modifications of the same disease and attribu- day [Rich 19432241. ted the causes of fever to a poisonous miasma. Intermittent fever recurred annually, taking Here we find a more specific explanation of the lives of hundreds, weakening as many, and the conditions of the atmosphere. The primary bringing commerce to a standstill. source of such fevers, according to Armstrong (1822:412), was “what the Italians vaguely call mal aria, and the English, as vaguely, marsh Etiology in the Early 19th Century effluvium.” He defined mal aria as a morbid To understand how those living at and in the exhalation of the soil which produced inter- vicinity of Fort Vancouver may have re- mittent and continued typhus. “A certain sponded to the fever epidemics, an examina- degree of warmth, moisture, and the decom- tion of their concepts concerning the causes of position of vegetable matter, have appeared to disease, especially such a disease as inter- me essential for the generation of mal mittent fever, is necessary. aria . . .” (Armstrong 1822:424). Upon reading the medical literature of the As late as 1846, the common cause of inter- late 18th and early 19th centuries, it becomes mittent fever was thought to be marsh mias- readily apparent that explanations for poor mata or malaria arising from the exhalations of health were much different than those com- marshy grounds (Eastman 184652). In 185 1, a monly used today. A concept of contagion in result of a meeting of physicians at a Sanitary fever-related illnesses was unknown by some Conference of Paris was the determination and disregarded by others. The etiology which that epidemics were always the result of dominated the literature of the period was that cosmic conditions which could not be pro- of miasma or miasmata, which was put forth duced by individuals or transmitted from strongly and continuously by the medical pro- person to person, but were produced by cer- fes s ion. tain “. . . ‘state of affairs’, unknown mete- Miasma or miasmata was believed to be a orological conditions, invisible and unfathom- vaporous exhalation which caused illnesses, able” (Winslow 19435455). especially fevers. There was something in the The medical philosophy at Fort Vancouver air, in the atmosphere, which was responsible appears to have followed closely that of the for such ailments. medical profession at large, attributing inter- mittent fever to miasmata or mal aria (Tolmie The atmosphere which surrounds the globe we inhabit, 1963: 112, 163). Ogden (1933: 145) cites mias- for many miles in height, is the most heterogeneous mata as the cause of the fever epidemics in the fluid in nature. Every species of substance, whether Northwest. 22 HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY, VOLUME 15, NUMBER 1

To suppose it contagious from personal contact would and decay (Armstrong l822:424), the major be very erroneous, since it doubtless proceeds from treatment of intermittent fever was to cure it miasmata pervading the atmosphere, whose virulent by bleeding and administering cinchona bark, qualities are elicited only by certain coincident circum- and later, quinine. Quinine was isolated from stances of local origin. cinchona bark in the 1820s by French chemists After all, perhaps the most plausible mode of account- and by the 1840s large doses of quinine were ing for the generation of this malady is to attribute it providing more effective control of malaria entirely to foul exhalations from low and humid situa- than had been possible before (Shryock 1960: tions; though even to this supposition there are ob- 13 1). jections which it is difficult to overcome, and which tend to subvert every preconceived theory on the sub- In addition to purging and the infusion of a ject. number of tonics, another practice noted in the early literature may also represent a com- The native Americans of the area, at least in mon response to intermittent fever epidemics, part, attributed the debilitating disease to Burning and smoking in various ways was a Americans and Europeans. There is some evi- means of purifying contaminated air and pre- dence which suggests that the natives held the venting the spread of fevers. Evidence of such Euroamericans in general, and at times the practices comes largely from accounts of Hudson’s Bay Company in particular, re- yellow fever and cholera epidemics. Given the sponsible for and the cause of the epidemics general theory of miasmata as a cause of which released such havoc among them fevers, it is assumed that such practices could (Kardas 197 1:74-75, Larsell 1947:602, Tolmie have applied to fever epidemics of any kind. 1963:289, Chance 1973:74). This practice of burning and issuing smoke to purify the air has a long history. In Colonial Treatments and Preventions of America, residents of Charleston, South Fevers and Epidemics Carolina, attributed an absence of malaria in their town “to the air being minded by the In the early 19th century, symptoms of Number of Fires in Town . . .” (Duffy 1953: various fevers were not known specifically, 212-213). By impregnating the air with ef- and it was often difficult to distinguish one fluvea, the miasmata could be destroyed or kind of fever from another, particularly in the neutralized. In Philadelphia in the late 18th early stages of illness. Intermittent fevers century, Dr. Benjamin Rush suggested tem- were, according to one author, frequently in- porary measures for prevention of the epi- consistent with what one might naturally ex- demic of yellow fever, among which were the pect in such cases, and assumed so much the burning of gun powder in the streets and the characteristics of other diseases, that they smoking of tobacco (Wain 1970:317). He was were sometimes quite difficult to detect certain that fire, or the smoke or heat which (Saunders 1782r47). Consequently, many of issued from it, destroyed the effects of marsh these ailments were treated in a more or less miasmata and recommended the building of similar manner. large fires every evening (Winslow 19435 1). During this period, most people “continued During this time, citizens in Philadelphia lit to view illness primarily as a misfortune to be fires on street corners to purify the rain- met after it had occurred. Medical men were soaked air, and, in one case it was proposed expected to restore health rather than pre- that a cannon be discharged through the serve it. . .” (Shryock 1960:lW). Though streets to clear the air of miasmata (Powell some preventive measures were called for, 19495 I). During the cholera epidemic in New such as avoiding night air and easterly winds York in 1832, “harsh smoke from burning (Eastman 184650) or cleaning up areas of filth clothes and bedding filled the air, mingling EVIDENCE OF 19TH CENTURY FEVER EPIDEMICS AND MEDICINE AT FORT VANCOUVER 23 with the acrid fumes of burning tar, pitch and treating the ailment, than from the actual other time-tested preventives” and “on one disease of malaria (Boyd 1975: 15 I). Louisiana plantation, the main house was When their own remedies failed the natives fumigated morning and evening with burning sought aid from the Hudson’s Bay Company. sugar and vinegar, while its inhabitants were It was Company policy to give medical aid to enveloped at all times in clouds of dense employees and Indians free of charge (Hussey smoke from tar burning in the yard” (Rosen- 1976:69). Governor Simpson of the Company berg (1971:32, 38). As late as 1855, during a wrote of the HBC trading establishments as cholera epidemic on the frontier, a physician Indian hospitals which were “the resort of at Fort Riley, Kansas “frantically burned refuge of many of the natives, who . . . have barrels of pine tar beneath open hospital benefit of the care and attention, free of ex- windows because he didn’t know what else to pense, of our medical men . . .’* (Merk 1931: do“ (Karolevitz 1977:71). 337). In 1837 a number of Klickitats had been At Fort Vancouver blood-letting and ad- vaccinated by a medical officer of the Com- ministering quinine, or a locally available sub- pany at Fort Vancouver (Jesset 1959:58)and it stitute, were treatments used for intermittent is known that vaccinations and dispensation of fever. An examination of Hudson’s Bay Com- medicines took place at other posts in the pany’s inventories of supplies on hand at the Northwest (Chance 1973: 123). fort indicate that cinchora, or Peruvian, bark Though it was their policy to give medical was also used. assistance to the natives at all times, the Com- In 1833, Dr. Tolmie treated Chief Factor pany often did not have sufficient medication McLoughlin for intermittent fever by bleeding for their own sick, so those who appeared at during the ‘cold stage’ of the illness (Tolmie the fort for help were sometimes turned away. 1963: 180). Written accounts show that quinine In November 1830, Dr. McLoughlin wrote: was the medicine preferred for treatment of . . . the indians . . . frightened at the mortality the malady, but was often in short supply. amongst them came in numbers to camp alongside of There are several references to the use of the US giving as a reason that if they died they knew we local substitute, Cornus nuftalli, (Allen 1878) would bury them, most reluctantly on our part we were which was given in “doses of 3% dram of obliged to drive them away . . . [Rich 1941:96]. dried root in powder and succeeded in sub- One month later, McLoughlin again wrote: duing diseases without cinchona etc” (Tolmie 1963: 17 1). . . . we were obliged to drive the Indians away instead of affording them the assistance they implored by us Among the native Americans in the area a having as many of our people on the sick list as we common treatment of disease as described by could possibly attend to [Rich 1941:175]. Townsend (1905:212) in 1834 was that of sweating in a lodge, then cooling themselves by jumping into cold water. An 1838 account Medical Facilities at Fort Vancouver ascribed their great mortality to this mode of The Hospital treatment. Plunging into the river during the burning stage of the fever, until the heat was The construction of a hospital at Fort Van- allayed, these people rarely survived the cold couver, along the river bank southwest of the stage which followed. “So many and so sud- fort, is postulated as an immediate con- den were the deaths which occurred, that the sequence of the epidemics, built for certain shores were strewed with the unburied dead” members of the Hudson’s Bay Company com- (Parker 1967: 179). It was recently suggested munity. Presumably, had the fevers not pre- that these people died more commonly of vailed, the hospital would not have been pneumonia, which resulted from this means of necessary. 24 HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY, VOLUME 15, NUMBER 1 Little historical documentation of the standable. It has also been suggested that the hospital exists and it is difficult to determine difficulty of feeding a large number of patients exactly when it was built. From the written may have been a factor in locating the hospital records, one may conclude that it was a close to the employee quarters. Nearby resi- structure measuring 32 x 22 feet built on the dents of the village could more easily provide river bank southwest of the fort and just south food, and perhaps other services, to relatives of the employees village in the early 1830s who were occupying the hospital (David (Hussey 1957: 221). Chance 1979, pers. comm.) A small dispensary, sometimes referred to as a hospital, was located within the fort walls Medical Apparatus and shared a building with the Indian Trade Store (Hussey 1957: 146). Archaeologically, it In order to understand the extent of medical was discovered that, over the years this activity at Fort Vancouver in the 1830% the structure, which changed locations several medicines and medical apparatus available to times, vaned in size from 65 x 30 feet, 40 x those at the fort are discussed briefly. Knowl- 100 feet, to 35 x 80 feet (Hoffman and Ross edge of just what medical artifacts could re- 1976:29-30). main in the archaeological record was helpful When the intermittent fever struck Fort in determining the existence of a hospital in Vancouver, a large number of employees were the area. often ill at one time. During the autumn Medical apparatus at this time consisted of a months, when the fever was harshest, it was limited number of metal, glass, and ceramic not unusual to find 40 to 50 people on the sick items. Metal instruments were used for such list and accounts indicate that this number in- surgery as removing abscesses from the skin, creased to as many as 75 at one time. It is stones from the abdomen, particles from the quite likely that the small dispensary or eyes, or limbs from the body. Metal and glass hospital within the fort walls would not have apparatus were used for bleeding, and ceramic been adequate enough to care for, or even to and glass containers were used for the pre- examine or dispense medicines to, a large paration and storage of medicines. These were number of people. Therefore, when it became measured in glass cylinders, weighed in cop- obvious that the fever returned seasonally, per scales, and ground with ceramic mortars year after year, affecting so many people each and pestles prior to their dispensation. Medi- time, a hospital became a necessity. cines were stored in ceramic jars and glass Hospitals in the late 18th century and early vessels and dispensed to patients in small 19th century were usually referred to as fever glass bottles. hospitals and built only as needed, most often According to one fort physician, the appa- during epidemics. The poor and homeless were ratus at the post was relatively extensive for generally housed in them, while the well-to-do the period. Of the medical supplies available were cared for at home (Foster and Anderson in 1833 he wrote: 1978: 165). The location of the additional hospital at There is a very excellent supply of surgical instru- Fort Vancouver was away from the fort, but ments-an amputating, two trephining, two eye in- near the village where the Company em- struments, a lithotomy and cupping case, besides two midwifery forceps and a multitude of catheters, flexible ployees lived. Because 19th century hospitals and silver sounds bougies, probangs, tooth forceps etc, were constructed during fever epidemics and not yet put in order [Tolmie 1963: 1731. fer the less fortunate, the construction of a hospital in addition to a dispensary and its The following list of apparatus on hand in location at a distance from the fort is under- 1839 represents the instruments and con- EVIDENCE OF 19TH CENTURY FEVER EPIDEMICS AND MEDICINE AT FORT VANCOUVER 25 tainers the physicians worked with at Fort 8 green bottles Vancouver. 24 glass stoppered Phials Medical Apparatus on hand at Fort Van- 16 com. glass Phials couver Depot 1st June 1839: 1 surgical pocket Book, old 2 Cupping Glasses Apparatus 2 Enema Syringes 3 Straight Bistouries 6 Assd. tin Kettles 3 Probe Pointed Bistouries 3 bed pans 1 Specific Gravity Bottle 2 round dishes 10 Gum Elastic Bougies I 4 oz. graduated glass measure 10 Cat Gut Bougies 1 graduated glass minim Measure 3 Gro Paper Pill Boxes 7 japd. pint pots %I Gro Chip Ointment Boxes 8 sml tin dishes 20 Gum Elastic Catheters 3 Ointment Spatulas 6 Male Silver Catheters I Tea spoon 2 Gro Assd Phial Corks 3 Forks 4 Small glass Ribbed Funnels 8 Ointment Boxes 3 Cupping glasses 2 wine Glasses I Case Amputating Instruments 2 Tumblers I Case Trephinning Instruments 1 Ointment Slab 3 Doz Glazed Eware [Earthenware] 2 bleeding Cups Jars 95 d 2 Ib ea I1 Beds and Pillows 2 Tooth Keys 20 old Blankets % Doz Leather Lancet Cases 15 new Blankets 18 Lb Lint I Glass Mortar and Pestle Although the medical apparatus was some- I Wedgewood Mortar and Pestle what extensive at Fort Vancouver, some 6 Aneurism Needles items were more likely to be discarded than 2 Doz Glass stopd Phials 1 oz 8 oz were others. Items such as amputating in- 1 Anels Probe and Syringe struments, or a stomach pump, undoubtedly 2 Glasses minim Measures scarce and expensive, would not have been 2 Glasses 2 oz Measures broken, lost, or replaced often. Since they 2 Glasses 4 oz Measures were durable and undoubtedly precious, their I Stomaike Pump inclusion in the archaeological record would 2% Doz Pewter Uretha Syringes not be expected as a common occurrence. 1 large Clyster Uretha Syringes While other items, such as paper pill boxes, 2 Tourniquets lint, or cat gut bougies were expendable and 9 Trusses (5)-Right (4)-Left commonly discarded, they would not, under normal conditions, survive the I50 years in the [HBC Archives B.239/aa/20:217-218]. ground. Thus, those items which could be ex- pected in the archaeological record are objects The following items were listed in HBC‘s 1845 that came in large quantities, were relatively inventory of “articles in use” at the hospital common, used often, preserve well, and of the fort (Hussey 1976: 1 IO). breakable. Vials or phials, glass measures, cupping glasses funnels, black bottles, green Hosp ita 1 bottles, and earthenware jars fall into such a 11 black bottles category . 26 HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY, VOLUME 15, NUMBER 1 The Archaeological Record mon medical artifact recovered at the site. Graduated cylinder or glass measure frag- A wide variety of artifacts-industrial, ments were also recovered. one fragment is medical, and domestic-were found during cut or etched with the numbers “4” and “6,” work at the Riverside Complex and a large while another fragment is marked with the numbers of features were excavated at this number ’‘ 11.” Unusually shaped glass vessel site. The features included a stockade trench fragments were found within the stockaded and assumed gate; small shallow pits filled area and are believed to be cupping glass frag- with charcoal and termed fire pits; and large ments (Figure 4). Reconstruction of these pits stratigraphically filled with burned bone fragments is based on several such vessels debris, ash, and artifacts. Small pits, pre- recovered from Fort Vancouver excavations sumably post holes, were common, but no de- (Ross and others 1975:308) and identification finite structures were identified. The archae- is based on illustrations and discussions of ological data are reported in detail elsewhere such apparatus (Brougher 1959). These (Carley n.d.). vessels would have been used as bleeding As mentioned previously, this area had cups during blood-letting. been identified from historical documents as The diagnostic vessel glass fragments re- the location of several structures, among which were boat sheds, cooper’s shop, hospital, and domestic quarters. Though structural remains were evident, no definite building boundaries could be discerned from the archaeological data. The understanding of the activities of the site and the presumed associated structures are based on artifacts and features with characteristics suggesting specific kinds of activities. The following dis- cussion is concerned with those artifacts and features which directly aided in the interpreta- tion of the site as an area of medical activity. This will include such artifacts as medicine bottles, cupping glasses, glass cylinders, and such features as the stockade trench, fire pits, and large stratified pits.

Medical Artifacts

Artifacts frequently found in the archae- ological record were small, clear glass bottles which are presumed to be vials (Figures 1-3). Vials were often mentioned in the literature of the period (Tolmie 1963: 173, 326; Allen: 1878) and were used for dispensing medicines to patients. Given the large number of glass vials listed on medical apparatus inventories and the repeated reference to them, it is not sur- FIGURE 1. Clear drug bottle from the Riverside Complex, prising that these artifacts were the most com- Fort Vancouver. EVIDENCE OF 19TH CENTURY FEVER EPIDEMICS AND MEDICINE AT FORT VANCOUVER 27

T FIGURE 2. Clear drug bottle rims from the Riverside Complex, Fort Vancouver.

covered from the excavations were almost nostic drug bottles recovered from within the entirely those of liquor and drug bottles and stockade. In previous excavations of a nearby the distributions of these fragments reveal dis- Hudson’s Bay Company dump, few medicine tinct patterns. With a single exception, the bottles were recovered (Chance and Chance diagnostic drug bottle fragments are found 1976: 142), though Company inventories sug- only within the stockaded area and near the gest that glass vessels were used for medical large pit features. The liquor bottle fragments, activities. This suggests that the quantity of in contrast, are scattered throughout the site diagnostic fragments recovered from the and are found both inside and outside of the Riverside Complex is directly correlated with stockade (Figure 5). This pattern of distri- the presence of a hospital. The frequency of bution of drug bottles suggests that medical medicine bottle fragments, and their hori- activity was concentrated within the stock- zontal distribution, suggest medical activities aded area. As liquor could also have served as which were generally restricted to the inner medicine, this medical activity may have ex- boundaries of the stockade. tended to outside of the stockade as well. The presence of medicine bottle fragments in the The stockade large pit features, and in the lower strata, sug- gests the use of these pits during medical ac- The archaeological discovery of a strati- tivities. graphically early stockade at the Riverside There was a significant number of diag- Complex, and the distribution of medical 28 HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY, VOLUME 15, NUMBER 1

a

FIGURE 3. Drug bottle bases from the Riverside Complex, Fort Vancouver. Aqua (a) and clear (M). EVIDENCE OF 19TH CENTURY FEVER EPIDEMICS AND MEDICINE AT FORT VANCOUVER 29 stockades were regulatory devices intended to impede the movement of fire and people.” It is unlikely that the hospital was stockaded to ward off thieves. Fear of fire may have warranted enclosing the hospital, as patients could not have escaped easily. Defense against attack early in the Company’s occupa- tion of the area may also have prompted such an endeavor. Given that the Company built stockades at Fort Vancouver to impede move- ment, it is likely that the stockade near the river was built for the same purpose. Given the assumption that the hospital was built dur- ing and because of the raging fever epidemics, and at some point early in its history a stock- iade was constructed around it, it is probable that there is a correlation between the epi- demics and the stockade. From the review of the beliefs of the causes of disease, it is clear that the concept of con- tagion did not play a significant part in the FIGURE 4. Clear cupping glass from the Riverside Com- minds of those concerned with the intermit- plex, Fort Vancouver. Reconstruction based on Ross and tent fever epidemics. Therefore, the possi- others (1975:308). bility of a stockade built around the hospital for quarantine can be dismissed. A stockade may have been built around the artifacts within the stockade, along with a hospital to impede movement of the natives written account describing Fort Vancouver into the area. When their own cures for inter- which stated that independent of the fort was mittent fever failed, the Indians turned to the ”. . . a hospital near the riverbank, also Hudson’s Bay Company at the fort for help. stockaded . . .” (Emmons 1841), strongly Here, they found that large numbers of the suggested a stockaded hospital at the site. One Company’s servants were also sick with the of the first questions which came forth from malady. Supplies of medicine were low and this suggestion was, why stockade a hospital? local substitutes were resorted to. The Indians Only when viewed within the context of the were turned away from the fort without known archaeological and historical data medical aid. Since it was Company policy to could this question be answered. give the natives medical attention, it un- Comparison of the archaeological remains doubtedly came as a surprise to both parties of the stockade at the Riverside Complex with when it was impossible to administer help. If those documented at the fort led to the con- the natives persisted or became desperate, it clusion that, based on structural details, these may have become necessary to build a stock- barriers could have served similar purposes ade around the hospital to discourage them (Carley 1979342). According to Ross (1976: from insisting upon aid. 28), “stockades at Fort Vancouver were erected for three basic purposes4efense The fire pits against attack, security against theft and as a barrier against an ‘outside fire . . . thus, the Small charcoal filled fire pits were com- 0 200 250 3Q1X 0 - 170 I I rl SOY

Kanaka Village - couve r Barracks

Opera tion 19

z cn --I

x0 D I- % Bottle fragments 0 I & Liquor A -9 < 1974-75 e ? 5 2 cn z C

m5 13 FIGURE 5. Distribution of diagnostic drug and liquor fragments, fire pits, and other features at the Riverside Complex, Fort Vancouver. 2 EVIDENCE OF 19TH CENTURY FEVER EPIDEMICS AND MEDICINE AT FORT VANCOUVER 31 monly encountered during excavations. Their and functions are important here in demon- stratigraphic location indicated an early ap- strating the uniqueness of these features. Bin- pearance at the site. Those fire pits for which ford (1967:8) defined smudge pits as: were obtained complete dimensions ranged in size from 15 to 34 inches in length; 17 to 19 a class of archaeological features sharing (a) small size, (b) contents composed diagnostically of carbonized inches in width, and 3 to 6 inches in depth. corncobs, lacking kernels, and (c) contents exhibiting a The fill of the pits varied somewhat but all primary depositional context. contained horizontally placed wood which was burned to differing degrees. The upper fill These are described as generally similar in of the pits was usually loose brown soil, size, shape, and fill. Slightly oval, they have a which, when excavated, exposed a layer of mean length of 30.37 cm, mean width of 27.40 charcoal. Generally, the lowermost part of the cm, and mean depth of 33.53 cm below sur- wood was unburned and only occasionally did face. They are straight sided with flat bottoms a fire pit contain ash, firecracked rock, or and are filled with charred and carbonized burned soil. The walls were generally straight corn cobs, twigs, bark, vegetable matter with and the bottoms of the pits were flat. occasional oxidation of soil near the mouth of The distribution of the fire pits was es- the pit. The upper part may be partially filled pecially interesting. With one exception, the with grayish loam soil which was character- fire pits were all found within the stockaded istic of the soil on the surface of the site. “The area (Figure 5). A cluster of four closely invariable presence of the grayish loam soil in spaced pits was exposed in which one pit was the upper fill demonstrates intentional cover- superimposed upon another, indicating use of ing of the pit contents, rather than an ac- the same area at a subsequent time. cumulative filling with midden and surface A number of pits similar to these were dis- debris“ (Binford 1967:6). Furthermore, the covered during excavations at the fort. It was conditions of combustion within these pits concluded, based upon horizontal and vertical which would have resulted in the carboniza- locations, that “without a doubt they repre- tion of the plant materials suggests that large sent an 1829-1834/ 1836 cultural activity” quantities of smoke would have been pro- (Ross and others 1975:430). At the time of duced while the pits were in use (Binford their use they were located outside and ap- 19675). proximately 150 to 300 feet east of the fort’s Binford postulated that the pits were stockade. The nearest structure to the fire pits smudge pits for smoking animal hides, which was the dispensary. The Fort Vancouver pits ethnographically, required a certain sized hole were comparable in size and shape to those at and a smokey fire. The depth was limited by a the Riverside Complex. All contained char- ‘heed for them to be deep enough to provide coal of varying amounts and were located in for an oxygen-starved environment and shal- an HBC deposit. In the initial group of 20 pits low enough to contain only a limited amount excavated, 5 contained charred corn cobs and of fuel,” while “the diameter was limited by 10 contained HBC cultural material. Due to a the circumference of a deer skin when sewn shared single size and depth, and the remains into a ‘bag”’ (Binford 19675) in several of charred corn cobs, these pits Hoffman and Ross concluded that the fire were identified as smudge pits (Hoffman and pits at the fort were also smudge pits used for Ross 1975:20) for the smoking of hides (Bin- this purpose. If they were viewed singularly, a ford 1967: 1-12). logical conclusion for the function of these pits Though smudge pits are described archae- could be smudge pits for smoking animal ologically and ethnographically by Binford as hides, especially as there is historical refer- an exercise in analogy, their characteristics ence to such activity at Fort Vancouver 32 HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY, VOLUME 15, NUMBER 1 (Emmons 1841). However, when their context bution, and vertical location, these are be- is considered in relation to other data, this ex- lieved to be associated with the hospital. planation of these features is not sufficient. An All of the large pits were located within the alternative explanation, based on the follow- stockade. Three of the four pits were highly ing facts and assumptions, is offered. stratified and yielded numerous artifacts of At the fort, the pits were dated to an early medicine bottles, bleeding cup fragments, 1829-1836 component. Stratigraphy at the ceramic transfer printed wares, stoneware Riverside Complex also suggested that the pits bottle fragments, and a variety of personal were early in the HBC occupation of the area. items. Small artifacts, such as buttons and The fire pits at the Complex, with one ex- beads and fragmented glass and ceramic made ception, were found only inside of the stock- up most of the artifact assemblage. Strata of ade, which is documented historically and burned bone and ash debris were common and archaeologically as enclosing a hospital. At appeared to be debris of fireplace or stove the fort, the fire pits were found to the east of cleanings and floor sweepings. The largest pit what was at that time the dispensary. The uni- (F 127) measured 6% feet in length, 6 feet in que size and fill of these pits indicates that width, and 3 feet in depth. The others, though their function or consequence was to produce somewhat smaller, were of the same shape an abundant amount of smoke. The similarity and relative size. of the features exhibited by those at the fort These features resembled several large pits and those at the complex suggests that the fire found during excavations of the southeast area pits in both areas served the same purpose. It of the fort which were dated to the 1829-1836 is concluded, therefore, that the fire pits ex- component (Ross and others 1975:26). This is isted early in the Company's occupation. By the same area and same component to which their similar attributes, they served a similar the small fire pits belonged. Similarly, at the function, which seems to have been to create Riverside Complex all the pits shared the smoke. Their locations were adjacent to the same vertical stratigraphic location. There hospital and the dispensary, areas associated also appeared to be a comparable horizontal with medical activity. relationship. The fire pits at the fort were A search of 19th century medical literature located north of the large, stratified pits. This and accounts of fever epidemics led to an ex- same horizontal relationship was apparent at planation of these unique features. As demon- the complex. strated earlier, during the early 19th century, The general characteristics which the large many people believed that the cause of inter- pits at the fort and those at the complex shared mittent fever existed in the air, in the atmo- were lower deposits of loose brown soil, ash, sphere. In various fever epidemics the air was and charcoal; upper deposits of clay and clay- purified with smoke and other preventives like deposits with ash and charcoal inclusions; through the medium of smoke. It is quite prob- bone debris; small personal artifacts; and a able that these small fire pits which would similarity of size and shape. (Ross and others have created a smokey atmosphere served to 1975:31, 50, 54; Carley 1979:70-80). The con- "purify" the contaminated air of the miasmata clusions drawn from the Fort Vancouver ex- which was thought to cause intermittent fever. cavations concerning the large pits were that the "charred remains in the large pits ap- The larae Dits parently represent general personal trash which was disposed of by burning" (Ross and Several large, stratified pits dominated the others I975 520). excavations of the Riverside Complex. Due to Due to their association with the small fire their artifact depositions, horizontal distri- pits. their distribution within the stockade, EVIDENCE OF 19TH CENTURY FEVER EPIDEMICS AND MEDICINE AT FORT VANCOUVER 33 and the recovery of some medical artifacts in the late 1820s and early 1830s, occurring from these large pits, they are assumed to be annually. Hundreds of natives were stricken associated with the hospital. Furthermore, the and villages decimated and large numbers of stockade was found to measure at least 1 IO x Company employees were sick and incapaci- 75 feet. The hospital was to have measured 22 tated for days and weeks at a time. These epi- x 32 feet, but was not located archaeologi- demics forced the Company to build a hospital cally, indicating that part of it may be located for patients, as was common practice during under the nearby railroad embankment. The this time. Although a small dispensary or large size of the stockade, relative to the small hospital existed within the Fort, it could not size of the hospital, suggests that the stockade have accommodated all of the individuals enclosed more than just a hospital. It was who fell ill during the epidemics. Therefore, demonstrated that it enclosed fire pits used for another hospital was built for the fever purifying the contaminated air of miasmata. patients. While the small dispensary in the fort The large pits, too, may have had an unusual was a refuge for special guests or the more function peculiar to epidemics of intermittent important members of the Company, the fever and 19th century medical practices. hospital along the riverbank, near the village, An interesting suggestion has been made for would have housed and cared for the Com- the interpretation of these large features. One pany’s servants. consequence of malaria is diarrhea. This The natives in the vicinity attempted to rid symptom, combined with a weakened consti- themselves of the malady in the same way as tution, would result in the frequent use of they cured themselves of other diseases. chamber pots and soiled bed clothes and bed- Sweating in lodges and plunging into the cold ding. A large number of bedridden people with river water only complicated the illness. When intermittent fever would neccessitate a nearby their treatment failed the survivors went to the place for those attending them to dispose of fort in search of medical aid. The Company, such waste. Large pits, near the hospital, however, with medicine scarce and numerous would serve this purpose (David Chance 1979, individuals weakened by the fever, could not pers. comm.). Such an explanation would ac- afford to aid the natives, though it was their count for the number of small personal items usual policy to do so. At this time a stockade such as beads and buttons and the fragmented to enclose the hospital became imperative to glass and ceramic. The deposits of bone and separate those who received medical attention ash could be explained as debris resulting from those who could not. from cooking for large numbers of people at The concentration of medical artifacts with- the hospital. in the stockaded area and the examination of the possible medical apparatus which could Conclusions have been recovered by the archaeologist on an early 19th century site documents medical Based upon what is known of the state of practices of a fairly large scale within this the medical art in the early 19th century, the area. beliefs and practices of the times, and those The individuals associated with the Com- materials available to the physicians and their pany recovered from the pernicious illness patients, it is suggested that the artifacts and within the walls of the stockaded hospital. features of the site presented herein may be They were purged of the disease by bleeding interpreted as archaeological reflections of and rehabilitated with cinchona or quinine, 19th century medicine and responses to fever when it was available. The belief that disease epidemics. was a result of something in the air, which Intermittent fever raged throughout the area could be purified by creating a smokey atmos- 34 HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY, VOLUME 15, NUMBER 1 phere, is reflected by the small fire pits found CARLEY.CAROLINE D. within the stockade. Pits filled with ash, 1979 Historical and Archaeological Evidence of nine- burned bone, and various artifacts were as- teenth Century Fever Epidemics and Medicine at Hudson’s Bay Company’s Fort Vancouver. sociated with the activities of the hospital. It Unpublished Master’s Thesis. University of has been postulated that they may have served Idaho, Moscow, Idaho. as receptacles for quickly accumulated waste n.d. Kanaka Village/Vancouver Barracks: 1977 with and debris. Metal Analysis by Timothy Jones and Faunal Analysis by Craig Henry. Ms. Submitted for publication. Office of Public Archaeology, Uni- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS versity of Washington, Seattle. CHANCE,DAVID A preliminary version of this paper was read at the 12th 1973 Influences of the Hudson’s Bay Company on the Annual Meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology Native Cultures of the Colvile District. North- in 1979 in Nashville, Tennessee Permission to publish the wsest Anthropological Research Notes, Memoir list of Hudson’s Bay Company medical apparatus at Fort No. 2. University of Idaho, Moscow. Vancouver was provided by the Hudson’s Bay Company 1976 Archaeologists Turn up Another Fort in Two- and archivist Shirlee Ann Smith of the Hudson s Bay Year Dig. Clurk County Histoty 16:4-20. Fort Company Archives, Winnipeg, Manitoba Artifact illustra- Vancouver Historical Society, Clark County, tions were originally drawn by Rita R MacKubbin for the Washington. 1977 excavations report Roderick Sprague and Lee CHANCE,DAVID H. AND JENNIFERV. CHANCE Sappington read early versions of this work and made 1976 Kanaka Village/Vancouver Barracks: 1974 with helpful editorial comments David Chance reviewed a appendix by J. S. Addington and Analyses by J. final draft of this paper and gave some useful suggestions M. Storm. Reports in Highwy Archaeology No. for interpretation based on his previous work at the site 3. Office of Public Archaeology, University of and knowledge of malaria Washington, Seattle. DUFFY.JOHN 1953 Epidemics in Colonial Americu. Louisiana State REFERENCES University Press, Baton Rouge. EASTMAN.BUELL ALLEN.GEORGE 1846 Systemutic Treutise on Medicine, Being u Col- 1878 Reniiniscences of Fort Vuncoucer on Columbia lectiue Treatment of Feuers and Other General River Oregon, us it Stood in 1832, and Some Compluints. Cincinnati. Account of the Hudson’s Buy company’s Farm EMMONS.GEORGE FOSTER There, Their Mode of Trade u,ith the Indiuns, 1841 Extracts from the Journal of Lieut. 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