Fort Vancouver, Washington Territory, U.S. Railroad Survey View – ca.1850

About this piece

Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River, a tinted lithograph from the Pacific Railroad Reports, lettered at the top "U.S.P.R.R. Exp. & Surveys, 47th & 49th Parallels" and "General Report, Plate XLIV." The view is drawn by G. Sohon and lithographed by Sarony, Major and Knapp, 449 Broadway, New York, with the title "Fort Vancouver, W. T." beneath.

The view is taken from a rise above the post. A dirt road runs through the foreground, where a wagon with a team of horses crosses at the right and a rider and a carriage appear at the left. Log and frame buildings, fenced fields and orchards lie across the flat ground, and tall firs stand at the left, with the river beyond and a snow-capped peak on the horizon. The stone is printed in two tints, a buff and a pale green over the black.

Fort Vancouver was founded by the Hudson's Bay Company and later became a United States Army post. The survey that produced this plate was the northern route examined for a Pacific railroad, and Gustavus Sohon served as artist with it.