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Site name: Kanaka Village, Ft. Vancouver

The project focuses on the site of the village associated with nearby Fort Vancouver (established as a Hudson's Bay Company post in 1825) which, by the 1840s, was home to several hundred employees of the fort and their families. It is often referred to as "Kanaka Village," owing to the large number of native Hawaiians that lived and worked there. Numerous immigrants to the Oregon Country made their way to this outpost of Western Civilization at this time. In the late 19th century the area was impacted by a military presence, it was a recruitment center during World War I, a headquarters for the CCC in the 1930s, was heavily utilized during World War II, and later served as a trash dump. In short, the area investigated by this project has received numerous, heavy, and consistent human impacts for at least 150 years. Since many of these impacts were in the form of constructions associated with settlement, military, and CCC occupations, numerous cultural features of large size and potentially detectable by resistivity survey methods are present.

Type of survey: Resistivity; Instrument: Geoscan Research RM-15/MPX-15, with twin probe array; Prospection depth: 0.5 m; Sampling interval: 0.5 x 0.5 m and 1 x 0.5 m; Area surveyed: 1.95 ha; Date of survey: 5/02 and 3/03.

Comments: The survey revealed soils of high resistivity, ranging from about 270-2000 ohm-m, but also great dynamic range. Numerous anomalies of low and high magnitude were located and mapped. Many correspond with known structures and former roads of the 19th-20th centuries.

Comments: Known buildings of the mid-19th century tend to be associated with small, circular or irregular negative anomalies measuring 4-8 m in diameter. Based on this pattern the locations of a number of other possible buildings of similar size and form are suggested.

Comments: Larger 20th century structures correlate with strong positive anomalies, possible from the presence of concrete or stone foundations. A large number of pipeline trenches affiliated with these former buildings are also indicated as low resistivity anomalies, as well as a series of small, circular anomalies about 3-4 m in diameter that are conjectured to represent features like holding tanks, cisterns, or wells.

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(updated: 8/03)