1 84 AUDUBON 



falo robes. All this range is very strongly put together, 

 weather-boarded outside, and lined with plank within. It 

 has also cellar and garret. Opposite this, on the other 

 side of the fort enclosure, is a similar range of buildings 

 119 ft. long by 21 ft. wide, perhaps not quite so strongly 

 built, but sufficiently so to suit all purposes. The height 

 of the building is in proportion to that of the pickets; 

 it is one large story high, and shingle-roofed. This 

 is partitioned off into six different apartments of nearly 

 equal size. The first two are appropriated to the use of 

 the clerks who may be stationed at the post. The next 

 is the residence of the hunters, and the remaining three 

 the dwellings of the men in the employ of the Company. 

 An ice-house 24 by 21 ft. is detached from this range, and 

 is well filled with ice during the winter, which supply 

 generally lasts till fall. Here is put all fresh meat in 

 the hot weather, and the fort in the summer season is usu- 

 ally provisioned for ten days. The kitchen is behind the 

 Bourgeois' house on the north side, and about two steps 

 from the end of the hall, — so situated for convenience in 

 carrying in the cooked victuals to the mess-room. Two 

 or three cooks are usually employed therein, at busy 

 times more. The inside frame-work of the fort, which 

 sustains the pickets, forms all around a space about eight 

 feet wide described by the braces or X, and about fifteen 

 feet high. A balcony is built on the top of this, having 

 the summit of the X for its basis, and is formed of sawed 

 plank nailed to cross beams from one brace to another. 

 This balcony affords a pleasant walk all round the inside 

 of the fort, within five feet of the top of the pickets ; from 

 here also is a good view of the surrounding neighborhood, 

 and it is well calculated for a place of defence. It is a 

 favorite place from which to shoot Wolves after nightfall, 

 and for standing guard in time of danger. The openings 

 that would necessarily follow from such a construction, 

 under the gallery, are fitted in some places with small 



