This is a copy of the description and valuation of the Factory building at Fort Osage, as per the original forwarded document to the Superintendent of Indian Trade on the 20th of February 1810 –
Fort Osage Dec. 25th 1810
Agreeably to the request of Mr. Sibley, we undersigned have surveyed and examined the several buildings, Enclosures, etc. at this place, belonging to the Department of Indian Trade, and have taken into consideration the local situation of those buildings, and the Present Prospects of their public utility. We have their present value as follows.
The Factory House is 53 feet long and 22 feet wide, has two stories of stone under ground and one and a half story of hewed oak logs above ground. Is surrounded (except the north end) by a piazza 6 ½ feet wide, and the whole under a strong roof of white oak joint shingles.
It’s apartments are as follows
In the upper or half story
A store room…35 feet by 20 ½..Proper for storing the unopened goods etc.
A bedroom…14 feet by 20 ½ (in the south end) with a fireplace.
In the lower log story
A room…21 ½ feet by 20 ½ with counters, shelves, etc. proper for Trading room.
A room…11 ½ feet by 20 ½ with desk, table, etc. Proper for office
A room…16 ½ feet by 20 ½ (in the south end) with fireplace, closets, etc. proper for mess or dining room.
In the upper cellar
A room…19 ½ feet by 17 ½ proper for a kitchen
A room…29 ½ feet by 17 ½ under the Trading room) with presses, frames, benches, etc. Proper for packing furs and peltries, etc.
The lower cellar
Is all in one 48 feet by 16, and is proper for storing peltry, etc.
This building with its enclosure and improvements, we judge to be worth Four Thousand and Twenty-Five dollars. The Interpreter’s Houses, 2 single houses of hewed oak logs, each 16 feet by 14, both under one roof, we judge to be worth Two Hundred dollars. A small log house lately occupied by the interpreter and his family, we judge to be worth Forty-Five dollars.[i]
(Signed by) David Robinson
John H. Robinson
[i] Records of the Office of Indian Trade, General Services Administration, Washington D.C.
