n.
The other barrack was intended to be occupied by one company only; and
the orderly-room, squad-rooms, mess-rooms, and a kitchen were on the
same floor. The cellars below were damp and were used only for storage
purposes.

[Illustration: PLAN OF OLD FORT SNELLING

From a survey by Captain Arthur Williams, reproduced in the _Collections
of the Minnesota Historical Society_, Vol. VIII, opposite p. 430]

Occupying the same position under the south wall, and facing the
barracks, were two other buildings, similar in appearance. In one of
these the officers' quarters were located. It was divided into twelve
sets, each consisting of two rooms, the front one sixteen by fourteen
feet, and the back one, eight by fifteen and a half feet. In the
basement were located kitchens for each set. The other building
contained the offices of the commanding officer, the paymaster, the
quartermaster, and the commissary. Here was a room used by the post
school, and another filled with harness. An ordnance sergeant and five
laundresses found quarters in the same structure.

The quarters of the commanding officer with the flag staff directly in
front, faced the parade ground and the Old Round Tower. There were four
rooms on the main floor and in the basement were kitchens and pantries.
Other buildings were also included within the fort. The storehouse of
the commissary department was located near the southern blockhouse; and
on either side of the gate were two buildings, shunned by all--the
guardhouse and the hospital.

Such was the plan of the fort, convenient in arrangement and beautiful
in appearance; but the report of an official inspection in 1827
complained that "the main points of _defence against an enemy_ appear to
have been in some respects sacrificed in the effort to secure the
comfort and convenience of the troops in peace. These are important
considerations; but at an exposed frontier post the primary object must
be _security against the attack of an enemy_. Health and comfort come
next. The buildings are too large, too numerous, and extending over a
space entirely too great; enclosing a uselessly large parade, five times
greater than is at all desirable in that climate."[202]

A traveller who at a later day was entertained within the fort wrote of
it facetiously in these words: "The idea is further suggested, that the
strong stone wall was rather erected to keep the garrison in, than the
enemy out. Though adapted for mount