And of course,no diner would lack for one of these:
We ate lunch surrounded by posters depicting James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, and of course, The King himself:
After lunch, we made our way to Fort Langley National Historic Site, run by Parks Canada. By 1821, the Hudson's Bay Company emerged as the most powerful organization involved with trading furs with the Aboriginals. Fort Langley was well situated on the Fraser River and with encouragement from the Fort's Governor, intermarriage between the Company men and the Aboriginal women became commonplace.
The plaque above gives you background information about the Fort and the products that it traded. Did you know that Hawaiian people left their homes and sailed on HBC ships to live in Fort Langley?
Here is a picture of what their home may have looked like:
With the fertile soil that this area has, cranberries became an easy crop to grow and harvest, even up to present day. In the past, the ships would take the cranberries to California and salmon,another easily available fish in our waters, would be shipped to market in Hawaii.
We must remember that the Fort was established in the days of fur trading. One of the most sought furs was beaver, which was used back in Europe for the top hats worn by the wealthier men. But other pelts were important too. The Aboriginals would bring them to the Fort in exchange for such products as blankets, knives, rifles, bullets, tobacco, buttons, etc.
Here you can see some pelts and in the background, one of the famous and much desired, Hudson's Bay Company blanket. And yes, there was an elementary school field trip visiting too!
A fort has to be fairly self-sufficient so within the walls of the fort, you will find the storehouse, a cooperage (for making barrels to store and ship salmon, cranberries, farm produce and other goods), servants' quarters, the Big House or main office of the fort, animal enclosure, and depot. One of the most important buildings housed the blacksmith's shop. He would be responsible for forging farm tools, building hardware and other iron goods used for trading.
In the photo above, you can see some of the implements that a blacksmith would produce.
Gold fever hit in 1858 and Fort Langley became extremely important as the starting point for the Fraser River gold fields. To keep this area under British control, on November 19, 1858 James Douglas, a Hudson's Bay Company manager was installed as the first Governor of the British Colony.
The above picture depicts James Douglas proclaiming the Colony of British Columbia in Fort Langley's Big House.
There are different methods to find gold and one of the simplest or earliest methods involved 'panning' which is shown above. Very time-consuming so the miners devised other ways to separate the gold from the gravel (go to Google for more info!)
Here is a picture taken from the Fort wall of the Church across the Fraser River:
Try imagining yourself paddling in the Fraser River going past the Fort with your shipment of furs. Listen to the sound of the birds or look up at the Canada Goose flying in vee formation. Watch for salmon jumping up or perhaps see if there is a black bear up the river bank, catching some salmon for his dinner. Can you hear the crows cawing? And up there, there is an Aboriginal settlement with some children chasing each other. Just imagine.....
Back to the present, here is a picture of the Fort within the walls:
Another photo showing you the palisade walkway. Soldiers would patrol the walls against attacks.
The picture below was taken from the bastion (lookout station) to show you the area:
In 1923 Fort Langley was declared a national historic site. We should always try to preserve what was so vital in our country's development and we need to share our knowledge to the younger generation so that they can appreciate what the past generations of different nationalities of peoples have endured in order for us to have what we enjoy today.
No comments:
Post a Comment