Everyone makes mistakes, the trick is to make them when nobody is looking.
Anon
Plan A: drive the Scenic Baker Highway up to Mt Baker for the views of the volcano covered in glaciers and snow.
Plan B: drive into Vancouver and visit the Fort Langley National Historic Site and then to the other side of the Vancouver suburbs and tour the Gulf of Georgia Cannery National Historic Site.
And the deciding factor: weather. We’ve been playing tag with Mt Baker for the last week and usually it is covered in clouds. That little point on its top keeps reaching out to every cloud that passes near, rakes it in and plops it right down on top of its snowy crown. Have we seen Mt Baker yet? Well, yes, and it is awesome even from afar. Mostly, we’ve seen clouds.
At 6:00 am, I awoke and listened to the pitter patter of raindrops on our roof. Yep, Plan B.
Up at 7:00, get ready and we’re off. Breakfast at Big Al’s diner where we sat next to the local guys’ coffee klatsch where they reminisce about who scored first in the big high school game, gossip about who was going to build next to City Hall and argue about whose truck was the best.
I wanted to see Fort Langley not just to learn about the history of British Columbia and Canada but also to compare how the Canadians do a National Historic Site with how we in America do them.
Fort Langley was not a fort in the usual stockade, cannons and trot out the cavalry sense of the word: it was a Hudson Bay Company trading post built in 1827 to make money, of course, but also to establish British presence along the western coast of North America. Britain, America, Russia and Spain all were making claims to this territory but the Hudson Bay Company was financially strong, was building upon its trading relationships with the Native Americans and was able to drive off other competitors.
It prospered in this area partly because the company members and the company commander, married into the Native population, thus ensuring its trading strength and stability. It was originally built to ship furs to England for the popular beaver hat. However, about mid-century, beaver hats were supplanted by silk hats and the HBC turned to farming such crops as cranberries and salted salmon to export. Interestingly, salmon made more money for the HBC than beaver pelts.
Then gold was discovered in 1858 along the Frazer River where the Fort was located and some 30,000 people mostly from California rushed for the gold fields. With this massive influx, the territorial governor feared American annexation and he appealed to the Crown for colonial status. With this would come formal law and order and thus British Columbia became the first colony of what would become Canada. Voila - the beginning of Canada.
That was a pretty short summary and I’ve left a lot out but you can get the gist.
We enjoyed the Fort, its mix of original buildings and reconstructions, its interactive displays and the costumed interpreters that we met and saw performing their daily fort tasks. We saw the blacksmith at his forge and saw the cooperage where they made barrels to ship cranberries and salmon for export. The woman here (from the Philippines by the way) demonstrated all the steps to making a barrel to hold salted salmon for shipment but that was also tight enough to hold cranberries in water for shipment to China. Her assistant in all of this was easily recognizable: Big Gar. Here he is, in his apron, making the staves using the tools of the times.
Here he puts the metal strips around the barrel. Note the rope and the wheel he is turning to make the staves tight enough to put the metal around. Then he evens the edges of the staves and makes a small rim inside for the lid of the barrel to fit tightly. All while using the tools of the times.
Meanwhile a large group of high-school aged students had come in and were fussing around. One kid was putting a barrel over his head so people could take a picture of him, another was picking up every tool on the benches, others were talking to each other and others were taking selfies. Where was the teacher? Outside on his cell phone. Most annoying. Not much good for the kids, for us and for the cooper.
We saw the garden area, the goats and chickens which the fort had for food.
They had some pretty special chickens here, and, boy, did they know it. They strutted back in forth in their pen.
I’m thinking that this little goat has been fed by tourists.
We were especially impressed by the storage room. Here the HBC stored the cured furs for later shipment. We had never seen so many pelts or all kinds: mink, beaver and whatever else. Here also were examples of the trading goods shipped in from Great Britain to the Fort to trade with the Natives for the furs. Hudson Bay blankets, silverware, boots and shoes, tools, metal cookware, buttons, metal knives all sorts of goods that the Natives could use to make their lives easier. Most American trading posts have one or two furs and very few examples of the trading goods. This fort was filled with furs and examples of trading goods. Look at all the manufactured goods that the British brought in to trade to the First Nations people for their furs. Buttons, knives, fishing hooks, shovels, metal pots and pans, woven blankets, candle makers, tin cups, Dutch ovens, etc.
We really like the humorous film that introduced the Fort to all who visited. It was about a young man who really did not want to be with his school class at the Fort. He is persuaded to put on a magical beaver hat which immediately takes him back to the Fort in the 1800’s where he learn all about it. It was humorous, historical, it taught and it was a fun film to watch. We learned a lot from it. There was a real touch of Hollywood with the magic hat, the transportation back to the past and the over-the-top guide who shows the past to the young man. I was actually laughing out loud at one point but I learned a lot about early British Columbia history too.
We learned a lot about Canadian history and didn’t leave until 2:00. What now? How about heading over to the Gulf of Georgia Cannery National Historic Site? Now, we’ll admit, we didn’t expect much from this. We hadn’t read much about it but thought it might fill the time and teach us something. The Cannery is on the other side of the Vancouver suburbs so we got into the car for the drive. On the way, we stopped for a soda. The sign said 2/$3.00 but she charged me $4.95. Whoo-eee. Bad exchange rate that was. Tomorrow, when we come back to Canada, we’ll bring our own soda. Well, later I learned that the exchange rate is favorable for Americans and she had just given me the wrong price.
Back on the road: here’s the neat thing: Gary’s always wanted to drive 100. And, he got the chance here in Canada. Look, here’s the sign. 100. And that’s what he’s driving.
WOW. Oh, yeah, it was kilometers - which is really only 60 mph. When we crossed the border, we had to adjust our GPS from miles to kilometers.
We got to the Cannery about 3:30 and began our tour. We were pleasantly surprised with how much this museum had to offer: an excellent film, an extremely good tour guide, lots of exhibits, way too much for the little time we had left before it closed at 5:00. We got permission to return and did on the 11th.
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