With the lockdown and everything being placed on hold, I have been a bit remiss in blogging. Of course it is hard to have subject matter when every minute of every day of every month of .... is the same.
In May, I flew to BC for a long overdue cousin reunion. Like everything else in 2020, this trip had been mothballed. Now being fully vaxxed, and with daily case numbers no longer being headline news, I was ready to head out. However, I didn't take my laptop so blogging remained on mothballs.
I spent a whirlwind six days in BC. Three on Vancouver Island and three on the Mainland.
Once back on the mainland, I had the chance to spend a day at Fort Langley. This was an incredible glimpse into history for me. I have spent a great deal of time reading about, researching, writing and speaking about the Hudson's Bay Company and to now get the chance to wander around an old HBC fort was just an unbelievable experience.
Fort Langley was built in 1827 as an HBC outpost. It also set the pathway for BC becoming a Crown Colony (1858).
Workers and traders arrived by canoe or HBC company boat.
It was through this trade window that aboriginal trappers would hand in pelts, hide, and fresh fish in exchange for guns, spices and tobacco.
The HBC outposts were relatively self-sufficient little communities. They had a store
a blacksmith
a cooperage
and homes for the workers (the workers were known as 'servants')
This shows the inside of a typical servant's home with the living area on the main floor and the bedrooms upstairs
The furs were pressed and packaged for shipment back to England where they would be sent to Europe and to be sold
The fish were salted and packed in barrels and then were also sent back to the UK for trade with Europe
Fort Langley was just one small part of the HBC trading company and larger trading network. The company had posts right across Canada, and after the amalgamation with the North West Company, the posts extended into the US as well.
The day was informative and helped bring so much life to my understanding of life in an HBC trading post. The day was also a fabulous day steeped in history.
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