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Fort St. James National Historic Site

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— Learn about life in the 19th century in northern BC

My daughter and I first visited the Fort St. James National Historic Site in July of 2008. I have a sister who's been living in Fort St. James for the past five years, and we've gone to visit her almost every summer, since my 8-year-old daughter was born.

The town of Fort St. James is on the shores of Stuart Lake, 164 kilometres northwest of Prince George. The town is small (more of a village, really) and the scenery in this part of BC is beautiful. The lake is quite large and is great for swimming, boating and fishing in the summer.

Fort St. James was originally established by Simon Fraser for the North West Company in 1806 and was the second permanent fur trade post constructed west of the Rocky Mountains. It became a Hudson Bay Company post when the two companies merged. The Fort was the business hub for the area called New Caledonia. The historic site displays the largest group of original wooden buildings representing the fur trade in Canada. The site revolves around the relationships and interactions between the fur traders and Native Peoples of the region, namely the Carrier First Nations.

Although today it is restored to a single year in time, 1896, the story played out spans about one hundred and forty six years, starting with the arrival of the fur traders and ending in 1952, when the Hudson's Bay Company closed shop on the original site.

There are many opportunities to meet and talk to site interpretive staff in period costume, which we did. Each building had a different purpose and staff to explain its significance.

What they call 'Living History' is featured from mid-May to September 30. The staff dressed in period costume to carry out daily chores and activities that portrayed the lifestyle of this post in 1896. We were able to walk unescorted through the fort and interact with the animators.

Activities take place daily (weather permitting). These include: gardening in the huge vegetable garden, tending the cattle and chickens, packing and riding horses, hewing and peeling logs, fence painting and cooking. In season, there are traditional First Nations Activities at the Fort such as hide tanning and salmon preparation.

Just outside the visitor centre is the Old Fort Café featuring deer steak, buffalo burgers deer and salmon sandwiches and bannock along with pies and ice cream. We ended our visit here by sharing a wonderful piece of apple pie a la mode.

The following two buildings were our favourite to visit:

General Warehouse and Fur Storage (1888-89)

The general warehouse is perhaps the finest example of Red River framing (or "piece-on-piece construction") in North America. This style of construction was perfectly suited to accommodate the changing needs of the fur trade. Because of "bottom log rot," a post's buildings had to be renewed about every twenty-five years. Today's warehouse is from the fourth rebuilding of Fort St James. The walls of this unique type of building are comprised of sections or "bays." When the fur traders wanted to rebuild, they could easily change the size and shape of the new buildings by reconfiguring and reusing bays from previous structures.

The warehouse is piled high with furs, reproductions of trade goods, and original artefacts. The staff was very friendly and informative, showing us many different pelts and explaining which animals they came from.

Trade Store and Office (1884)

The trade store is a reconstructed building, as the original burnt down in 1919. The trade store was rebuilt because it is such an important part of Fort St James, being in fact, the heart of the fur trade operation.

In the early years things did not always work out the way the fur traders intended. The Carrier people quickly discovered they could get most of the things they wanted from the trade store without ever bringing in furs. This was because the traders were in such desperate need of salmon and traded them from the Carrier in huge quantities. To encourage the trapping and trading of furs, the Company eventually adopted a policy to accept only furs in trade for the most valued store items, such as blankets or metal pots.

The relationship between the Carrier trappers and the fur traders was often a difficult one. The basic concepts Europeans had about trade were fundamentally different from those of the Carrier. This led to many misunderstandings, especially around debt and gift-giving. While the trade account books record the recurring frustration of the traders, it is likely that the fur trappers were often equally frustrated and disagreed about "who owed what to whom." Probably the root of the misunderstandings was that, while the Carrier saw trade as primarily a social act, the fur trade companies saw it, first and foremost, as a business transaction.

The historic site has a wonderful program set up for visiting children. We purchased a colour-coded stick from the information center (the cost was $1, 2, or 5) before we toured the Fort. When we got to the Trade Store, my daughter presented her red stick (worth $2) to the person working behind the counter. He proceeded to present her with some items she could trade for her stick. She didn't have the self-assuredness to haggle very much, but she had a great time and walked away with a bag of gold rocks and some candy. A worth-while trade indeed!

If you're ever in the part of the province, I highly recommend a visit this historic site. It's even worth a side-trip from Vanderhoof or Prince George because Stuart Lake is wonderful and would be a great place to camp.

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