fort langley

Damian and I tried our hand at barrel making in the cooperage. In the spring when Barb and I visited the gentlemen in here he was a wealth of information, but he wasn't here today so it must have been his day off. Making those barrels was quite tricky. They had different wood shaving tools to form the wood concave, convex and straight edges. they had lots of long strips of twigs to form the rings. also had iron rings. They and to be waterproof for transportation and they were round because it was easier to roll a barrel with one employee than having to lift a heavy box with 2...
The barrels staves were made of white pine....stave lake is named for the source of the staves. it is our native white pine -pinus monticola- that is the pine used
the barrels were used to ship salmon to Hawaii. also cranberries and potatoes.
the Hawaiians wanted our salmon as the HBC ships stopped at Hawaii along with all the other European nations that were plying the pacific ocean as part of the china trade. in Hawaii the dutch like the salmon so initially the salmon was destined to be sold to them, but the Hawaiian islanders also wanted the salmon as it was a coloured flesh. there is a legend in Hawaii about how all the fish there no longer had coloured flesh due to something that the islanders did to anger the gods. The gods turned all their fish flesh to white. so a lucrative trade was made between the Hawaiian islands and the HBC fort. George Siimspon the governor of the HBC was always about making money. ALL the HBC forts had to be self sufficient in his eyes so all had farms associated with them, and they and to trade to pay for themselves.Les mer