There are a lot of events happening this summer that provide a chance for folks to learn in person and by doing things together: 1: The Upper Columbia United Tribes is sponsoring an exhibit at the Spokane Museum of Art and Culture: AWAKENINGS: TRADITIONAL CANOES AND CALLING THE SALMON HOME SEPT 25, 2021-AUG 21, 2022… (read more)
There a lot of ways to think about history and as it turns out to “do” history. The Friends of Spokane House (friendsofspokanehouse.com) recently encamped near the Kettle Falls Historical Center (kettlefallshistoricalcenter.com) where they demonstrated tools, skills, sign language, clothes and artifacts of the fur trade era, specifically from 1810 to 1820. The dates are… (read more)
Waterways were the highways of history. Boats would carry heavy loads such as venison and firewood to villages on the shore. Visitors from afar also arrived by boat. After Hudson’s Bay Fort Colvile was established in 1825, it soon became a hub for both native watercraft and new designs emerging from the fur trade. In… (read more)
The man business of the HBC was, of course,the fur trade, and Colvile, like all the major HBC posts, traded for a lot of furs (47k+ of beaver alone, 1826-50). HBC kept meticulous records of what were called fur returns—trade goods went out to the trading units (land posts, trapping brigades, and coastal trading vessels),… (read more)
