A quarterly newsletter with updates on museum going-ons and history tidbits!
Aid from Abroad
Looking back: Notable Fires of Powell River - 2
Website Spotlight - 4 Featured Books & Merch - 5 A Poem from the Archives - 6
at qMAS - 8 INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
Collection Project - 7
Summer is a busy time at the Museum; between extended hours, summer programs, and in-town festivals and events, there’s never a shortage of things for staff to do. This year, we sadly were not successful in getting grant funding for our usual summer students, but we still managed to find ourselves with an extra set of hands (at least for July).
Thanks to the program Northern Youth Abroad, we were paired with a high schooler from the Northwest Territories for a 6-week volunteer placement. It’s been wonderful having Faith, our student volunteer, around to help out behind the scenes. She’s headed on home come the end of July, and we wish her luck in her future endeavors!
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Looking Back: Notable Fires of Powell River
by Devan Gillard
The Early Years
Fires can be one of the most devastating events in a community. A mix of wooden construction and a lack of fire safety contributed to the commonality of fires. Significant fires have been recorded in the Powell River Area since the early settler days.
In 1918 on Easter Sunday, a fire burned through Tla’amin territory and the village of tišosəm. Many Tla’amin people escaped the flames via canoe or by wading into the water. The village was burned completely to the ground, but fortunately, not a single life was lost. [1]
In 1922, a fire broke out in the Lang Bay area, causing widespread destruction. Only two homes and the schoolhouse were spared. Similarly to the 1918 fire, people sought safety by heading into the ocean. It was said that during this fire driftwood burned as it rose and fell with the tide.[2] While no loss of life is mentioned, several families left the area afterward.[3]
The Blazing Fifties
While there were no fires as devastating as those from Powell River’s early years, fires were a constant potential hazard. In the early fifties, Powell River couldn’t seem to catch a break. Over a period of
thirteen months between 1950 and 1951, Carey’s Furniture Store, the Westview School, the Fiesta Grill, the Westview Wharf, and the saw and planning mill at the Shingle Mill all burned down.
The fire at Carey’s furniture store endangered several nearby homes and businesses and was, at the time, the worst fire in Westview’s history.[4] The
Lang Bay School after fire of 1922| PH001888
Tla’amin fire aftermath 1918 | 1967.1.16
fire at Carey’s was eclipsed for size nearly one year later by the Westview Wharf fire. A fire on top of the wharf ignited the creosote pilings underneath, creating a mushroom cloud of smoke. The sheer scale of the smoke plume that the fire created drew crowds that firefighters struggled to work around. The fact that the wharf’s water pipes had been turned off for the winter added to the difficulty.
The damage from the fire at the wharf
was valued at up to $450,000. The only casualty was Blackie, a cat who lived on the wharf.[5] The wharf fire brought up more questions about the lack of fire hydrants and water pressure, particularly in the Westview area.
Schools on Fire
Schools seem to be particularly unlucky in Powell River. In 1950, the Westview School burnt down. No one was hurt and at the time the volunteer Fire Chief told parents to “thank God the school had burned down,” as he had always believed that the building was not safe for children.[6]
The Westview School was not the only school to have fire trouble. In 1974, a young arsonist set a fire at Grief Point School causing $200,000 in damages.[7]
And in 1994, a fire blazed through the construction site of the new Brooks High School. The school had been demolished in 1993 to build a new school on the site. The fire destroyed half of the new school.[8]
All these fires were extremely lucky in that they involved little to no loss of life. Looking back, the fire history of Powell area is an example of the importance of fire protection and vigilance.
Sources on page 6
Shinglemill fire, 1951 | 1967.1.519
Locals flock to the Wharf fire, 1951 | ND001109
Virtual Exhibit Spotlight
by Mary Williams, Assistant Curator
The Story of Cedar
The Collections Project is still far from over (see page 7 for the full scoop), meaning staff have yet to turn their attention to the exhibits on display for the public. A few small changes have been done here and there, but nothing major. That being said, there are still lots of exhibits for the public to see - both in person and online.
The Story of Cedar is one of our virtual exhibits. Created by past Collections Manager Nikita Johnson and Tla’amin Elder Betty Wilson, “The Story of Cedar” tells just that: the story of how the different parts of the cedar tree have been traditionally used. It covers everything from cedar biology to spiritual beliefs regarding the plant.
With interesting diagrams and many photographs, this virtual exhibit does an excellent job of sharing this aspect of traditional Tla’amin life. Of course, the information presented there online also applies to a number of other coastal Indigenous Groups who make use of cedar.
Take a look to learn more about the natural history of the area, and about traditional harvesting practices that are continued to this day.
*This exhibit is best viewed on a desktop browser.
Featured Books & Merch
Time to Wonder
Sue Harper and S. Lesley Buxton
$22.00
Go on…be a time traveller, an anthropologist, an archeologist, an artist, or an explorer! Be everything at once! When you visit a museum, you enter an amazing world where you are limited only by your imagination. The books in the Time to Wonder series give adventurous families a backstage pass to explore behind the scenes in regional museums throughout British Columbia.
Brown Bear Squishable
A Cuddly Woodland Friend
$25.99
This adorable and huggable brown bear is so soft and fluffy, he’s the perfect companion for adults and children alike! Bring home this ball of cuteness today! Not a fan of bears? He also has some aquatic friends that are available.
qMAS | Summer 2024 | Page 6
A Poem from the Archives . . .
2012.24.28
Written by Ossie Stevenson.
On the back of a photograph donated by Arthur Woodward.
Why aren't you satisfied as I To drowse beneath the summer sky And dream away the hours; To watch the breeze upon the grass, And contemplate the clouds that pass Above this world of ours.
And pussyfoot among the rushes Scaring rabbits, toads, and thrushes, You sneak around this stump. You peer with caution o'er the logs, And tramp my runways with your clogs For fear that I will jump.
So take your picture and be gone, I'm here for you to focus on I'll neither frisk nor scurry. This springboard hole is warm and cozy, I'd sleep if you weren't so nosey, So hurry, fella', hurry.
Sources
[1]Osmond,Colin “Nehmotl”Apr 2018
[2]Thompson,G W Boats,Bucksaws,andBlisters:PioneerTalesofthePowellRiverArea Powell RiverHeritageResearchAssociation,1990,p 95
It’s been a few months since we last shared an update on the collection project. Many people assumed that, since we reopened our doors, the project was finished, when that is far from the case!
After waiting for over three months for our new mobile shelving to arrive, it finally appeared during the last weeks of May. Eight days of installation later, and the mobile shelving was in.
Mostly.
There was a slight oversight where one of the racks we ordered was two inches too tall to fit in the collection room (we have some big ceiling support beams) and had to be taken away and rebuilt. So the shelving isn’t quite all here, but it’s 95% here, and staff is thrilled.
Now that the shelving is in, staff have been working with local moving company TMS to bring all the artifacts back from the temporary off-site storage location. It’s being done in a few stages, but by the end of the summer everything will be back on Museum property.
There is still a lot of collection work for staff to do (have you taken over 12,000 photographs? It’s a lot!), which means
we’ll continue to be busy for a while yet. One of these days we’ll get every object on a shelf, and staff can’t wait to share it when we do!
It just might be a little ways off.
Background
Our collection hit over capacity in 2021, and years of rotating staff led to some discontinuity in collections organization, a common challenge for most museums.
By doing this massive project, not only will we be gaining more usable storage space in our collection room, but we’ll also be able address preservation and storage needs for each artifact one at a time.
By the end of the project, our artifacts will be receiving excellent care, and our database records will be so thorough we’ll know everything (or almost everything) there is to know about each item.
Staff looks forward to the more efficient workflow they’ll get, and the public should look forward to the exciting ideas we have for programming and display once everything is done.
