Chicken races at the fort.

Paarens Beach Provincial Park, Fort St. James BC (2 stars)

We went into Fort St. James today to visit the old fort. This is an amazing place coming from the two of us who have seen many forts and historical places in Western Canada.

The fort has two Grade 1 listed buildings and for good reason. The first is the Fur Store, which is the oldest standing Red River frame fur trade building in Canada. As a side note, in the late 1700's, the only two fur trade posts in the west were For St. James and Fort William (Thunder Bay). The second listed building is the Fish Cache, a raised building to house drying fish. Very unique.

The interpretive staff in the fort are fantastic. Their knowledge is exceptional; no question went unanswered. And the artifacts (some real, some reproductions) that fill these buildings is amazing. They are literally filled with items as they would have been in 1896.

We spent some time talking to the host in the fur store building. He explained in detail the eventual use of the various types of pelts in the store. It was certainly more than just beaver pelts for beaver felt hats, then prized in England. He explained the business of running a fur store. In today's dollars, this one fort was a million dollars a year business. As he said, people didn't come out here for adventure; they came here to make money. Lots of it.

Furs and other goods were loaded on a 30 foot sail boat that could hold 100 tonnes! It made its way to the far west end of Stuart Lake, portaged over to another lake and eventually to the Pacific Ocean where it was loaded into tall ships and sailed to England via Cape Horn.

Visit the site if you are in the area. So realistic, and everything is touchable. Lee had never felt a silver fox pelt, for example. Hopefully our photos give you a good idea of what we saw.

If you have ANY interest in the history of our country, and who settled it and what they did to build the homes and towns that are now here - Fort St. James BC is very well presented. We spent just over 2.5 hours in the fort. The interpretive staff are excellent spokespersons for the Fort. Even though we have been through our share of the forts across Canada, there was more to learn, as this climate and location shares other perspectives of life in the late 1800's in our country.

160 photos later, we are now trying to streamline them onto the blog. Racing chickens, a baby goat, a lakeview lunch, the fur trade store and warehouse, dried salmon hanging from the rafters, a glimpse of officer's residence vs the men's housing.

It is hard to understand why or even how, people would have lived in this harsh environment.