One of the great things about spending 4 days / 3 nights at Fort Steele as a grade 7 student at the Calgary Science School is the opportunity to immerse yourself in some of the prevalent jobs / trades of the 1890s. K thought this was the best thing about going to Fort Steele and had a great time trying his hand at being a tinsmith, a blacksmith, a leather worker, a homemaker, a railway worker, a surveyor, a gold panner and a cook. I hope these photos provide a sense of his experience…
Tinsmith shopTinsmith tools and a few strands of handmade tinselMr. McBain instructs K on the fine points of working with tinK tries his hand at making a hand-forged nail in the blacksmith’s shopThe master leather maker at Fort Steele made harnesses, saddles and moreA vast array of punches, awls and other tools hung on the wall in the harness and leather shopK punches some designs onto a leather bookmark while his home room teacher, Mr. C, works on a custom pouch for his trusty Swiss Army knifeK prepares an apple to be dried in the wood stove, a simple pioneer technique for preserving some foods for later consumptionThe apple peels and cores don’t go to waste and K enjoyed feeding the parings to the Barred Plymouth Rock chickensK and classmate A measured, mixed, baked and served the bannock that accompanied the beef stew for supper one eveningAlthough the equipment and sanitation measures were thoroughly modern, the students got a taste of some old-fashioned work when they had to wash, dry and put away dishes from a meal for 65 peopleK thoroughly enjoyed fur trader Jack-o’s tales of life as a fur trader in the 1890sAfter helping to lay a section of railway track, K enjoyed a short break while waiting for his turn to pump the hand-car along the Fort Steele railwayAt the end of a long day’s work, the students enjoyed a sing-a-long around a candle “campfire” in one of the NWMP sleeping barracks – some well-deserved relaxation after their apprenticeship program
