May 7th 2019 - First Time on the Trail!

Today was the most beautiful day we could have hoped for. With the sun shining through the trees, students walked and gathered around our project director Bob as he described some fascinating Euro-Canadian sites in the Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve (LSCR).

Before I jump into today's activities, I thought it would be good to introduce myself, since I didn't in yesterday's post. My name is Meredith, and I am one of the 17 students working in the field school. I am finishing up my first year of university this term, and I am planning on pursuing environmental biology in the future, but maybe after this I will want to become an archaeologist! I want to do this field study because I am very interested in the lifestyles of people in the past. This blog is my project for the next several weeks, and my main goal is to inform the public, whether you know anything about archaeology or not, of our daily activities and interesting finds. Every post will contain photos of what students are working on, which will include a description of the scene. I am happy to be the source of information for the public, and hope that you enjoy this blog for the next few weeks and years to come.

With our sunny and somewhat early start at 9:30 this morning, we gathered at a wooden gazebo next to the LSCR parking lot. Once everyone had arrived we each got a list of possible sites to see today, so that there were no misspellings in our field notebooks. Once we had made it to a fork in the trail, Bob led all of the students off the path into the Martin/McKay site about 100 meters off the trail. For about 25 minutes, we explored and examined multiple artifacts laying on the ground that had been left behind by old residents of the area shown in the images below. This site was occupied by mostly women from about 1900 into the 1940s.

Bob pointed out the distinguishing characteristics of stumps logged by most commercial loggers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries (eg. springboard notches), and commented on how these differ than traditional methods used by Japanese and local Indigenous peoples of the time.

Trash left behind by residents of the Marin/McKay site. 

Bob showing us one of the many broken bottles left behind.

A water well covered up by archaeological field students in the past due to its hidden danger. The well is about 10ft deep and widens at the bottom. Cedar planks were used construct the shape, overgrown by vegetation in this picture.

Camouflaged bricks most likely used in the building of a fireplace, deconstructed when residents left.

Large amounts of trash left behind by residents of the area. Includes glass bottles, dish wear and other household items.  

Some students also spotted a modern day planting pot which Bob explained may have been where some people tried to grow marijuana in more recent years. It was stated that it was most likely teenage boys who were looking for a secluded place, that wasn't too hard to walk to.

Planting pot most likely used for small marijuana plants.

The Martin/McKay site had disappeared from public knowledge until a about ten years ago when many of these artifacts were stumbled upon by some hikers going off the trails. Martin and McKay were two surnames of families who supposedly lived here until the husbands died, and it was just the women left who continued to live there for another ten or twelve years. After the years of mostly women living there, it was purposely demolished and many hundreds or even thousands of artifacts are laying around, consisting of mostly broken dishes and bottles. It was previously excavated by some of Bobs students a little over a decade ago, and has been somewhat covered back up again since then. 

After leaving the first site, everyone walked down the Twin Bridges Trail for 2.2 kilometres and ended up at the the river where the two bridges had collapsed and been taken out by a massive landslide and flood in 2014.

Students walking on the Twin Bridges Trail in the LSCR.

Remaining stone of a fallen bridge from the landslide and flooding of the Seymour River in 2014.

A bridge that was just recently constructed to connect the gap in the Fisherman's Trail was walked by the students on our way to find the next site. We made it just in time as the bridge, that was a two million dollar project was just opened to the public in December of 2018.

Students walking the newly constructed bridge.

We arrived at the spot where the Hastings/Seymour Camp used to be located another kilometre down Fisherman's trail, but unfortunately we could not re-locate the site previously excavated by Bob in a field school several years ago. There was a major landslide and flooding in the region since the last excavation and Bob is unsure whether the site still exists. The trail used to reach the site no longer exists but we may try to re-locate it through surveying in the coming weeks. One student, Mitch, did find a buried bottle in a vegetated area between the south Fisherman's Trail and the Mystery Creek Trail which all of us found very interesting. It made me wonder if there were more structures on that end of the trail, and what other artifacts may be hidden beneath our feet.

Bottle found by Mitch between Mystery Creek Trail and Fisherman's Trail.

With no success finding the Hastings/Seymour Camp, the group moved on back across the new suspension bridge and up the north side of Fisherman's Trail. While walking the trail, the group encountered a tunnel that was used to run water pipes through from the reservoir into the city. It was most likely easier to dig into a giant mountain than build an underground tunnel and many residents in the area would tap into the pipes running along Seymour lake, so it was wise to have them partially protected. Over half of the students, including myself, decided go through it instead of along the path outside. 

Walking into the tunnel from the south side.

Where students exited the tunnel on the north end.

After the fun tunnel excursion, we were taken to what is known as The Point. It is where there used to be a general store/café for local residents and multiple houses and cabins. The cabins were sometimes lived in year round, but others were rented for short or longer periods of time. The majority of the structures built were destroyed when the people living there were asked to leave in 1945-1950 to protect the city's water supply, but some structures were left standing. 

Students listening to Bob talk about The Point.

A Fireplace left behind after the deconstruction of a small cabin. The cabin was most likely only the size of an average bedroom and contained this giant fireplace, which took up most of the house. The house of this fireplace was used as a long-term rental in the early to mid 1900s. 

Writing from the fireplace above showing the bricks were made in Canada.

Once we had a good look at The Point, we stopped for lunch at a small flattened area with two picnic tables and a beautiful view of the Seymour River. Everyone chatted about the things we saw today, some filling information into their field notebooks. Bob walked around and assigned some projects to a few students so they can start those tomorrow!

View of the river from our lunch area.

Students taking a well needed lunch break.

After lunch, we continued up the Fisherman's trail and found our last site of the day. The Fowler's property had a giant archway as their entrance, which was left when everything else was destroyed. The Fowler family owned a giant portion of property on both sides of the Seymour lake, and were forced out in the 1940s even though they didn't want to leave. Fencing that enclosed the Fowler's site was also somewhat visible, but most of the wood had decomposed into the soil. Bob explained that the entire area used to be filled with lush gardens and beautiful water features which were all taken down around 1950.

Entrance of the Fowler's site.

A structure with a cement base, which was uncommon in the early 1900s because most people used wood, was shown to us. Many plants have grown between cracks in the cement and all around it, making it blend in with the grass.

If you look closely around the edges you can see cement tangled in with trees and grass. This was the base to a structure built off the Fisherman's Trail. 

Bob and students walking into the site with cement structures.

To conclude our day of strolling through the LSCR, we took a steep hike up the Homestead Trail which led us back to our starting point.

Students walking up the Homestead Trail.

Overall today we walked about 10 kilometres throughout the forest on trails and through some uneven forest floor, with many hills to climb. Tomorrow we are all eager to set up our base camp at the McKenzie Creek site, and take a look at some more Japanese-Canadian sites in the same area. Hopefully every day will be just as sunny and full of interesting information as this one!