by Katherine Dow

Adorned with decorative fringes and glass beads, this moosehide pouch from the early twentieth century was used to carry shot, gun flints, files, gun worms for cleaning the barrel, and other equipment required for gun repair. The horns, which came from either a bison or a cow, were strong and waterproof — ideal for carrying gunpowder. Both Aboriginal and European traders would carry these commonly used firearm accessories.

90 Years Ago

At the fore

The January 1922 issue described the new HBC Indoor Golf Club, a school for golf-happy HBC members that had opened the previous month at the Calgary location. The school featured a putting green and three areas to practise driving. It was considered one of the “most up-to-date of its kind in Canada.” The only other comparable golf school at that time was in Chicago.

60 Years Ago

Today and yesterday

S.A. Taylor’s article in the December 1952 issue conveyed the dramatic lifestyle changes he’d witnessed among the Aboriginal people of northern Ontario. When Taylor joined the company in 1905, the women favoured printed cotton dresses and fancy flowered silk handkerchiefs for their summer wear. By 1952, the “trend of the white man” had caught on and factory-made outfits were the norm. However, some traditions, such as tikinagans for carrying babies, lived on.

30 Years Ago

River rafting in the West

In the Summer 1982 issue, writer Richard Harrington told of a new rafting adventure in Western Canada — a twelve-day trip on the remote Tatshenshini and Alsek rivers. The trip took rafters through the Yukon, northwestern British Columbia, and eventually into Alaska’s Glacier Bay National Monument. The Tatshenshini had one major drawback — it was a “long way from anywhere.” The wild waters offered explorers the illusion of being the first ever to run the rivers.