Maggie Gairdner has lived off the land all her life. She was told that she was born near a large tree along the Nelson River. When Maggie was about three years old she can remember living at Deer River. Deer River empties into the Nelson River about 5 km up from the 317 Bridge (Nelson River Bridge ). At the mouth of the Deer River Harry Dickie has a cabin and trap line.
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Photograph provided by Maggie Gairdner
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Photograph provided by Maggie Gairdner. |
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Maggies family would travel from place to place, moving camp along the river hunting and trapping . Maggie is pictured here in front of her house at the Old Fort (in 1939), with her older sister Madeline and her younger brother John (Johnny Deer).
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This was the first spring beaver caught. Pictured here holding the beaver stretcher is John and Maggie Mayo.
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Photograph provided by Maggie Gairdner
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Photograph provided by Maggie Gairdner. |
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This picture was taken at the Old Fort in 1946. Gramma Mayo (Mary Anne Mayo) is holding her first granddaughter, Maggies first daughter.
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Maggie raised her children at the Old Fort. Maggie made sure her children knew about living in the bush. Even when her own children were quite little, Maggie taught them the things her parent taught her; how to snare rabbits, skin beaver and moose. She would show them how to make dry meat, put in a night line (fishing) and just how to camp in the bush (lighting a fire, cooking, berry picking). In the winter, Maggie can remember doing a lot of sewing. She laughed when she remembered how she use to sell full moose hide muckluks to the RCMP officers and the Hudsons Bay for just $15.00 a pair.
Harriet and Paul Whitehead, Jeannie, Maryanne and Thomas Michelle and Betty Parson. (all cousins)
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Photograph provided by Maggie Gairdner
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Photograph provided by Maggie Gairdner. |
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Old Fort Picture - The Gairdner Family at Easter.
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Old Fort Picture - The Gairdner and Harrold Family.
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Photograph provided by Maggie Gairdner
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Photograph provided by Maggie Gairdner. |
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Snake River
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The Gairdners trap line cabin at Deer River.
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Photograph provided by Maggie Gairdner
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According to most people, the Old Fort was a lovely place to live. Most people would have wanted to stay at the Old Fort but in 1959 the Treaty First Nations people were told they had to move to the 295 Reserve. By 1962 most people had left the Old Fort. The Gairdner family stayed at the Old Fort. It was not until 1973 that Maggie Gairdner moved her family into town.
Photograph provided by Maggie Gairdner. |
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In this photograph Mary Loe and Baptiste Villeneuve are standing outside the Game Warden Office. Mary Loe did not move from the Old Fort until 1969 and Baptiste Villeneuve stayed until he died in 1971.
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on to part 2 . . .
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