Chilliwack Museum

At the beginning of this field trip our host talked to the children about fire safety and the routes to use in the event of a fire.  Good way to start I think :)

During this presentation Trinity and Kyler were given a very in depth look at one of Chilliwack's forefather's diary.  The diary was from Charles Evans who traveled from Ontario to the Gold Rush via Panama.

During the edited reading of this diary the children in the group were given sticky notes with a date and day of Mr. Evan's journey.  They were asked to plot his course with the sticky note.

The presentation covered types of transportation used, cost of transportation, length of journey and hardships along the way.  Charles Evans talked about meeting other Canadians in New York who were on the same journey and just how dangerous it became to be on the steamers.

The children also heard about yellow fever, spoiled meat, burials at sea and bug net protection.

Our host engaged the children with questions about the types of fuel used on the steamers and how the weather changed from North to South and South to North.  She also made note of the different species of sea creatures encountered by Mr. Evans and how they changed as the water grew warmer.

Finally, the kids were told about how Mr. Evans journey ended in, not gold but politics, as his body was not cut out for tent life.  After his early death, his wife and sons became dairy farmers, supplying the CPR workers in Yale with fresh butter. 

A subsequent slide show gave the children a look at how people, ships and places looked in the early to late 1800's.  They saw not just Chilliwack but New Westminster and Yale.

As seen above,  the children matched a photo with information about that local, famous, settler.  They had a page to fill out with that information and they had to search for that person's picture on what used to be the wall of the town hall meeting room.

In a second activity the children identified artifacts from the First Nations peoples in the area, the Chinese settlers and the local farmers.  At the end they all helped make bannock and learned about how many people relied on it as a staple food.  They were able to taste it with a bit of jam.

What fun!