Listen Live
HomeNewsDiscovery North Bay Museum opens major Canada 150 exhibit

Discovery North Bay Museum opens major Canada 150 exhibit

The Discovery North Bay Museum has officially opened a Canada 150 exhibit that depicts North Bay’s early history.  Museum curator Naomi Hehn says displays include artifacts on the early fur trade and items recovered from the John Fraser, a logging ship that burnt and sank in Lake Nipissing during the 19th century.   Hehn says the ship caught fire and sank but recently some artifacts from the Fraser were recovered.

She says the artifacts were taken  from Lake Nipissing during the 1970s and they provide a little window of what life was like on a logging ship in North Bay more than a hundred years ago.  The display includes quotes from some of the survivors.    Hehn says when the decision was made to create the exhibit, the challenge was finding people with artifacts.  However people in the area were happy to share their collections once they understood what the museum had in mind.  Hehn says what visitors will also find interesting are ancient artifacts on loan from Laurentian University that were discovered in North Bay.  Some of the artifacts are more than 1,000 years old and others are from the 1800s to 1820s during the fur trade.  Hehn says among them are pipe bowls, pieces of pottery, trade beads and lead shots.   The artifacts were found near Fort Laronde which was really more like a trading post.  A plaque in Champlain Park marks the approximate area where the fort would have stood at the turn of the 19th century.  Fort Laronde virtually disappeared around the 1820s when the fur trade was re-routed.

Other artifacts include uniforms worn by soldiers from North Bay during both World Wars and during peace time as well.   Some rail history is also represented.  Hehn says the current exhibit will be a long term one where displays will be switched off for others over the next long while.

- Advertisment -
- Advertisment -
- Advertisement -

Continue Reading