Fishy

Sunday's spur-of-the-moment excursion was down to Steveston, an old salmon fishing village at the mouth of the Fraser River, at the south edge of the city.  It was part of an "Open Doors" day, where a bunch of museums were free of charge.  We enjoyed a tour of the cannery museum, where we saw how they used to can the salmon fresh from the ocean.  Strangely, neither one of us took any photos - I think we were too appalled by the horrid conditions in which they worked.  And it was really cold in there.  We then got out in the warm sun, and took a walking tour of the village, put on by the Steveston Museum.


Nice little bike shop, in a former Japanese barber-shop.  Two events in history conspired to nearly wipe the town off the map - a major rock-slide in the Fraser River, which reduced the salmon population to a trickle, and the 2nd World War, when all the people of Japanese heritage were removed from the coast, and held in internment camps.  90% of the businesses on the main street were owned by Japanese businessmen, and thus were closed down.

Britannia Heritage Shipyard, a beautiful old mess of a building, originally a salmon cannery, but reused as a fishing boat repair shed when the salmon stock declined.  Currently under repair is a 60' boat built to supply the U.S. with rum during their prohibition.

A view of one of the net lofts, where they would store and repair the nets in the off-season.
 

Some of the tools in the ship yard.

The whole city of Richmond (of which Steveston is a part) is right about at sea level, and surrounded by dikes to keep out the water.  Houses and other buildings were built on stilts, in the swampy land that existed before the dikes were completed and the land drained.

There are still a few active farms existing in amongst the houses and commercial areas, including an 11 acre cattle farm, owned by the Steves family, after whom the town is named.  We visited another one nearby that's been restored as a museum, where they still do a little bit of farming, and making honey.

As we left the area, we took a drive alongside the river, and came across Finn Slough, a picturesque little tidal inlet. 

The way across the inlet is a rickety little draw-bridge, with a prominent "enter at your own risk" warning, and rightly so!

And, from a little bike ride on Saturday, not your average backstop.  It's a baseball diamond back-stop, made of several layers of chain-link fencing, drawn back as curtains - nice effect!