Annual event celebrates pioneer life where Fort Nisqually once stood

A vibrant chapter of South Sound history was brought to life Sunday in DuPont.

Organizers say about 500 people turned out for the annual Hudson Bay Day and Salmon BBQ, which featured antique guns, historical demonstrations, pioneer activities and tours of the grassy 20-acre archeological site where a 1843 trading post, known as Fort Nisqually, once stood.

“It’s honoring all the people who have lived here — the Nisqually tribe, the Hudson Bay employees and their descendents — and our rich history,” DuPont Museum manager Johanna Jones said. “This is a gateway to Puget Sound history.”

The event was kicked off with a blessing by Nisqually elder Joe Kalama and songs by the tribe’s Sq ali abs Canoe Family.

“We come here to help these ones to celebrate and tell the history of Fort Nisqually,” Kalama prayed. “And how we associated with them, and how we helped them.”

In addition to watching demonstrations by wood and leather workers, visitors had a chance to tackle some typical pioneer chores, such as creating cedar shakes, preparing coffee beans with an antique grinder, rolling out biscuit dough and making rope.

Sarah Potts, 8, of DuPont said she enjoyed learning how pioneers lived.

“I feel like it would be quite hard for me,” she said. “It would be work, work, work.”

Fort Nisqually opened in a temporary site in 1833 and was moved a decade later so it could be closer to Sequalitchew Creek, a water source vital to the fort, according to historian Drew Crooks of Olympia.

“There used to be all types of buildings,” Crooks said, pointing around the archeological site, where pieces of wood mark the fort’s location. “This was like a whole town.”

The British-owned company traded furs and other goods with Native Americans and maintained a strong relationship with the nearby Nisqually tribe, Crooks said.

“From 1843 to 1870, it was a business, it was a multicultural community and it was a meeting place,” he said.

The fort closed in 1870. Two of its original buildings were relocated and now can be viewed at the Fort Nisqually Living History Museum at Point Defiance in Tacoma.

Lisa Pemberton: 360-754-5433

lpemberton@theolympian.com

This story was originally published September 26, 2011 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Annual event celebrates pioneer life where Fort Nisqually once stood."