Cumberland House 1949-51

In the early summer of 1949, after he was finished his term in the Winnipeg School of Art, my father Mike (Paul Kelpin) was employed as a clerk with the HBCo and posted to Cumberland House, Saskatchewan. We left our home in Grandpa Wright's house at #1 Frank Street, met my mother's parents Babushka and Dedushka in Swan River, and then flew into Cumberland House from The Pas. Later Grandpa Wright, Mike's maternal grandfather, paid us a visit. Other friends and relatives found a way to visit our family, including my parents' good friends Frank and Sheila Gawley.

My memories of this time are pretty vague, as I was only 15 months old when we arrived and 3 1/2 when we left. What I do remember clearly was the warehouse burning. A quick thunderstorm brewed up, I think in summer 1951, and lightning struck the warehouse across a field from our house. Mike and a crew of volunteers managed to save the pool table from the flames, breaking a leg off in the process, but the building and inventory were lost. I was particularly concerned about the chewing gum that was burned in the fire.

The HBCo post was on the shore of Cumberland Lake, which is connected to the Saskatchewan River. The lakeshore was close to the HBCo buildings, but now with dropping water levels it is over a kilometre away. Mike enjoyed fishing and canoeing on the lake. He had a frightening experience once when he and a friend capsized the canoe with me on board. I disappeared, until a very panicked father found me bobbing around underneath the upside-down canoe! I can't imagine what was going through his mind!!! I've never enjoyed swimming.

Cumberland House was the HBCo's first year-round inland trading post, established in 1774. Being on the only river route west it continued to be a prominent post for nearly a hundred years. I'm a descendant of Andrew Fidler, who was born here in 1806. In 1818 his 16-year-old sister Sarah started her family in Cumberland House as the "country wife" of HBCo governor William Williams until he abandoned them in 1822 to join his English wife and family in Upper Fort Garry. Nice guy....

The R.J.Wright family home at #1 Frank Street, Tuxedo, 1949. Grandpa Wright built this house in 1907 on land originally owned by his parents, Mary Wright and Archibald F. Wright.

Mom and I, with Snow White, beside the front gate at #1 Frank Street, 1949.

Mike with Grandpa Wright's trophy-winning Belgian team on Frank Street in 1949.

This was our house in Cumberland House. The building on the right might be the stone powder magazine from the original fort. 

Mom and I in front of the store in 1950.

The building behind me is the warehouse that burned in 1951. It was probably a post and log structure, and is possibly one of the buildings in the 1894 photo below. 

The same warehouse from the field in front of our house. My parka is made of rabbit fur. 

Babushka, Dedushka and me, Swan River, 1949. 

With Grandpa Wright, 1950 

I believe this was the site of the HBCo post, looking south with the lakeshore at the lower left corner. I've spent endless hours trying to establish where the store and our house were located in 1950, with no success. Where is the powder magazine?

Cumberland House from the dock on July 3, 1894 by J.B. Tyrrell.
The building on the far right may be the warehouse that burned in 1951.

We left Cumberland House in late fall 1951 and moved to Montreal for Mike to attend Fur Training School.