Fort Connah holds its annual open house and rendezvous
<p>Elliott Natz/Lake County Leader Laurence Walchuck takes a group of visitors to the trading post site on his wagon lead by his two horses, Pete and Ross. This was Walchuck's first year working the event and said he was called last minute to bring his horses to shuttle visitors. "They were going to shuttle them in a van, and i thought, 'Whoa, that's not good!'" he said.</p>
<p>Elliott Natz/Lake County Leader Chase Jordan tries to notch an arrow with the help of his father, Travis, and Gary Steele, right. Jordan was practicing his archery skills at Steele's exhibit where he had axe throwing, an atlatl, and bow and arrows.</p>
<p>Elliott Natz/Lake County Leader Donna Dempsey listens to Gary Steele talk about his display of bows that he made. Steele runs a program called Gettin' Primitive that teaches kids how to make and use primitive tools.</p>
<p>Elliott Natz/Lake County Leader From left:Ross Baty, Marvin Sowers and Kim Koenig stand by their display, talking about hunting and camping while using their pioneer-era gear and tools. Koenig has come to the event for four years while Sowers and Baty are coming to the Rendezvous for thier first year. Sowers and Koenig have made collecting and using the early-era gear their hobbies for many years, both of them starting in their teens while Baty is new to the scene.</p>
<p>Elliott Natz/Lake County Leader Donald Safford works on making an arrowhead from a piece of obsidian rock while hosting his station at the Rendezvous. Safford started making arrowheads 12 years ago and tries to make at least two heads a day. "Now I can't go buy a rock without hitting it," Safford said.</p>
<p>Rebeca Unruh throws the atlatl a little too hard, accidentally throwing the spear and the handle. The atlatl demonstration was put on by Don Safford.</p>
Tepees, wagons, pioneers and atlatls. These were a few of the things visitors could check out at this years Fort Connah Rendezvous north of St. Ignatius.
People came in from around Lake County and beyond to enjoy a day filled with history and family fun.
Donna Dempsey, her brother Bob and her grandson Madden came to the event with the hopes of learning something new and just to check it out.
“I’ve been living here for 20 to 30 years and i thought, ‘well i better go check it out!’” Dempsey said.
Dempsey and her family wandered around the grounds, looking at different aspects of the event and taking in all the historical facts and displays.
In the 1980s, Dempsey spent her summers in the valley before she moved to Ronan area in 1988. She remembers going to a camp at Agnes Vanderburg’s home where she learned how to tan hides, make ropes and various other native practices. One of the biggest reasons she came to the rendezvous was to see how the white pioneers did many of the tasks that she learned to do in the Native ways.
“I came to see the settlers side of things,” Dempsey said.
Marvin Sowers, Ross Baty and Kim Koenig set up a small display outside a tepee near the road leading to the trading post site. All three men consider themselves to be the type of guys that do things the old fashioned way, and the many tools they had on display, knives, guns, powder pouches, were all from the same era as the Fort Connah trading post.
These guys didn’t give many lectures about their goods, they preferred to stand around and talk with visitors about more modern topics like hunting and camping and always tied it in with their display. But, they do understand very well how to use the tools and even spend weekends out in the backcountry, wearing the traditional frontier-garb and using the tools that they brought to show.
“Sometimes you get cold, and you just gotta deal with it,” Sowers said. “They (the pioneers) did!”
Joe McDonald, Chairman of the Board for the Fort Connah Restoration Society, puts the event on every year as an educational tool to teach people in the area about the history of the Mission Valley. “We want to preserve the building and draw attention to it and let people know they have this treasure here,” McDonald said. “And they can come visit it anytime.”
McDonald has a strong tie to the area through his family history. His Great Grandfather, Angus McDonald, was the man who established the trading post in 1847.
It was owned by the Hudson’s Bay Trading Company, an English trade company that operated many of the early trading posts in North America. What we now call the Mission Valley was an ideal place for a trading post because of the Pend d’Oreille, Kootenai, Blackfeet and Salish tribes that passed through the area. According to McDonald, the Pend d’Oreille were avid bison hunters and would trade hides for ammunition, powder and other modern tools of the time. And though the word “Fort” is in the name, “it’s called a fort, but there were never soldiers here,” McDonald said.
Today the building sits as a reminder of the past and gives visitors an opportunity to look back in time. Displays included atlatl throwing, spear head making, and a bow and arrow target. There was also fabric weaving, axe throwing, an open trading post, food, digging for arrow heads, and a horse drawn wagon that brought visitors to-and-from the site.
McDonald hopes to continue this event and even hiring a staff member on full time to watch over the grounds and keep it open year-round.