Night at the Museum Summer Projects
This summer, some of our summer staff took on special projects to present to the public for Night at the Museum! As they complete them, we’ll add them here.
Mining Tours
For the Rossland Museum's annual "Night at the Museum" event, I developed a short tour on Rossland's mining history. Throughout the tour I evaluated different artifacts and independent research projects I had done throughout the year and demonstrated my knowledge to groups of 10 or less. Throughout the presentation, I discussed the origins of the mining claims, the pneumatic drills, air compressors and successive generations of mining technology.
-Callum
The Map Collection
For the Night at the Museum, I presented and discussed a small collection of maps that I found particularly interesting while I have been working with the Museum’s map collection throughout the summer. I set it up as an informal discussion surrounding the maps and what I have learned over the summer, from Rossland’s history and geology, to the various ways maps should be stored and preserved.
I selected 9 maps in total. The first two depicted mining claims in the area surrounding Rossland, with one from 1930 that included everything between Rossland and Sheep Creek (east of Salmo), and another which showed a more detailed view of the claims directly surrounding Rossland. I chose these to use as a reference for the other mining maps I chose but also to show the scale of the mining work done in Rossland compared to the rest of the area. For the third map, I chose another mining claim map, however this one was selected because it is a blueprint, and I wished to talk about the history of blueprinting and when it was used.
I selected a site map of the old Chinese Gardens, which shows the old buildings and infrastructure that was there previously, overlaid with plans for the new developments that were being added. I decided to bring out this map to give insight on how the Chinese Gardens looked before development, and to include a municipal map. Two skiing maps were included, one map from 1986 that depicted existing and proposed trails for the Black Jack Ski Club, and another showing plans for the start and finish gates for the 1967 du Maurier championships. The du Maurier map was included because it was a big part of Rossland’s history. I also selected a geological survey of the West Kootenays from 1904, along with 2 mining maps; a side view of the workings of the War Eagle mine up to 1913, and a topographic map from 1945 depicting the area and buildings surrounding the old Idaho Mine. I chose the Idaho mine map because I found it fascinating how people were building houses so close to the old mine shafts even then.
-Gabe
Some Odd Artwork
For my Night at the Museum project, I chose to showcase some of the art from the International Order of Odd Fellows. The Odd Fellows were around in Rossland from 1896 to 2008.
To give a bit of background, the Independent Order of the Odd Fellows is a fraternal order that is still around today. In their own words “The command of the IOOF is to visit the sick, relieve the distressed, bury the dead, and educate the orphan.” The name Odd Fellows does not have a precise origin; however, many odd fellows say it was because the group was created for men with odd jobs. When it was created, the Odd Fellows became a group that would give men coverage with sick pay and funeral costs that might not have been included with their jobs.
The Odd Fellows Hall in Rossland was demolished in 2008, and a good portion of their art collection and objects from the building were then donated to the museum. During my art reorganization project, I found that we had a great deal of their art and thought, why not showcase it, as it has been in storage for over ten years. I also presented some of our over-sized photos of the Odd Fellows from our photo collection. I displayed the minute book from the initial meeting in 1896 and one of our older maps to show where the hall was before it was demolished. One of the main pieces of art I wanted to display was the extra-large embroidery of the majority of their symbolism, with pieces such as: the all-seeing eye, scales, skull and crossbones, and their most well-known symbol, the three links, which also symbolize their three mandates Friendship, Love, and Truth.
It was great to see all of the people that came to the event! I learned and listened to many stories and memories that people had about the Odd Fellows and their hall here in Rossland!
-Claire
Witaker Wright
Hannah split her time at the Rossland Museum between working on archives projects and helping with programs like the weekly Summer Snippets. For the Night at the Museum event, she brought her experiences all together and developed an historical presentation with a science experiment! Hannah chose to focus on the salacious story of Whitaker Wright - an early investor in Rossland's famous Le Roi Mine.
In her presentation, Hannah shared: "Whitaker/ Witaker Wright was a man of rich dreams who attempted to make those dreams a reality by cheating. This resulted in a stupendous scandal. Wright was the head of the London Globe and Finance Corporation and purchased the Le Roi Mine in Rossland in 1898. The losses of Wright's shenanigans amounted to an estimated $1,000,000. The Witaker Wright Scandal was through selling cheap stocks and was in trouble when the London and B.A.C. (British America Corporation) shares dropped below ideal. Whitaker became desperate to pay the fees and complete the sales. This caused uproar and an investigation into Witaker Wright’s operations when the Le Roi Mine went bankrupt in January of 1902. After being prosecuted and sentenced to seven years in prison, within the hour of being sentenced he escaped prosecution. How do you ask? Free by Death. Wright ingested Cyanide of potassium while standing right before the Justice after receiving his sentence and died on the spot. He never planned to serve his sentence. It is suspected he took the dose when he made it look like he was wiping his mouth. Witaker Wright wanted the gold and the riches but did not have what it took to get the real gold, only fools here."