110_Bob-Akerman_San-Juan-First-Nations.mp3

otter.ai

20.01.2023

yes, 11.03.2024

Molly Akerman

Bob Akerman 0:03
And he had one more year to put in, he put in five years in the American army. So instead of going back to get another covered wagon across, he was ordered up to the San Juan Islands, they had what they call a Pig War. If you have ever heard of the Pig War. There was some British living there and some Americans living there and they didn't get along well. One farmer shot the other farmers pig. So that kind of got things started there. And he was ordered with his man up from Oregon to land on the San Juan and just to keep trouble from starting there. So, I think they landed on Bellingham, they took off on Bellingham, and they went over to San Juan Islands.

BA 1:08
And the [indiscernible] there. They heard the British were landing, I think there was a forward and another boat going to land at the north end. So he got two men, and they walked all night to the north end and they got there just before daylight in the morning, and the ships were there, but they hadn't landed that might. So he had the American flag with him and they put it out on the beach and it was just starting to get daylight and he sat under the flag, he and his two men. And in the morning, I guess they looked up they saw the American flags, so they sent a boat to shore and he told them that this is American territory. They didn't do anything, they went back to get more orders in Victoria. And they sent over another party in a day or two and by that time, they had several other officers from his company up there and they talked it over and then they decided to go back to their camp so they went back to the south end. Actually there wasn't any any shooting going on or anything but it was quite tense I guess, when the British woke up that morning and saw the American flag on the beach.

BA 2:54
Anyway, everything was settled peacefully. And he stayed there for the duration, he had another few months to put in, and he stayed at the American Camp. They discharged him. He used to on his time off, he used to paddle around the islands here just looking around to see good place to pick up land and he found Fulford here and the valley which had a lot of big cedar trees at that time and they were good for splitting shakes. And the village of Victoria was just growing at that time, in the year 1860s. So he used to split shakes, then paddle them down to Cadboro Bay in Victoria, and they took them from there with oxen and sleigh into Victoria. And that is how he made his first money there buying land.

Speaker 4:00
That was Michael, did Mike marry Ellen Gyves?

BA 4:05
No, no. That was Mike Senior, my old grandpa. [Chatter]

Speaker 4:39
We'll get onto the museum then Bob. I guess the foremost question that we are all wondering, What prompted you to build the museum?

BA 4:51
I think I had this in mind for quite a few years. But, I think the main thing was my grandmother, that married Michael Gyves. She was a daughter of the Chief of the Cowichan Indians. And I spent a lot of time when I was just a little fella with her. And she taught me a lot of things. We had a little canoe in Fulford, we used to go and visit Chief Charlie. Chief Charlie was living at the reserve just out of Fulford here. And he was the last of his tribe. And he had a longhouse there, and it was just full of canoes. And I used to go just look at these canoes, they were hanging up, the war canoes were hanging up the ceiling. And you got one boat on there it’s small, it’s about the size off this table I guess. And it wasn't like the ordinary canoe, it was small, it looked like a punt, had a little place where you could sit in the center. And I wanted that canoe.

BA 6:06
Every time I go there I asked him if I could have that canoe and he shook his head and said no, he said if i give you that canoe you’ll drown yourself. So he gave me one of the other bigger ones. But I never went back to get the bigger one. I would have taken it out when I got a little bigger, but in the meantime, something very tragic happened. Chief Charlie and his wife were murdered. And I never did find out who murdered them. But that is why today the Saanich, East Saanich, who still hold the title to the reservation out here, they just don't seem to want to come back there. For the reason that Chief Charlie was murdered. That's why you don't see them. In fact, they've never come back.

Speaker 7:11
Were they the principal residents of the island? What about the upper area like vesuvius? Were there any based in that area or the north end?

BA 7:21
Actually in the North end there was mostly Indians from Penelakut tribe, who was Kuper Island and the islands around Kuper up there. They were not too far from Fernwood and North end, down that Coast. They used to camp along there. Fish and dry clams.

Speaker 7:46
They survived the Haida somehow?

BA 7:49
Well, yes, they did. The Cowichan’s, I think, had more trouble with the Haida’s. The Haida’s were a bigger tribe, but Cowichan was one of the biggest tribes on the coast at the time. They used to come to and raid them. The idea for raiding was mostly slaves, but slaves in the way we think of slaves. These other tribes maybe had a war with some other tribe up there. And a lot of them were raided and they wanted to strengthen their tribe up. So they'd come down and they come to different tribes around the South [indiscernible]. And they would like to pick out the younger, stronger people, come back and strengthen their tribe up. And actually they weren't treated that bad. Even the Cowichans would raid sometimes. And they would raid and get the younger, stronger people in the tribe and bring them back.

BA 9:15
And I think, there’s a long story, it would take too long to tell. The last raid they had, the Cowichans went back up and got a lot of their young people that the Haida’s had gotten a year before. And they not only got their own people but they got quite a number of younger people from up there. And one of them, one of the girls worked for Mrs. Maxwell, who was there in Burgoyne Bay. Mr. Maxwell, John Maxwell, he married an Indian lady from Cowichan. And this Haidi girl worked for her. And then when Douglas came in he said that anybody who was captured from any other tribe had to be returned to that tribe. And there were several of them, including Mrs. Maxwell that said no, we were pretty well raised here by the Cowichans and treated very well, we don't want to go back. So she never did go back. She lived and worked for Mrs. Maxwell at Burgoyne until she died.

Speaker 10:43
This is good to have, and like you said, this subject could go on for a long time. [Chatter]

Another Speaker 10:57
I was just gonna ask Bob where he got the logs from and how he built it, the museum.

BA 11:13
I got the logs, I used to be a logger one time, years ago. I can still use the power saw, so I went up in the bush on our property up Jones road. I cut 8-0 trees down and took the bark off them. One of my boys Patty, hes in real estate now, you might know him. He had a little skidder, so he skidded them down for me, down to the blast. And I got a truck with a [indiscernible] and brought them down, put them there. Then I got Mr. Martin, he was a log builder in Fulford and he helped me. I split the shakes. One of my boys got me the shake blocks and I split 6000 shakes. My brother from White Rock, he is a loader [indiscernible] and he came over and he and I put the put the shakes on.

Speaker 12:28
Take a good look when you're in the museum. It's a masterpiece of construction. I don't think any earthquake in the world could knock it down.

Speaker 12:39
Are there any questions from the members here or the visitors?

Speaker 12:43
Actually you didn't say why you put it up? You started the stroy but you got involved in the war.

BA 12:57
Why I put the building up, it was actually two different things. So one was more or less a tribute to the old timers. My old grandfather's came in early 60s, 1860s. Kind of a tribute to them because when they came in all they had to work with was logs, they didn't have any lumber. So that's why I tried to stay away from lumber as much as I could. And you won't see too much lumber. And I've tried to build it along the same lines. See up in the mountains up here, I remember on mount Bruce, there were around 16-18 cabins up there, log cabins the old timers had up there. Just kind of a tribute to them. And as far as Indian artifacts goes, it's kind of honor to my grandmother who was Indian. A lot of these things in the museum now and I have a lot of her baskets that she had when she was here, baskets and trays and things like that. I

Speaker 14:16
You’ve collected them from all over for a long time haven't you Bob?

BA 14:26
Oh yes. I still a lot, but I haven't any room to put them yet. I'm hoping to build down the center. You'll see it, I just have them on both sides. But down the center. I'm going to build another case sloping like that. So you can see from both sides down the middle, and then I’ll be able to show more history. I have a lot of pictures and history, which I haven't shown yet.

Speaker 14:56
When we go up to the museum, Bob will probably narrate as he goes around, I think you'd like to do it that way, sort of describe what the displays are, as you did for Bob and I.. Would you like to do it that way?

BA 15:10
Well, I have some notes on the glass. They're numbered now from one to 40 or something like that. And if you look on the glass you’ll be able to read them on what they are.

Speaker 15:29
Well that simplifies it, envisioning the group following Bob around could be difficult.

Another Speaker 15:35
They could ask you any questions?

BA 15:37
Anybody wants any questions answered? I can answer.

Speaker 15:41
And then once that is done, we can adjourn and gradually, I don't think we can all try and get in Molly's room once, it wont work.
[chatter]

Speaker 16:03
Are there any other questions from anybody? I think a lot of your questions about the museum will be answered when you're there. I think will let you off the hook Bob. But you know, for a man that said you had very few words...as a group we will say thank you to Bob for coming in and giving us a story of what you've done. And as we say before we leave the museum and seem to be done again. So, Bob, thank you for your time. Thank you.