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History of the fishing industry in Maple Ridge chronicled

Team of researchers works for The Maple Ridge Family History Group
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Workers unload salmon at a Butterfield and Mackie Cannery on the Fraser River over 100 years ago. (City of Vancouver Archives/Special to The News)

The Maple Ridge Family History Group has launched On the River: The Fishing Industry in Maple Ridge in both print and online formats.

The project tells the story of the families involved in the business, and the importance of fish to the local economy and the community of Maple Ridge. It reels in stories from settlement in the 1890s, technological change, increase in government oversight, the First World War, the rise of unions, up to the brink of the Great Depression in 1929.

A team of eleven researchers transcribed and analyzed the 1891 census for Maple Ridge and selected four fishing families to research using vital records, directories, newspapers, government reports, maps, statistics, academic works, and images – contributing more than 500 volunteer hours. The project grew to include six families, the larger fishing industry, and the story of the Fraser River. The research files are now part of the archival collection at the Maple Ridge Museum and Community Archives.

The exhibit will be on display through February at the Maple Ridge branch of the Fraser Valley Regional Library in a display case at the front of the library and in the family history cabinets under the stairs on the first floor. The exhibit has an online aspect that can be viewed at mapleridgemuseum.org

On the River: The Fishing Industry in Maple Ridge tells the story of the fishing community within the context of Maple Ridge and through the lens of the Canadian census,” said Andrea Lister, project coordinator. “The project tells the untold stories of families who were an active part of the community of Maple Ridge for generations but whose voices have not been included in the dominant narratives.”

The Maple Ridge Family History Group, a standing committee of the Maple Ridge Historical Society, has served the community since 1999. In previous years the group has undertaken four projects that describe the family ties that brought families together to build the foundations of the community.


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