Artifact not from Simpson
Derek Neary
Northern News Services
Fort Simpson (Nov 10/00) - It seems history has thrown Fort Simpson a curve ball.
The sundial at the Visitor Information Centre was once thought to belong to the community, but it turns out that it wasn't made here at all.
The original Fort Simpson sundial was built in 1888 and rested on the grounds of the Hudson's Bay complex, near the riverbank.
The base of the sundial, which has a green tint, was forged from lead, presumably obtained by melting down musket balls and the lead linings of tea boxes, according to historian Stephen Rowan.
Carved in the base of the sundial are names of prominent community members who helped build the time-telling device. Among those who erected it were I.S. Camsell, Rev. David N. Kirkby, A. Laviolette and Capt. J. Bell, who was the captain of the steamship Wrigley.
The Hudson's Bay complex was torn down after the Second World War, according to Rowan. However, the questioned remained what was going to be done with this old sundial?
Charlie Hansen and Edward Villeneuve used a tractor to move the sundial to St. David's Anglican church. That was only a temporary resting place. In 1968, when St. David's Church was relocated to its current location, the sundial was donated to the museum in Yellowknife, Rowan said.
When the Fort Simpson Historical Society was formed in 1980, one of the burning questions was if there was the old sundial?
An employee at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre told a member of the Historical Society that the sundial was being used as a bird-bath in front of the home of John Anderson-Thomson, an early Yellowknife pioneer who was deceased.
The owner of the home at the time, Glen Warner, agreed to send the sundial back to Fort Simpson.
"There was a big ceremony at the Nahanni Inn, lots of people and speeches," Rowan recalled of the 1993 occasion. "Then Morris Lafferty called me over and he said, 'Steve, I want to tell you something. That's not the right sundial.'"
Other long-time residents concurred. It was a case of mistaken identity.
So the sundial that currently rests in the Visitor's Information Centre isn't really from Fort Simpson. Rowan knows that for sure because it's dated 1820.
"In the year 1820 there was nothing here on the island," he said, adding that nobody seems to know the origins of the "imposter" sundial.
It turns out the Fort Simpson sundial is currently in the storeroom at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre in Yellowknife. Rowan said it's being well preserved until a safe place is found in Fort Simpson.
"I think it's a reasonable thing," he said. "I don't think we have at the moment the requirements."
In the meantime, the sundial is in Yellowknife and is accessible to those who want to see it.
