Pri: Beaver (ekse Re: skookum)

[Mike Cleven]

>From: Lisa M Peppan <lisapeppan at JUNO.COM>

>
>A "Beaver First Nation" . . . ? <chuckle>
>
>According to _The Empire of the Bay_ by Peter C. Newman (ISBN
>014027488-X), in 1785 a club was formed by certain members of the North
>West Company.  Its name . . . ?
>
>The Beaver Club.
>
>To quote a portion of Mr Newman's book:
>
>"Despite its astronomical liquor consumption, the Beaver Club was much
>more than an urban watering hole.  Here the Nor'Westers could abandon
>artificial dignities and re-create those heady times that had given
>meaning to their lives.  Because it was only among their own that such
>nostalgia was lifted above its more mundane level of providing an excuse
>to get drunk and break furniture, membership in the Beaver Club was
>limited to fifty-five fur traders who had spent at least one full season
>in le pays d'en haunt."  Every two weeks they met at various "prestigious
>local dining-rooms" in Montreal.
>
>Sounds like a skookum party to *me*.


Quite.  It's fun to imagine these rough'n'tough Nor'westers tearing up the
hoity-toity dining salons of Montreal (these were NWC men, too, not dour
old-guard HBC'ers).

"The Beaver" was also the name of the bar ("beer parlour") in the Empress
Hotel in Victoria, and I think there was some intentional association with
the Beaver Club, given that the Empire (?) Club is right across the street
(whatever the Victoria conservo-snotty men's club is called there; not
sure); a deliberate contrast.  The Beaver, alas, is no more......

MC
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