Oolichans & other stinky stuff; Spratt's Ark (was Re: Iskit/Secret Island

[Mike Cleven]

>From: terry glavin <transmontanus at GULFISLANDS.COM>

>
>coquitlam, more closely translated, is "smelly fish slime." two stories
>i've
>heard about that - it denotes the abundance of oolichan spawning at the
>mouth of the coquitlam river (prior to recent stock collapses it was still
>like that - i have drift-gillnetted for oolichan across the mouth of the
>coquitlam by canoe); the other is that the coquitlam people used to work in
>the sockeye oil rendering, for the musqueam, by what is now the seaplane
>dock, which used to be directly in front of the b.c. penitentiary, which is
>now all condos.


BTW Terry, you'd probably know - the old oilery barge in Coal Harbour,
Spratt's Ark as it was known, was it sardines or oolichans it used for oil
rendering?  Would seem more likely the latter; unless sardines were equally
abundant before depleted.  Those in the group who haven't heard of this
might be interested to know that Spratt's Ark supplied nearly all machinery
and other oils for industry and mills on Burrard Inlet well into the 20th
Century; entirely from fish oil.  IIRC it was around since before the Great
Fire of 1885, as it was a haven for some of the escapees from that
conflagration.....

MC
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