Sightseeing in Hope

We went out to explore Hope today. In 1848, the Hudson's Bay Company built Fort Hope as a key transfer point along a new trail that would link the Fraser River to Kamloops. It represented the HBC's best hope of replacing fur trading routes lost to the Americans after the 49th Parallel was established in 1846, dividing the 2 countries. We started at the Info Center which had a very nice Museum attached, all the early history, Hudson Bay Company, Sto:lo Natives and railways.
This is a serious 'chain saw carving ' area and there is an Art Walk of 62 statues around town. We got got a kick out of this one with 2 little mice living in his beard. The town is situated right on the Fraser River heading to the entrance to the beautiful Fraser Valley. This carving show a fisherman with a Sturgeon which are found here. Next stop was the original Pioneer Cemetery which showed how many infants down very young.
We finished the day with seeing the oldest church on the Mainland and going through the Othello tunnels.