By Lara Fominoff @fomsy1 on Twitter

Public invited to help restore Fort Whoop- Up at “chinking and daubing” workshop

Mar 21, 2017 | 12:13 PM

LETHBRIDGE –  Some of the logs are old, waterlogged and rotting, and the rubber material holding them together can be easily chipped out in places.
 
Fort Whoop-Up, located in Indian Battle Park in Lethbridge’s river valley, is in need of a makeover.
 
Bryan Litchfield, who is the Project Manager for Facility Services for the City of Lethbridge, says a conservation/ restoration assessment was done in 2016 on the fort, and two of the areas of concern were the south and north bastions (tall strongholds).
Money was set aside in the city’s operational budget for the repairs, and the idea of a “chinking and daubing” workshop was brought up, to get the public involved.
 
“We have an expert from Calgary that is going to be doing a workshop that will show people how the traditional way of chinking and daubing went. Which is actually the stuff they put in between the logs in the buildings.”
 
Chalmers Heritage Conservation was hired to teach the workshop on April 8, 2017 and to repair the rotten logs in the fort. Owner Dave Chalmers, says the more people they can train to do it, the better it is for the fort in the long run.
 
“Typically clay chinking and daubing was done by soldiers, volunteers, families, people in the neighborhood; it’s incredibly intensive.”
 
“We’re trying to make the fort as authentic as possible,” explains Chalmers. “That’s where our company comes in. We deal almost exclusively in heritage projects across Alberta.”
 
The public will get a chance to see and learn how early settlers constructed buildings more than 100 years ago. Particpants will help create the clay mixture then apply it to the walls of Fort Whoop-Up.
 
There is a $25 dollar cost + GST to take part in the all- day workshop, which includes lunch. To register, call 403-320-3954. Or go to http://galtmuseum.com and search “daubing.”

For those who would like to volunteer/ can not afford to pay the fee, another workshop will also be held April 1, 2017.

Contact the Galt Museum’s Resource Development and Volunteer Coordinator Chris Roedler at (403) 320-4219.