Fort Edmonton Park is full of interesting objects
and antique tools. One such object recently caught our
attention. An interesting device that we couldn't explain so we
turned to one of our amazing Curators, Benita Hartwell to find
out more.
"The proper term for the device is a candlemold. It would have
been made by a tinsmith, probably working out of the back of Ross
Bros. Hardware, which we represent on 1885 Street. Frederick Ross,
one of the two brothers who ran the store, was a tinsmith. Although
the business shipped in a great deal of heavy equipment by Red
River cart and riverboat, it was in the interest of all settlers,
and especially businessmen, to be able to make and repair goods
from other products at hand. Most early hardware stores were
operated by tinsmiths, since they could make simple products, and
then assemble or repair more complex items like cast-iron stoves,
the staple of the hardware store.
Candles themselves would have been made of tallow
in 1885, which is made by rendering beef fat. Rendering fat is
almost as important an industry to Edmonton as fur trading is, but
far less celebrated. During the fur trade, Fort Edmonton's position
near the prairies made it ideal as a pemmican-production centre.
Aboriginal bands would trade meat and fat in addition to pemmican.
It would be the job of both men and women to render fat and mix the
tallow with pounded dried meat to make high-calorie pemmican - the
fuel of the fur trade. In 1847, Fort Edmonton and the other posts
in the Saskatchewan District produced 7,392 lbs of hard grease and
over 100,000lbs of pemmican!
Tallow was also vital for candles, as Hudson's Bay
Company clerks kept meticulous books by candlelight. Soap was also
made from tallow, making fat one of the most versatile and
necessary ingredients in history.
By the settlement period, the fat would come from
cattle instead of bison, but the uses would be similar. Later on,
fancy candles could arrive for purchase at a place like Reed's
Bazaar without having to make one's own. Thomas Henderson,
whose house is represented on 1905 Street, was one of the first
Edmontonians to keep bees, thus introducing homemade beeswax
candles to the settlement.
I could go on, but any
curious folk should come down to the park yourself and ask a
costumed interpreter! Got any good stories or tricks for
making tallow candles? We'd love to hear them.