CALGARY, CANADA—A one-room log cabin constructed in the 1870s or 1880s across the Elbow River from Fort Calgary is being carefully restored. The cabin, known as Hunt House, is thought to be Calgary’s oldest building still in its original location. “It will become Fort Calgary’s most important artifact. We will use that to tell the story of Fort Calgary as a site and we will also use it to tell the story of the Hudson’s Bay Company that first arrived in Calgary,” Fort Calgary’s Cynthia Klaassen told CBC Canada. Among the artifacts recovered during the restoration and conservation process is a rolled up newspaper dating to 1890. It was discovered in the roof of the house, where it was probably placed as added insulation. A pair of shoes and a mummified rat were found under the cabin’s floor, as was a piece of wood that may have served as a child’s block. Several glass bottles from the site include one from London dating to the 1920s, and a vanilla bottle dating to the Hudson’s Bay period.
