The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Jonathon Naylor Editor Since he never studied the craft in university, Harry Moody was always considered an amateur archaeologist. But there was nothing amateur about the body of artifacts he uncovered during dozens of expeditions in the Denare Beach area. 'He had a real sincere interest in the history of Beaver Lake, the fur trade history and the aboriginal history,' says Les Oystryk of the village's Northern Gateway Museum. In honour of Moody's legacy, Oystryk has assembled a new exhibit at the museum. Using photos and original documents, it illustrates the nature and significance of Moody's work. Born in Selkirk, Man., in 1888, Moody first arrived in what is now Denare Beach to conduct mineral prospecting in 1928. He fell in love with the community and in the early 1930s opened a popular trading post. Moody also took an intense interest in the rich history surrounding him. The more he learned about the Denare Beach area and its fur-trading past, the more he began wondering where the remnants might be buried. So in the 1950s, Moody and fellow historian Tom Welsh ventured to the north side of Amisk Lake, where they located artifacts such as steel-bladed scissors and metal utensils. Moody believed these centuries-old items related to Fort Henry Frobisher, an independent British trading post established in 1774-75. Later, with the help of an aboriginal elder named George Custer, Moody located the actual site of the fort _ his signature discovery. In 1954, Moody and a different aboriginal man, Rod McDermott, excavated the site, finding fireplaces, sheet iron, homemade rivets and a flask, among other items. 'From that it just expanded into him finding all these other places where people from those days camped and lived,' notes Oystryk. All told, the kindly Moody and his partners quietly conducted 77 known field trips on Amisk Lake between 1952 and 1958. Other than First Nations people, Moody received help from professional archaeologists like Dr. Bill J. Mayer-Oakes of the University of Toronto and Dr. Scotty MacNeish of the National Museum of Canada. Unearthing Moody was instrumental not only in unearthing Denare Beach's history, but in preserving it. Oystryk called him 'the driving force' behind the launch of a museum in Denare Beach in the 1950s. 'I think when he and others realized what a fantastic collection of artifacts they had, they had to make a home for them,' Oystryk says. Though Oystryk never met Moody, who passed away some 50 years ago, his research paints a picture of a genuine, perceptive man. That certainly comes across in Moody's field notes, which are encased in glass as part of the new display. 'It has been a wonderful summer,' Moody wrote in one notebook from 1954. 'There have been many thrills. It isn't the gold that I'm wanting, so much as just finding gold. My gold is finding the steps of those who went before, and the further one goes, so many more trails appear.' For Oystryk, such written recordings are invaluable. 'He took really good notes when he went out into these archeological digs, and so it just fills the story in a little bit more,' he says. For all of the untold hours Moody put into archeology, it should be noted that his only payment was a sense of satisfaction. 'There's absolutely nothing on record anywhere where this was any type of a paid venture,' says Oystryk. 'Harry did it all voluntarily.' After his death, the Saskatchewan government paid eternal homage to Moody with a cairn featuring a plaque that briefly outlines his achievements. Fittingly, the cairn stands on Moody Drive _ near the Northern Gateway Museum he helped establish and fill with priceless pieces of the past. The new Moody display was a highlight for the several dozen people who turned out for the museum's recent Discovery Day open house. Visitors to the Aug. 5 event also enjoyed Portraits of the North, a traveling exhibit from The Manitoba Museum. It showcases Manitoba artist Gerald Kuehl's intricate pencil drawings of northern aboriginal elders _ fascinating portraits that don't need words to tell a story. Portraits of the North will be at the museum until Aug. 29.
