Question: how a canadian town looked like?

[argsilverson]

Dear All,

My son is interesting to make a small canadian town around the late Victorian time, in order to use some mounties.

How does this town looked like? An old west town could be acceptable?

[JollyBob]

I would have thought that would be fine, myself. Maybe have some of the signs in French as well as English?

And more forrest like terrain, maybe. And snow. This about as much as I know about Canada.  

[Westfalia Chris]

"The rent´s too high, the air´s unclean,
The beaches are dirty and the people are mean;
And the women are big and the men are dumb,
And the children are loopy ´cause they live in a slum;
The water is polluted and the mayor´s a dork,
They dress real bad and they think they´re New York;
In Torontoooo - Ontario..."

Three Dead Trolls, "The Toronto Song"

Suffice that? ::

I´d go with the wild-west style, maybe add some pseudofrench and -british accoutrements to differentiate it from the regular run-of-the-mill Western town.

Lots of trees, firs, and of course maples. Hills, maybe a nice river. Recently watched "The Trap", which features a nice trading-post/settlement. Furthermore, I *think* that there was a decent town in the 1992 "Wolfskin" (the one with Ethan Hawke and Brandauer).

[Cory]

Not much different than any US town of the period. Wood buildings, either log or frame construction, dominated with many stores and govt. buildings in brick. Adobe, not in the southwestern style, but rather more primitive structures of sod could be found.  


Fort Steele in BC is a good example of preserved buildngs of the period.

http://www.fortsteele.ca

[argsilverson]

Thanks a lot!

[pixelgeek]

How does this town looked like? An old west town could be acceptable?

Where is the town? The country has multiple different geographic areas that have wildly different terrain.

And French would not have been used anywhere other than Quebec and areas of Ontario in Victorian times.

[argsilverson]

Sorry, you are right,

Let's say something in the West (of Canada).

[DFlynSqrl]

Not sure if this will help you at all but it has all kinds of neat photos from a variety of areas in the West.

http://www.archives.gov/research/american-west/#towns

Some of the pictures of towns up in the Dakota's lean more towards the log cabin look.

[archangel1]

When you say Mounties, are you talking about the usual image of red serge jacket and brown Stetson? If so, you're cutting it a bit close for the Victorian period.  The Stetson wasn't officially adopted until 1900, although it had been worn in the Klondike since 1898.  Before that, the usual headdress was either the pillbox cap or a white service helmet, with fur caps worn when required.
At this period, the force was known as the North-West Mounted Police, with the designation 'Royal' being granted in 1904 (RNWMP).  They weren't called the RCMP until 1920.

[pixelgeek]

Sorry, you are right,

Let's say something in the West (of Canada).

The Fort Steel photos should do you well and if you've seen an episode of Stargate then you know what the terrain is like in the Lower Mainland of BC :-)

For the rest of BC just remove some of the ferns from under the trees. :-)

Lots of spruce and pine in the north.

[Glitzer]

Some things might be different (depending in how far up north you go), but it shouldn't be to different from a Wild-West town

flat roofs will become less common, as snow begins to be a problem and windows fill get smaller because of the heat-loss (window shutters also become more common up there, and forget about that typical saloon door, that'd be surely a way to keep the customers away)

[Chairface]

Here's a website that may help,  a virtual tour of Heritage Park in Calgary:

http://www.heritagepark.ca/park_vr.htm

Should give you a pretty good idea!

[Will Bailie]

As many of the posters have noted, there won't be much visually to separate a Canadian town from an American one.  One of the easiest ways to differentiate things is to have some Union Jack flags flying, especially in front of the NWMP post.  

One of the best places to get your mounties into action would be in the Yukon Gold Rush, and especially in Dawson City.  



Take out the stop sign, the cars and the paving on the road, and that's what Dawson would have looked like 100 years ago.  And read some Robert Service:  "There are strange things done under the midnight sun, by the men who moil for gold.  The northern lights have seen strange sights, that would make your blood run cold..."

[longagoigo]

I believe that Eric Hotz's Whitewash City buildings are modeled on historical buildings from around where he lives in British Colombia.
http://www.erichotz.com/whitewash.html

[Will Bailie]

I'm embarassed - I misquoted The Cremation of Sam McGee!

It should start:

There are strange things done 'neath the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold.
The arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the strangest they ever did see,
Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge,
When I cremated Sam McGee

(and then carries on for another dozen stanzas...)