ca. 1900
Fort St. John North Peace Museum
This birchbark basket was made by Emma Beatton, wife of Hudson’s Bay Company Clerk, Frank Beatton. Emma was the daughter of a Cree woman named Marguerite Ni Sontaway and a Hudson’s Bay Company clerk, William Shaw, who worked out of Fort Vermillion, Dunvegan, and Fort St. John.
Emma married Frank Beatton on December 3, 1887. They had 12 children between 1890 and 1909. They lived at Fort St. John in the early 1900s.
Emma used this basket for picking berries along the Peace River. She hung the basket around her neck with a long cord, leaving both hands free to pick berries.