Finn Slough in Richmond, British Columbia

silk · Post by **silk** » Sun Apr 12, 2009 1:56 am

Good Friday was a pleasant spring day here in Vancouver and Rob A. and I decided to cycle to Finn Slough in Richmond, about 20 km south of Vancouver. Finn Slough was established in the 1880's by Finnish immigrant fishers. Today it is the last working commercial fishing village on the Fraser River with approximately 50 people working and living there.

The homes stand on stilts and floats and some are the original scow houses built by the Finns. The place has a unique feel and a picturesque quality that draws artists and photographers. Time seems to stand still here.

Unfortunately the future of this historic site is uncertain as developers have their eyes set on the land...

I didn't have my camera with me, but here is a link to the Finn Slough Heritage and Wetland Society website. There is a gallery and links to more pictures.

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Mattlill2000 · Post by **Mattlill2000** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 5:26 pm

Sounds like you had a great time! Thanks.

Rob A. · Post by **Rob A.** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 3:09 am

Yes...Finn Slough is a rather interesting and picturesque place....I was last there probably in the late 70's.... But there's not much that would overtly suggest it had a Finnish origin....I saw the word "Sisu" in big letters neatly painted on one building....and another was painted white with "Finnish blue" trim....

Apparently this fishing village started out as both a a landing/net storage area and a place to moor "scow houses" ( essentially small houses on floating platforms.... Other pioneer Finns lived a short distance away on dry land at No 4 Rd and Finnland Road (Yes...spelt with two "n"'s and now called Finn Road....) Apparently in those days before the fish stocks were decimated, "hard work" (...and apparently dangerous work too)...was well rewarded, and the early pioneers moved on to land they were able to purchase...

The place has its charms, but it's for the "romantic", not the practical minded....and it tends to be alternative-lifestyle people living there now....but it is interesting that it was survived...perhaps, because, even thirty years ago it was considered a living relic of the pioneer days... It made me feel a little bit like I was revisiting one of the little mining/logging towns of the BC interior that had survived somehow into the early 1960's...the kind of places that had a few, friendly old-timers left, still living in ramshackle houses, in a world long since gone....places with a strong smell of that vile coffee they used to drink...you know... "percolated" coffee, that sat on the wood-burning stove all day...

Here is a link to the GIS site for the local municipality

http://map.city.richmond.bc.ca/website/gis/viewer.htm

(if you have trouble....just Google, GIS +richmond .....once you get into the viewer, it's at the very south end of No. 4 Rd where it runs into Dike Rd.... (slightly to the right of the bottom point on the big island that shows up in the viewer)... The aerial photography is from 15 May 2007....and the photo was taken a few hours before low tide...about 10:00AM... Finn Rd. is a short distance due north...

The Google location is at:

49° 06'51" x 123° 06' 52"E

...and there are lots of photos, including a few scenes with snow... (...relatively rare here just mere centimetres above sea level...)....I find these winter scenes remarkably beautiful....

Upphew · Post by **Upphew** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 10:23 pm

Rob A. wrote:Apparently this fishing village started out as both a a landing/net storage area and a place to moor "scow houses" ( essentially small houses on floating platforms.... Other pioneer Finns lived a short distance away on dry land at No 4 Rd and Finnland Road (Yes...spelt with two "n"'s and now called Finn Road....) Apparently in those days before the fish stocks were decimated, "hard work" (...and apparently dangerous work too)...was well rewarded, and the early pioneers moved on to land they were able to purchase...

Scow houses... I couldn't grasp a idea of one... probably 'cause I knew only about A-Scow and E-Scow and couldn't think how house could be such a fast thing...

Rob A. · Post by **Rob A.** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 11:20 pm

Upphew wrote:
Rob A. wrote:Apparently this fishing village started out as both a a landing/net storage area and a place to moor "scow houses" ( essentially small houses on floating platforms.... Other pioneer Finns lived a short distance away on dry land at No 4 Rd and Finnland Road (Yes...spelt with two "n"'s and now called Finn Road....) Apparently in those days before the fish stocks were decimated, "hard work" (...and apparently dangerous work too)...was well rewarded, and the early pioneers moved on to land they were able to purchase...
Scow houses... I couldn't grasp a idea of one... probably 'cause I knew only about A-Scow and E-Scow and couldn't think how house could be such a fast thing...

I guess it's the original kind of scow....like a barge...

Excerpt:

A scow, in the original sense, is a flat bottomed boat with a blunt bow, often used to haul garbage or similar bulk freight; cf. barge...

...and I guess the emphasis with sailing scows is on the flat bottom for sailing in shallow waters....

I googled "scow house"...and it seems to be significantly a British Columbia expression...probably because they were quite useful along the the steep rugged coastline in the pioneer days....

Here are some modern "scow houses"...oops...these days they call them "float homes"...

These ones are actually located fairly close to Finn Slough, though behind some low tidal islands....

Price: CDN $ 549,000...plus you'll get to pay moorage fees ...probably around $1,000 per month...maybe less (...you usually don't own the land with these things...) ....and property taxes ...?? maybe $2,500 per year??...

Upphew · Post by **Upphew** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 1:38 pm

Yup, they had those in last summer's Holiday Housing Fair in Pori. No Idea about prices, but Marina Housing's CEO says that it costs 750-1500e more/sqm, so one is looking 50% increase in building costs...

I guess it's the original kind of scow....like a barge...

Should have known, just like a Lamborghini, which started as a tractor company...

Violette · Post by **Violette** » Thu Jan 07, 2010 12:37 am

My husband and I lived in Richmond for nearly three years, back in the mid eighties. We paid a visit or let's say drove past Finn Slough. Just a bunch of "ramshackle" shacks on stilts as someone posted earlier. Not for tourists, since there really isn't anything to see. Cannot be compared to "float homes" or house boats as I call them near Grandville Island. How the two building types got together in the same thread I'll never know.

silk · Post by **silk** » Sat Jan 09, 2010 9:09 am

I see this old thread has been brought up.

No, Finn Slough is not for your average tourist. The average tourist prefers to visit Disneyland or Las Vegas or wherever they can get their fill of junk without venturing out of their cars too much. Minimum effort combined with maximum intake of calories.

Granville Island... well.. you can share your lunch with rats and seagulls. To each their own.

Violette · Post by **Violette** » Sat Jan 09, 2010 5:48 pm

..well said, I have no further comment

Violette · Post by **Violette** » Sun Jan 10, 2010 5:01 pm

Oh I can imagine. I hear about people going out to BC all the time! I loved Steveston for the fresh fish and chips that you can buy straight off the boats. I know it's not the mainland but White Rock was another of our favorite places to go. Getting back to Finnslough... I quite agree with you, the thing is that what we might consider a valuable bit of history, others might not. I was thrilled to find a place that had something/anything to do with Finnish history, plus it really is an idyllic spot for water colour artists. I do miss the mountains and fresh air out West...

Pursuivant · Post by **Pursuivant** » Sun Jan 10, 2010 5:51 pm

This would be just perfect in Finland where there virtually "is no tides" but the building planning has been adverse to houseboats or pontoons...

Violette · Post by **Violette** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 4:39 am

Ooops yes of course it's the mainland, I wasn't thinking...
We have neighbours across the street who visit their son all the time at Gibson's. I really haven't been anywhere else out in Vancouver...poor me.

Violette · Post by **Violette** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 4:44 am

Pursuivant wrote:This would be just perfect in Finland where there virtually "is no tides" but the building planning has been adverse to houseboats or pontoons...

Geesus why? That's the most stupid thing I've ever heard. Finland is the ideal country for houseboats. You can pick almost any spot.
But there's no land shortage (jk), quite the contrary. Granville Island doesn't really have any other regular "homey" dwellings (although I could be wrong there too) there are condo's I think...shrugs

Upphew · Post by **Upphew** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 11:11 am

Violette wrote:Geesus why? That's the most stupid thing I've ever heard. Finland is the ideal country for houseboats. You can pick almost any spot.

Ice and plumbing might give some problems. And zoning. We're still forest dwellers. Also that extra cost might have impact too.

Tiwaz · Post by **Tiwaz** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 11:25 am

Upphew wrote:
Violette wrote:Geesus why? That's the most stupid thing I've ever heard. Finland is the ideal country for houseboats. You can pick almost any spot.
Ice and plumbing might give some problems. And zoning. We're still forest dwellers. Also that extra cost might have impact too.

And amount of space. If you want, you still can easily find yourself a spot to build home on. Few last things Finland is going to run out of is space, wood and fresh water. (which kind of makes us very lucky)

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