James Douglas
34-672: Chief Cxpentlum (Spintlum) The Fraser Canyon War , also known as the Canyon War or the Fraser River War , was an incident between white miners and the indigenous Nlaka'pamux people in the newly declared Colony of British Columbia , which later became part of Canada , in 1858. It occurred during the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush , which brought many white settlers to the Fraser Canyon area. Largely ignored by Canadian historians, it
68-425: A war not only of extermination, but also of annexation. Douglas had already been mortified that miners' committees had been established and the "California system" of claims had been implemented, without his say-so and outside the bounds of British law. He was even more mortified to discover that Snyder and Centras, without a mandate, had proceeded to make treaties with the natives, which was under British law entirely
102-460: Is now Whatcom County , Washington state from Bellingham Bay on Puget Sound , and which was used in open defiance of the British colonial administration's edict that access to the goldfields be made from Victoria and via steamboat from there only ; in other words, their name implicitly indicated their annexationist sentiments. The largest and most influential company formed in the chaotic situation
136-695: The California Gold Rush but they were a diverse lot of men, from all over the world. Of the six regiments hastily organized to respond to the war, one, named the Austrian Company and captained by a John Centras, was composed of French and German irregulars who had served with the William Walker filibustering campaign in Nicaragua in 1853, and relocated to the California goldfields afterwards, following
170-677: The Thompson , Thompson River Salish , Thompson Salish , Thompson River Indians or Thompson River people , and historically as the Klackarpun , Haukamaugh , Knife Indians , and Couteau Indians , are an Indigenous First Nations people of the Interior Salish language group in southern British Columbia . Their traditional territory includes parts of the North Cascades region of Washington . Frontier-era histories and maps transliterate
204-690: The Thompson language . Together with the Spaxomin people, a branch of the Okanagan people (Syilx) who live in the upper Nicola valley and also belong to the Nicola Tribal Association, they are collectively known as the Nicola people, or Nicolas. Blueberries ( Vaccinium myrtilloides ) are traditionally used by them in pies. They have used the leaves of sedge ( Carex ) as brushes for cleaning and also as forage for their livestock. The Nlakaʼpamux were
238-592: The first brick building in Washington as an outfitter for those using the Whatcom Trail. The name "Whatcom" comes from the Lummi place name x̣ʷátqʷəm , probably meaning "noisy" with reference to a waterfall. A more westerly route now in use for a major border crossing (at Sumas ) was not usable due to the presence of Sumas Lake , a large shallow lake, now drained and turned into agricultural land. An alternate route to
272-743: The Americans. The Nlaka'pamux, usually known in English as the Thompson or Hakamaugh (an attempt at pronouncing "Nlaka'pamux"), also were known as the Couteau or "Knife" Indians, partly as a result of this war (their region, the middle Fraser Canyon and Thompson Canyon, also appears on period maps as "the Couteau Country", which may also be a reference to the serrated benchlands lining the rivers' canyons). The name "Kootomin" also appears on very early maps showing routes to
306-578: The Canadian side, the large tract of land in Sardis that for many years was Canadian Forces Base Chilliwack was laid aside as a military reserve during the scare over potential Fenian Raids in the 1870s and 1880s. That allocation, however, was as much a response to local Stó:lō First Nations numbers as it was to potential American aggression. There is no border crossing at the Columbia Valley today, only
340-476: The Fraser Canyon War exist, and much hyperbole has been made by both sides. Estimates of the white dead range from several dozen to several hundred or even thousands; some say the native casualties were extreme. Just after the war parties' return to Yale, Governor Douglas and a contingent of Royal Engineers arrived to take control of what was feared to have been a situation that could easily have led to
374-478: The area of Kanaka Bar . The Nlaka'pamux retaliated by killing several of them, decapitating the bodies and dumping them into the river; they eventually were found circling in a large eddy near the town of Yale , the main commercial centre of the rush. This alarmed the thousands of miners lining the riverbanks between there and Kanaka Bar. For some time in the months leading up to this incident, tensions had risen due to increasing conflict between indigenous people and
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#1732837003984408-414: The companies found 3000 panicked miners encamped in a small area near the native rancherie , worried for their safety but unable to proceed any further south. Snyder's and Centras' companies crossed to the east side of the river at this point, which was one of the only viable crossings, with Snyder sending Graham's group up the west side of the river. The New York and Austrian companies met no resistance on
442-601: The consequences these appointments would all too quickly bring to local politics. Also accompanying the Governor on his steamboat journey to Yale on this occasion was one Ned McGowan , known as "the notorious" or as "the ubiquitous", whose presence would precipitate the subsequent series of improbable events known as McGowan's War later in the winter. Nlaka%27pamux The Nlakaʼpamux or Nlakapamuk ( / ɪ ŋ k l ə ˈ k æ p m ə / ing-klə- KAP -mə ; Salishan: [nɬeʔképmx] ), also previously known as
476-616: The dark. At Camchin, the assembled leaders of the Nlaka'pamux and allies from the Secwepemc (Shuswap) and Okanagan peoples held council. The Nlaka'pamux war leader tried to incite the assembled warriors to wipe out the white men once and for all, but the Camchin chief Cxpentlum (known commonly in English as Spintlum, or David Spintlum), had good relations with Governor James Douglas and argued for peaceful co-existence. Snyder and Centras marched into
510-405: The deep mountain valleys flanking the canyon as refuge. The Whatcom Company were wiped out in a night-time gun-battle, witnessed by the other companies encamped across the river at the time. This was not due to native attack, but rather to a panicked reaction to a rifle falling over and misfiring, causing a melee from which only two or three men survived, as all the rest died shooting at each other in
544-466: The encroaching miners. Conflict broke out amongst the parties when a group of goldseekers sparred with a party of Indians that had previously killed several white men and dumped them into a pool in much the same manner as the incident at Yale. Due to the reputation of the Nlaka'pamux, the riverbanks north of Yale were emptied, as miners in the thousands fled south to the relative safety of Spuzzum and Yale. The miners held meetings. Most of them had been in
578-515: The fence to take the side of the peace-maker, Cxpentlum. Six treaties were made that day, known as the Snyder Treaties, none of which has survived either in print or oral form, dealing with the co-existence in the Canyon and the working of the goldfields lining it. (Natives were the first to mine gold on the Thompson, and remained active miners throughout the rush.) No formal figures of the dead from
612-724: The gold rush). The route's ongoing use was demonstration of the early colony's essential inability to prevent unregulated intrusion by US citizens, as was also the case with the Okanagan Trail . US troops of the Border Commission who were stationed near the route's southern US end were put on alert during the McGowan's War crisis, and were also stationed there during the San Juan Islands Dispute (the Pig War ). Similarly, on
646-494: The goldfields. Enlisted to the Nlaka'pamux side, but not seeing combat, were allied warriors from the Secwepemc , Nicola , Okanagan and other tribes. The Nlaka'pamux of the lower Canyon, notably the Spuzzum people, as well as the St'at'imc and Sto:lo peoples, remained "friendly Indians". The war was precipitated when a young Nlaka'pamux woman was raped by a group of American miners, in
680-478: The journey north, and sent messages forward to Camchin , the ancient Nlaka'pamux "capital" at the confluence of the Fraser and Thompson Rivers (today's town of Lytton ), that they were coming to parley peace, not make war. Meanwhile, Graham and his men rampaged up the west bank of the Canyon, destroying native food caches and potato fields but otherwise encountering only a few natives, most of whom had withdrawn into
714-506: The jurisdiction of the Crown. He admonished the Americans, but they were conciliatory and swore to abide by the Queen's laws henceforth. It was during this visit that the stage was set for the impending McGowan's War fiasco, as it was during this visit that the justices for Yale and Hill's Bar (Whannell and Perrier, respectively) were appointed by Douglas, who had no idea of their real characters and
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#1732837003984748-503: The main Whatcom Trail was the Skagit Trail, which went up the river of that name to its headwaters, from which another "back valley" emerges on the Fraser near Hope , then the HBC fur trading post Fort Hope . There are no known statistics for the number of goldseekers who travelled the Whatcom Trail during the gold rush, although certainly they may be counted in the thousands. Its existence
782-421: The midst of the Nlaka'pamux war council undaunted; if they had known about the thousands of warriors watching from the surrounding mountainsides they might not have been so bold. As per native custom, they were given the right to speak, presumably speaking through translators, and told the assembled natives that if the war were to continue, white men by the thousands would come and occupy the country and destroy all
816-646: The name Nlakaʼpamux as Hakamaugh or Klackarpun ; they were also known as the Kootomin , or Couteau (Knife). or Knife Indians . In the dialect of the Thompson language used by the Ashcroft Indian Band , the variant Nlʼakapxm is used. The Nlakaʼpamux of the Nicola Valley , who are all in the Nicola Tribal Association reserves refer to themselves as Scwʼexmx and speak a different dialect of
850-447: The natives forever. In their own notes they presumed it was because they showed the natives their more-modern rifles (most natives, if they had firearms, had only muskets and carbines) and thought that this had persuaded them to make peace. In reality, the decision to make peace had already been reached, in the indigenous account. The notion that it would be impossible to wipe out all white men probably helped persuade any chiefs sitting on
884-540: The object of both Anglican and Roman Catholic missionary efforts in the nineteenth century, resulting in the vast majority belonging to one of the two denominations by the beginning of the twentieth century. The Nlakaʼpamux Nation Tribal Council despite its name does not include all Nlakaʼpamux people, but is one of two main tribal bodies within the region, the other being the Nicola Tribal Association . The Lytton First Nation or Lytton Band, focussed on
918-673: The other Californian miners northwards to Yale when news of the Fraser rush reached San Francisco (many of the Americans in the goldfields had also served in Walker's rebellion). Another regiment, the Whatcom Company, was formed of mostly southerners, under the command of Captain Graham. Bent on a war of extermination, the Whatcom Company's name was taken from that of the Whatcom Trail , which traversed what
952-734: The other Nlakaʼpamux Bands. None of the Nlakaʼpamux governments are in the British Columbia Treaty Commission process at present. The Nlakaʼpamux speak an Interior Salishan language named nɬeʔkepmxcín , usually transliterated as Nlakaʼpamuxtsn and known in English as the Thompson language . The Scwʼexmx of the Nicola Valley speak a dialect also called Scwʼexmx . Compiled by Laurence C. Thompson and M. Terry Thompson Whatcom Trail 48°43′49″N 122°18′31″W / 48.73028°N 122.30861°W / 48.73028; -122.30861 The Whatcom Trail
986-659: The town of the same name, which is named Camchin or Kumsheen in the Nlakaʼpamux language and is one of the largest Nlakaʼpamux communities, does not belong to any of the three tribal associations. While the Upper Nicola Band is affiliated with the Scwʼexmx Tribal Council it is a Syilx community and part of the Okanagan Nation Alliance it is not Nlakaʼpamux and has a different traditional territory than
1020-609: Was an overland trail from the Puget Sound area of Washington Territory during the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush of 1858. The trail began on Bellingham Bay , at Fairhaven (now a Bellingham neighbourhood), the route used went via a route known as the Columbia Valley, which is a lowland route connecting the mid- Nooksack River area with Cultus Lake and the lower Chilliwack River in the Upper Fraser Valley , about 80 km east of today's Vancouver . In 1858, T. G. Richards built
1054-556: Was in Victoria , where the Governor was located). British troops were not involved, and only arrived on scene once the war was over. The combatants of the war were six hastily assembled regiments of irregulars mustered from the goldfields around Yale, British Columbia and the Nlakaʼpamux people of the Fraser Canyon upstream from there. The militias, or "companies", were formed mostly of Americans but included German and French mercenaries who had served in Nicaragua , as had some of
Fraser Canyon War - Misplaced Pages Continue
1088-590: Was in open defiance of the edict from the British Governor on Vancouver Island that access to the Fraser goldfields must be made from Victoria , and then from there via the Fraser River only . In part this measure was intended to prevent the entry of large parties of armed Americans, and also to strip them of any handguns and any goods for trading with the Indians (still a Hudson's Bay Company monopoly during
1122-458: Was one of the seminal events of the founding of the colony. Although it ended relatively peacefully, it was a major test of the new administration's control over the goldfields , which were distant and difficult to access from the centre of colonial authority at Victoria in the Colony of Vancouver Island ( New Westminster had recently been surveyed as the de jure capital, but the de facto capital
1156-588: Was the New York Pike Guards, led by a Captain Snyder, who swayed the assembled miners' committees for a war of pacification, rather than a war of extermination as was the wish of Captain Graham and others. . Snyder proposed a distinction between warlike and friendly Indians, and messengers sent up the Canyon ahead of the advancing companies to tell friendly natives to display a white flag as a sign of peace.. The war parties left Yale and progressed to Spuzzum, where
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