Section 2. History of Contact

A) The Fur Trade

North America had an abundance of beaver with fine fur pelts, which were used to make hats and other items, which brought high prices in Europe. The fur trade became a large-scale industry. As the beaver became scarcer in eastern Canada, the fur trade pushed westward, causing the transportation costs to increase.

Between 1793 and 1812, the North West Company began to explore west across the Rocky Mountains. Alexander Mackenzie was seeking a river route to the Pacific to reduce the high cost of shipping furs across the continent. Since the personal safety of the explorers and the success of their explorations depended on the goodwill of the Native peoples, they gave gifts to the people and relied on native guides to win the support of each nation they encountered.

Simon Fraser was another explorer with the North West Company and in 1808 followed the Fraser River to the Pacific Ocean. He could not have traveled through the Fraser Canyon without the aid of the Native peoples since he relied on their knowledge of the area, skills and their supply of food and suitable clothing.

Near Williams Lake River, he encountered some impassable waters and was forced to portage parts of his load. At Soda Creek canyon he met Chief X'lo'sem who guided him through Shuswap land safely into Lillooet territory.

Both Mackenzie and Fraser found that Natives in the interior had already obtained European items of trade such as copper, brass, iron and beads. These goods had reached the interior from the Pacific coast as different Native nations traded with one another.

At the same time, American fur-trading companies were advancing north into the same territory. David Stuart, two French Canadians and a native reached the Kamloops area in 1811 by way of the Okanagan and spent the fall and winter in Kamloops. Finding beaver plentiful, they returned in 1812 and built a small trading post called Fort She-waps near the Thompson River junction. A few weeks later, Joseph Laroque built a fur trading post for the North West Company called Fort Kamloops located north east of the river junction. In 1813, the North West Company bought out the Pacific Fur Company.

The Kamloops post was used by all the surrounding Shuswap bands and neighboring tribes. Every year, the traders gave gifts and tobacco to the Shuswap chiefs to encourage their people to trap many furs and be friendly to the traders.

Fort Kamloops

In 1821, the North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company amalgamated retaining the Hudson's Bay name. The fort at Kamloops was re-named the Thompson River Post. The same year, Fort Alexandria was built on the banks of the Fraser River where Mackenzie first met the Shuswap and Carrier people. The Northern Shuswap bands began to trade at that post but occasionally traveled to Kamloops. The Upper North Thompson and the Shuswap Band in the

Columbia River Valley were encouraged to trade at Rocky Mountain House east of the Rockies but, because of attacks by the Assiniboine and Metis, they preferred the post at Kamloops. In 1851, Little Fort Post was built in the North Thompson but was soon abandoned for lack of trade.

The Shuswap traded beaver pelts and other furs to the companies for a variety of goods that became a part of their culture such as metal, cloth, guns, ammunition, traps, beads and a few food staples.

By 1825, the fur trade was in decline caused by overtrapping and natural changes in the beaver population so the Shuswap trapped more marten and other small fur-bearing animals.

Even though the local fur trade was in decline, the Kamloops trading post was kept open as a stopover for fur brigades and a stockraising center. The horses were used in pack trains that took furs to the coast for shipment overseas. Fort Alexandria was mainly used as a storage depot for goods going north from Kamloops to Stuart Lake and Fraser Lake. The Hudson's Bay posts continued to trade until the 1860's, but the fur trade was never as important as it was between 1812 and 1827.

The Shuswap, however, could not keep control of their involvement in the fur trade and became dependent on European weapons, food supplies, clothing and tools. As the beaver declined the Shuswap used salmon and venison to obtain the trade goods they required and as early as 1822, traders reported that the natives were starving. With poor salmon runs and decreases in wild game, food shortages were not uncommon.

The fur trade was the beginning of drastic changes that eventually eroded the culture and independence of the Shuswap Nation. As the fur trade ended, they could no longer survive without goods from the Europeans. Miners, settlers, missionaries and the colonial government displaced them from their lands. Their culture was eroded as their political rights and freedoms were restricted.

Trails and Forts in Shuswap Country

B) The Gold Rush

Early explorers and fur trader needed the goodwill and support of the Shuswap to set up trading posts and to explore the land because they were outnumbered by the First Nations who were dominant until the arrival of the gold miners.

Gold Rush Trails

The miners trespassed on Indian lands, competed for food resources and had little tolerance for the native peoples whom they viewed as obstacles. Clashes over access to gold deposits and ownership of gold often resulted in death for both miners and First Nations. Many changes were forced upon the Shuswap culture during this time.

Gold Rocker

There is evidence that First Nations were aware of the presence of gold years before the miners appeared. Tomah, a Shuswap packer for the Hudson's Bay Company reported to Peter Dunlevy (an early prospector) that the native people made trinkets and even rings that they pounded into shape from nuggets found in streams.

The first gold obtained by the Hudson's Bay Company was brought to Fort Kamloops by a native in 1852. He was said to have found it while taking a drink of water from the lower Thompson River. Donald McLean, the Chief Trader at Fort Kamloops informed his superiors in Victoria and they decided to keep it secret so the fur trade would not be disrupted. The traders encouraged the natives to mine the gold and use it for trade at the forts.

The Native people quickly realized the value of gold and began to mine it using iron spoons obtained from the Hudson's Bay Company. They did not have miner's tools such as pans or rockers and only small amounts of gold were traded. Gold was then worth $17 an ounce, which was more than a Hudson's Bay employee earned in a month. Nevertheless fewer than 4 ounces of gold were sold at Fort Kamloops in 1856. In 1857, many more miners rushed to the Thompson River area.

The arrival of white miners quickly led to conflict because the native people felt the gold was theirs since it originated from their lands. They also believed the mining activities would prevent the salmon from completing their migration up the Fraser and Thompson Rivers. Salmon was the main source of food for many of the tribes and they blamed the miners for the small salmon runs that year. Rumors of gold deposits quickly spread south and in the spring of 1858, over 30,000 miners, mostly American, rushed up from California to the Fraser and Thompson Rivers searching for gold. A few miners returned to Fort Victoria with over $150,000 worth of gold, a huge fortune in those days. Gold fever struck and the mad gold rush was on.

The first difficulty to overcome was the transportation of food and equipment to the gold fields. There were four main routes from the south:

1. By sea from San Francisco to Victoria, by paddlewheeler to Harrison Lake, then north via the Harrison Trail.
2. By sea from San Francisco to Victoria, by paddlewheeler to Yale, then north on the Cariboo Wagon Trail.
3. By sea from San Francisco to Victoria, by paddlewheeler to Yale, then north via the Hudson's Bay Trail. (Present route of the Coquihalla Highway)
4. By horse and wagon through Washington and north via the Okanagan valley on the Okanagan Brigade Trail.

The route through Washington and the Okanagan was the quickest, but also the most dangerous as the Cayuse War between Native Americans and American soldiers began in 1847 and was still raging in Washington Territory in the late 1850's.

Because of the Indian wars, most miners took the sea route and in 1858, about 23,000 miners left San Francisco by sea to Fort Victoria from whence they traveled up the Fraser River via the Harrison or Cariboo Wagon trail. The Harrison Trail was largely abandoned in 1863 when the Cariboo Trail was completed.

A number of miners traveled the Washington route in para-military convoys numbering about 200 men. Although there were no wars north of the American border some miners claimed they would rid the land of all the Indians.

A company of about 300 miners travelling north along the west side of Okanagan Lake destroyed the winter provisions of an unattended Okanagan Indian village. The following day they ambushed and massacred a group of unarmed Indians. These acts demonstrated the miner's hostile attitude towards the Indians. The conflict increased as the population of miners mushroomed and by July of 1858 there were over 8,000 miners on a 60 kilometre stretch of the Fraser River.

James Douglas, the governor of the colony, feared a war between the feuding parties, especially after the Cayuse Indians defeated the US troops in Oregon. Throughout the summer, trouble brewed at Hill's Bar and Boston Bar on the Fraser River. At Boston Bar there was fighting involving over 140 miners, where reportedly 7 Indians were killed. The miners viewed the Indians as obstacles while the Indians viewed the gold as theirs since it came from their lands. Also, the traditional Indian food supplies of game, salmon and berries were being taken by the miners.

A vigilante force of 167 armed miners who were led by Captain Snyder went up the Fraser river ready to fight Indians to quell the unrest, but the tension had eased by the time they reached the confluence of the Thompson and Fraser Rivers. Governor Douglas heard about the skirmishes and traveled to the area with some troops. His fact-finding mission blamed the miners for the problems since the armed miners had driven the Indians from the river, which prevented them from gathering food and mining gold. The Indians stated that the miners interfered with their village sites, took their salmon and were disrespectful of their families. Chiefs from many areas expressed their concern to Governor Douglas who gave stern warnings to the American miners; he also claimed all the gold within the Fraser and Thompson Rivers for the British Crown.

In order to prevent the Americans from expanding their borders and to enforce British law, Douglas declared the mainland a British colony. This action ended the Hudson's Bay Company Charter and any control it had over the region. In November of 1858 British Columbia was officially declared a colony and Douglas was named Governor. He could now regulate law and order to protect British interests on the mainland and on Vancouver Island.

The gold miners were the forerunners of white settlement in British Columbia. The settlers, unlike the miners they followed, came to stay. But like the miners, the settlers had little respect or tolerance for the Indian peoples. The conflict was clear. The First Nations had the land and the settlers wanted it for farming, ranching and business. The Shuswap traditionally migrated to different areas of their territory as the seasons changed, thus the settlers believed that they were not making use of their land. More changes were forced on the Shuswap as overwhelming numbers of settlers arrived and took over the land.

The ownership of the land remains an unresolved dispute between the Shuswap and the present levels of government to this day.

J.Coffey, E.Goldsrom, G.Gottfriedson, R. Matthew, P. Walton
The First 100 Years of Contact-SCES