GORGE WATERWAY INITIATIVE infosheet

Wo r k i n g t o g e t h e r t o b a l a n c e conservation , r e c r e a t i o n a n d c o m m u n i t y va l u e s [email protected] • www.gorgewaterway.ca

F i r s t p e o p l e s o f t h e w a t e r w a y Aboriginal people have lived on the land around the Gorge Waterway and Portage Inlet for more than 4,000 years. The Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations are both Coast Salish peoples and are two remaining local bands whose connection to the waterway remains very strong. Jody Watson The rocks representing Camossung and her grandfather are still visible below the Gorge Bridge. F r o m t h e n u n t i l n o w treaty rights. The Songhees are accepted, and that is why these are For centuries, the Esquimalt and involved in the BC Treaty plentiful on the Gorge Waterway. Songhees people have used the Commission process with a Because she was greedy, Haylas told waterway for gathering food such broader group of neighbouring her she would look after the food as salmon, herring, oysters and bands, called the Te’Mexw Treaty resources for her people and he turned other shellfish, waterfowl, and Association. The Esquimalt people her and her grandfather into stone. eelgrass. They sometimes took are pursuing other legal and The stones of Camossung and her refuge from northern invading negotiated arrangements. grandfather could be seen for bands in Portage Inlet. During L e g e n d o f Ca m o s s u n g thousands of years at reversing these times, First Nations’ Haylas the Transformer, Raven and Gorge Falls under what is now settlements were all along the Mink found a young girl, named called Gorge Bridge. There was a waterway stretching into Victoria Camossung, and her grandfather. large whirlpool below the falls and harbour, but in the early 1900s as She was crying, so Haylas asked her Songhees people would dive in to European settlement grew, the two why. She answered, “My Father is gain special spirit powers from nations were moved to much angry with me and will not give me Camossung. In 1960, someone smaller reserve lands in Esquimalt. anything to eat.” Haylas asked her if dynamited the rocks to improve In the present day, First Nations she liked sturgeon, and when she navigation through the narrows, do limited fishing and no hunting answered “no” he threw the sturgeon although what is left of the rocks in the area. However, treaties to the Fraser River. That is why there can still be seen under the bridge signed more than 150 years ago is sturgeon there and not here. He at low tide. with the Songhees and Esquimalt asked her if she liked cranberries and C r a i g f l o w e r are still in effect and recognize when she answered “no,” he threw C r e e k wat e r s h e d their rights to gather food on them into Shawnigan Lake. That is The land and waterbodies in this unoccupied lands in the area. Both why there are cranberries there now. watershed were important hunting, bands are actively looking at ways She refused many things but duck, fishing and gathering grounds for to update and strengthen their herring, coho, and oyster she salmon, deer, elk, and a wide array of native plants. With regular these areas. There are many harvesting and prescribed burning, W h a t is a m i d d e n ? middens along the shores of the First Nations enhanced the A midden or kitchen midden is waterway, which attest to the production of certain types of an archaeological term for a place extent of early First Nations plants, the most well known being that includes such things as food communities. A midden site camas, a wildflower bulb that was a waste, broken pottery, shells, underneath the south side of the staple carbohydrate food. Periodic animal bones, other household Gorge Bridge, which is fenced off burning also helped to maintain items, and sometimes human to protect it from interference, is Garry oak meadow ecosystems. remains that indicate the site of a 4,000 years old. Historian The mouth of Craigflower Creek, prehistoric human settlement. Barbara Huck aptly refers to this where it enters Portage Inlet, was Middens reveal considerable midden as “a time capsule of life known to the Songhees as information about the history, along the Gorge.” Pulkwutsang, “the place of Ghost.” activities, uses, and ancestry of C r a i g f l o w e r s i t e Thousands of years ago until the 1700s, there were extensive settlements of Kosampson people on the corner of what is now Admirals and Craigflower Roads. The Kosampson were the ancestors of the Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations. In 1994, an archaeological dig revealed many interesting artifacts from the site including middens that attested to the abundant shellfish and game nearby and various different types of stone and bone tools used by early Kosampson people. In 1854, a schoolhouse for settlers was built on the site, and subsequently a house for the adjacent farm. Todd Carnahan Todd Craigflower Manor and Craigflower Middens such as these are common along the waterway. Farm are now designated as a Provincial Heritage Site. important cultural resources. I f y o u f i n d a n L e a r n i n g m o r e For more information on the a r c h e o l o g i c a l s i t e Visit the Songhees First Nation Gorge Waterway Initiative: If you come across an area that website (www.songheesnation.com) [email protected] appears to be a midden, human or contact either of the two local 360-3065 remains or other physical evidence band offices — Esquimalt www.gorgewaterway.ca of how and where people lived in (381-7861) and Songhees the past, do not disturb it and (386-1043). Grant Keddie, This GWI Infosheet is one in a series on the natural and cultural features of the Gorge immediately contact the Curator of Archaeology at the Waterway, Portage Inlet and surrounding Archaeology Branch of the Royal BC Museum, has produced watersheds provincial government (952-5021). a book on the Songhees people Partial funding provided by Township of These sites often contain valuable (Songhees Pictorial), which View Royal information that is important to describes in words and many old June 2008 both local First Nations and those photographs, the period of time studying the history of first from first contact with European peoples… care must be taken to settlers to the early 1900s. prevent the destruction of