‘Great White Monster’ Gave Its Name1 Indian Wife-Slayer, Fleeing From Execution, Started Village2

The Haisla Indians, whose village of Kitamaat is just across the channel from the mighty Alcan aluminum city of Kitimat are not too happy about the white man’s disruption of their ancient way of life. Reporter Alex Young learned all about the ancient village when he and photographer Bill Dennett explored the vast industrial project. 3

By Alex Young Vancouver Sun Staff Reporter Edited by Ab Morrison-Hayward, September 2018

There’s no beating of war drums or sharpening of arrow heads, but the Indians who live in the sleepy village across [the] from the new industrial town of Kitimat aren’t taking too kindly to the white man’s invasion of their home.

For many hundreds of years, how many no one knows for sure, the lower Kitimat Valley at the head of the Douglas Channel has been their playground.4

They fished, hunted and trapped at will. Now, because of the Aluminum Company of Canada’s huge development, this is being impaired and they resent it.

“It’s nothing but destruction, from the point of view of our way of life,” said 35-year-old Gordon Robinson, chief counsellor [sic] of the Haisla tribe.

He explained the resentment and filled us with Indian lore on a sunny Sunday afternoon during which Bill Dennett and [I toured?] the ancient town.

“Take this for an example,” [he] said. “Not so long ago a fishing derby was held over at Kitimat. Seventy beautiful coho were caught. After the prizes were handed out, what do you think they did with the fish?”

1 This is a newspaper article that was found in the Haisla Nation archives. It comes from a collection of photocopied articles about Gordon Robinson and George Raley. The photocopies are of poor quality, are difficult to read and have holes punched out of the paper, making some sections impossible to decipher. I have done my best to interpret and preserve the article; square brackets indicate corrections, guesses about missing text and editorial comments. 2 We’ll find out later in the article how the term “wife-slayer” gives an inaccurate impression of the person in question. Also, considering the fact that this piece was published in the 1953 (specific date not indicated on the photocopy; I calculated the year of publication using Gordon Robinson’s year of birth, 1918, and adding 35), we’ll have to excuse the use of the word “Indian”, which has fallen out of favour in recent years. 3 The use of the word “ancient” twice in this introductory paragraph may give the reader the idea that Kitamaat Village and Haisla culture are things belonging in the past when they are not. They are still very much alive and progressing. Perhaps “traditional way of life” may have been a better way of wording it. 4 Recent archaeological records trace Haisla occupation of the Kitimat valley back to around 7,000 BCE, so it is known that we’ve occupied the area for more than 9,000 years.

“They buried them. That did not go over well with the Indians.”

Permit Necessary To Enter Village Gordon, who was educated at the village grade school and at an Indian high school at Sardis, near Chilliwack, wasn’t blind to the advantages brought [to] his people by the Alcan project.

About 75 of his 500-odd people, including himself, are employed on the job. Others make their living by logging or fishing.5

Kitamaat (the Indian spelling) Village is about a mile across the channel from Kitimat. No white man may set foot on the reservation without a written invitation from Gordon.

You get to the village by boat, usually a chartered Indian fishing vessel.

The natives live in big frame houses; Robinson’s is about 70 years old.

The streets are narrow lanes, winding their way past heavily-weeded gardens. The town has a ball park, with an ice cream and pop stand, a general store, a cemetery, diesel-generated electricity and a council hall.

The village, it seems, came into being as a result of a family quarrel.

Hunclee Quilas (The Archer), a Tsimpsian Indian who lived north of Prince Rupert at what is now Port Simpson, was the father of Kitimaat [sic].6

Centuries ago, Quilas had an argument with his wife, in their hut in Port Simpson.7 Now, these family huts normally had fires burning in the centre of the room’s earth floor.8

The Archer, piqued at his wife’s attitude, picked up a good-sized pebble from the fire and threw it. It struck her in the temple and she died.

5 According to the Haisla website, about Kitamaat Village currently has a population of about 700. It should also be noted that many Haisla now live off reserve, so the total population is at present around 1500. 6 In Tales of Kitamaat (written by Gordon Robinson, first published in 1956), his name is spelled Hunclee-qualas. Also, in the book, Hunclee-qualas originally lived in Soo-ma-halt, which is in territory. This is a reserve in Rivers Inlet, nearly 400 kilometres south of Port Simpson (now known as Lax-Kw'alaams). “Tsimpsian” is spelled Tsimshian in present day. 7 Hunclee-qualas is his full name and is one word; “Quilas” is not his last name so he should not be referred to as such. In the , capital letters are normally not used and hyphens are sometimes added to break up the word to make it easier to read. If it were broken down into syllables, it would read more like: hun-clee-qua-las. 8 Haisla people lived in longhouses; describing them as “huts” gives the inaccurate impression that they lived in small shacks when, in fact, they lived in longhouses that were approximately 100 feet long by 50 feet wide. The penalty for murder at the Tsimpsian village was death to the whole remaining family. The village elders set the date of execution, by firing…the hut with the family in it, as the next day.9

The Archer learned of this and escaped in the night in his canoe. With him he took two men and two women. Their relationship was not established.

He Remembered Tale of Monster He knew he was sure to be pursued and the question of where to go in order to escape was a thorny one. The monster was described like this: a great white creature which rose from the mouth of the river.

The Archer knew if he went there he’d be safe, for no one would be foolish enough to risk going near the monster.

He went to the head of [the] Douglas Channel and did see the “monster.” While the other occupants of his canoe quaked, The Archer kept a level head and moved closer.

The much-feared monster turned out to be a flock of thousands of sea gulls, fishing for oolichans in the river. At the approach of humans, rarely seen in those parts, they took off.

That is how Kitamaat became established. During hunting trips up the Kitimat Valley, The Archer made contact with other Indians, and many of them joined the Haisla village.

How Kitamaat Got Its Name There is another interesting story about Kitimaat, its name. Actual Indian name is Git-a-maat, meaning “people of the snow.”10

The name was given to the Haisla town by a group of “foreign Indians who were passing by one day; again many years ago.” 11

It was winter and the Haisla people had dug paths along the shore so they could travel back and forth.

The visiting Indians, passing in their canoes, noticed heads bobbing up occasionally behind the snow banks.

So they named the Haisla (it means “people who live at the mouth of the river”) village Git-a-maat, and it has stuck.

9 Parts of the text from the photocopied article are cut off, possibly because this may have been originally a legal- sized sheet of paper copied onto a letter-sized sheet. It’s unclear as to whether the words “firing” and “the hut” appeared in exactly that order in the original article but I’ve made the assumption that they did. By “firing,” the author may have meant “burning.” 10 This is the second time that “Kitimaat” appears, it should be Kitamaat. 11 There is no closing quote in the original article, so I’ve placed one where I thought it should go. Also, the “foreign Indians” were the Tsimshian, who are our closest neighbors. The name has subsequently become Anglicized to Kitimat and Kitamaat.12

These stories have been handed down from generation to generation, Gordon Robinson told us. There is no written record.

He can trace the village’s history back about 250 years. He has a memento of that age, a stone bowl which one of his ancestors, Weegwanaquila or “Soaring Eagle,” obtained in Alaska in exchange for two slaves.

The slaves were war captives.

As he led us back to our boat, Gordon pointed to a small, bubbling spring—and another Indian tale.

“That is Weegit’s Spring and it’s running all the time,” said Gordon. “The legend has it that Weegit, a mythological character, charmed the spring many years ago.”

“’You shall provide cool water for my people in the summer and provide water in the winter, when everything else is frozen,’ said Weegit.”13

“And it does. In the winter when everything else around is frozen, Weegit’s Spring still bubbles. It never dries up in the summer.”14

12 To clarify: “Kitimat” is the town where the Rio Tinto (formerly Alcan) aluminum smelter is on the north end of the Douglas Channel and “Kitamaat” is the village where most Haisla people live. 13 There is no closing quote for this paragraph or the one before it, so I’ve added them. 14 This appears to be the end of the article, though it is not clear as it looks like it may have been cut into sections and had other articles on the page. I’m assuming it ended here.