Evidence on the Adequacy of First Nations Consultation - BC Hydro ...

claimed were known in the area as Skalzi] and these include sentiments about the character of the
Ktunaxa echoing those of Cox. 46
The writings of earliest travellers, Thompson, Cox, Ross, Simpson, Work and Kane, among others,
also provide very interesting and colourful reading and offer fascinating glimpses of the life and
times of the Ktunaxa and their relationships with various other groups. Taken together, they suggest
that the Ktunaxa had generally hostile relations with the Blackfoot Indians and their allies to the east
and occasional hostilities with the Salish-speaking Shuswaps, Okanagans, Colvilles and others to the
west and south. On the other hand, they appear to have been on relatively good terms with the
Stoneys and Plains Cree to the east and the Flathead Salish whose lands lay to the southeast.
9.. GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTATION
The Palliser Expeditions of 1858 and 1859
Perhaps the first government sponsored expedition through the area was led by Captain John Palliser
in the late 1850s as part of a general surveying project designed to fix the border between British
North America and the United States and to survey passes through the Rocky Mountains. According
to the lengthy report submitted to British Parliament in 1863 as well as a separate journal written by
Charles W. Wilson, Palliser’s survey parties encountered Ktunaxa people numerous times during
1858 and 1859, primarily in the Tobacco Plains area, but their focus on surveying the border seems to
have precluded much ethnographic consideration or other information about the study area.
The Big Bend Trail Map
Believed to date from the early 1860s, this map is focused on the area around Big Bend. 47 Although
it has scant detail, it indicates a trail extending northward from the Windermere area along the east or
right bank of the Columbia and, by an apparent tying in with several portage trails, reaches all the
way to Boat Encampment, where it connects with the trail over Athabaska Pass to Jasper’s House.
On the way it connects with other trails, including one over “Pavilion” [Howse] Pass to Jasper’s
House, and another one appearing to cross the Purcell Range north of present day Golden to the
vicinity of Revelstoke. If the dating is accurate, these trails precede miners in the area and would be
attributable to use by the Upper Ktunaxa and latterly by the Kinbasket Shuswap as well.
The Columbia Rivers Explorations of 1865 and 1866
This collection of exploratory reports was written for the Colonial Government of British Columbia
by Walter Moberly and his team of surveyors. As part of an attempt to keep Americans from taking
over the trade in supplies to the newly discovered Gold Fields of southeast B.C., Moberly and his
team, which included James Turnbull and Ashdown Green, were commissioned to examine the
region defined by the arc of the Columbia River with a view to finding good supply routes. Their
travels, mostly in separate parties, took them variously up the Arrow and Kootenay Lakes and over
mountain passes to the Upper Columbia, and their reports contain some relevant points of interest.
One passage worth noting is the mention of “Kinbaskit’s Trail,” a four day passage from Windermere
Lake over the mountains to the Kootenay Lakes.
46 From Chittenden/De Smet, Oregon Missions and Travels Over the Rocky Mountains, 1845-1846
47 B.C. Ministry of Crown Lands, Surveyor General Branch, Map 21T1.
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