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

DRAFT REPORT: Rights and Title Interests in the Columbia Valley Transmission Project Area
The primary statement on the traders’ stay is contained in a brief note authored by Peter Fidler of
the HBC. Fidler did not accompany the two men of the North West Company, but subsequently
met with NW Company trader Duncan McGillivray in the summer of 1801 and wrote in his own
diary an account of the traders’ eight month sojourn. Historians have commented on the curious
date of the post-script, 1792, that refers to the winter of 1800 and suggest that Fidler added
details in later years when transcribing his journal. 39
Additional information on Legacé and Leblanc is contained in Ktunaxa oral history recorded by
Claude Schaeffer and included in his 1966 article account of these White traders’ stay among the
Ktunaxa. Schaeffer recorded the story in the spring of 1965 from a Ktunaxa man named
Ambrose Gravelle who was at that time Chief at Tobacco Plains; he was assisted by Joe Dennis,
described as an “aged uncle” of Ambrose Gravelle’s wife. 40 While the narrative is not clear on
the length of time the two traders spent residing with the Ktunaxa, it specifies that one of the
traders married the daughter of the Tobacco Plains 41 Ktunaxa chief. With his Ktunaxa family, the
trader is said to have trapped at least one season in the White Swan Lake country, situated about
60 km southeast of Columbia Lake. The oral history account of Mr Gravelle and Mr Dennsi
states that the Ktunaxa Chief warned the traders not to use the White River trail due to the
aggressive Stony Assiniboine; instead they should use more southern routes. These included the
Rocky trail, running from modern Elko (in the extreme southeast corner of BC) up the north fork
of the Flathead River, crossing over by Pincher Creek to Old Man River on the present Alberta
side.” 42 Thus, according to this Ktunaxa oral history, their Chief advised the traders to use a route
considerably southeast of the Columbia Valley. From the Ktunaxa camp at what appears to be
the Tobacco Plains area, the traders accompanied hunters on a fourteen day trip across the
Rockies to hunt buffalo. According to this same Ktunaxa oral account, one of the traders may
have been killed by the Ktunaxa, although Schaeffer was unable to verify this statement. 43 Fidler
reported that both traders returned and that the trip back to Rocky Mountain House was a journey
of some 17 nights. 44
Schaeffer concluded that while difficult to locate the Ktunaxa camp where Legacé and Leblanc
wintered, the Gravelle/Dennis oral history account—as well as Peter Fidler’s earlier use of the
39 Dempsey 1964, page 25.
40 Schaeffer 1966, page 6. In Schaeffer’s fieldnotes, Joe Dennis is said to have been 85 years old in 1965
(i.e. born in 1880) and was described as being the “older brother of Mrs. Ambrose Gravelle.” See Schaeffer 1934-
1969, Reel 2. The fieldnotes of Schaeffer that have been reviewed to date do not indicate the year that Ambrose
Gravelle was born; presumably he was a generation younger than Joe Dennis, i.e. was likely born around 1900.
41 Situated about 170 km south of Invermere.
42 Schaeffer 1966, page 8.
43 Schaeffer 1966, page 10.
44 Haig 1991, page 50.
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