Spuzzum, British Columbia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Location of Spuzzum, British Columbia

Spuzzum is an unincorporated settlement in British Columbia, Canada. Because it is on the Trans-Canada Highway, approximately 50 km (31 mi) north of the community of Hope, it is often referred to as being "beyond Hope". Spuzzum was immortalized in the early 1980s by the band "Six Cylinder" in a song with the refrain "If you haven't been to Spuzzum, you ain't been anywhere."[1]

The name Spuzzum may be a local variant of spatsum, a Chinook Jargon word for the reed used in basket weaving. One source claims that the name is an Indian word meaning "little flat", and that Spuzzum was the boundary between the Stó:lō and the Nlaka'pamux peoples.[2]:162

The town is often used in humorous contexts due to its small size. Until it burned down at the end of the last century, Spuzzum boasted a single gas station and general store, which served as the hamlet's most diverting roadside landmark. As if to sum up its comic status in local cultural life, both sides of a one-time sign on the Trans-Canada Highway read "You are now leaving Spuzzum"[3]

Spuzzum is also the name of the local First Nations government, which is part of the Nlaka'pamux group. Their offices and community hall and most housing are located between the Canadian Pacific Railway tracks and the Fraser River, just north of where the store/gas station had formerly been.

The rich social history of this ancient settlement on a low flat place in the Fraser River begins with Simon Fraser's visit of 1808 and its use as a North West Company depot.[4]

During the Fraser Canyon War, 3,000 miners from farther up the Canyon gathered for safety at Spuzzum, then known as "the Rancherie", whose indigenous people were "friendly" and neutral in the conflict, as refuge from attacks by the Nlaka'pamux who lived farther up the canyon. Their chief, Kowpelst (known also as White Hat), was among the first groups of miners at Hills Bar at the onset of the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush in 1858.[5]

See also

  • Alexandra Suspension Bridge

Bibliography

Local elder Annie York's books in the field of ethnobotany are valuable resources for the history of native peoples in the lower Fraser Canyon. They include:

  • They Write Their Dreams on the Rock Forever: Rock Writings in the Stein River Valley of British Columbia (with Chris Arnett and Richard Daly)
  • Spuzzum: Fraser Canyon Histories, 1808-1939 with Andrea LaForet[6]

External links

References

  1. ↑ Beyond Hope, 6 Cylinder
  2. ↑ Akrigg, G.P.V.; Akrigg, Helen B. (1969), 1001 British Columbia Place Names (3rd, 1973 ed.), Vancouver: Discovery Press 
  3. ↑ http://www.newpathwaystogold.ca/geocache/route/1/spuzzum
  4. ↑ Laforet, Andrea; York, Annie (1998). Spuzzum: Fraser Canyon Histories, 1808-1939. Vancouver: UBC Press. p. 296. ISBN 9780774806671. 
  5. ↑ Hauka, Donald (2003). McGowan's war: The birth of British Columbia politics on the Fraser River gold fields. Vancouver: New Star Books. p. 256. ISBN 1-55420-001-6. 
  6. ↑ Googlebook page on this book

Coordinates: 49°41′26″N 121°24′50″W / 49.690621°N 121.413946°W / 49.690621; -121.413946

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.