Editorially speaking…
British Columbia has long had statutes legislating the disturbance of Indigenous anthropological sites. On paper, anyway. I still remember when they realigned the Island Highway in the Fanny Bay area and contractors cut right through middens that were 30 and 40 feet deep.
The mix of artifacts, clam shells and gravel made good ballast for road construction.
(Cynical, who me?)
I was reminded of this observation of old by news reports about the reconstruction of fire-ravaged Lytton. As if the historic Fraser Canyon gatekeeper hasn’t suffered enough in the past two years, residents attempting to rebuild their homes and businesses are now having to contend with concerns for potential underground anthropological deposits at this ancient site.
Thousands of Nlaka’pamux First Nation artifacts and human remains have been uncovered so far, dating back 7500 years.
Pre-2021 fire Lytton. —Wikipedia - By Andrew Bowden from London, United Kingdon - Lytton, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38402915
According to Lytton Mayor Denise O’Connor, belated anthropological considerations are just the latest in a litany of grief and frustration for property owners. (Belated, because the original prospectors of the 1850’s and their successors all but obliterated the ancient village site.)
The consulting company formed by the Nlak’pamux Nation Tribal member communities to oversee “archaeological and heritage” monitoring denies that concerns for the town site’s ancient heritage, which includes at least one burial ground, have held up reconstruction.
Mayor O’Connor says that she and Lytton residents recognize the archaeological and cultural significance to the First Nation, they simply want the process to be speeded up.
The cost of the monitoring has also added to property owners’ frustration— almost $1700 a day for the digging of a trench—according to one resident. The long and costly delays in reconstruction could result in residents “giv[ing] up if things don’t proceed,” said the mayor.
Editor’s Note: The biggest thorn in provincial heritage legislation is that the onus—i.e. costs—of investigating a property’s anthropological significance is placed squarely on the owner’s shoulders. The government, with its own demonstrated disregard for such sites when they conflict with timelines and agendas, should, at the very least, share.
As matters stand, no one is going to volunteer their property for an archaeological assessment and investigation.
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Reader and quilter Alison Irwin writes:
Hi Tom, It was interesting to note in last week's "Editorially speaking..." article that you have a connection to County Durham. I do too! My mother was born there in 1919. Her immediate family, except for an older brother, left England for Canada in 1927. Their destination was the Cowichan Valley.
In 2019, while Tony and I were in Europe to see our son in Latvia (he was stationed with the Canadian Armed Forces in Riga), we took a side trip to England and did spend a few hours in Durham. Here are a few photos from that visit. The second one may be of particular interest to you as your grandfather was a miner while still a young boy.
Alison
Sweet!
And, in response to my post on old photographs, this from frequent contributor Bill Irvine: Hi Tom, Thanks for another interesting, September 28, 2023 BC Chronicles.
Tom wrote: “The moral of the story, readers, is to do this [identify the who, when and where on the backs of photos] as we go along, when it only takes a few minutes—not years after the fact, when it becomes a mammoth task.”
Talking about old, unidentified photos, I picked up a couple (out of a box of dozens) of tintypes at Whippletree Junction some 25 years ago. As I recall they cost about 50¢ each. There's probably none to be found in circulation these days. I'll leave that part to you experts.
Bill
Who were they? We’ll never know.
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Great news for the knitters of the legendary Cowichan sweaters!
A new online outlet has committed to paying artisans up to $500 per sweater. This is head-and-shoulders above the wholesale rates many of them have been getting over the years—sometimes as little as $90, or “a couple of dollars per hour”.
Right on.
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