Exercise #1: Local Environmental History

First, I would like to acknowledge that I reside, play, and work on the ancestral lands of the St̓át̓imc Nations between Líl̓wat and N’Quatqua. St̓át̓imc Nations have called this territory home since time immemorial.

I live 25 minutes from Pemberton, B.C., in Poole Creek on Pemberton Portage Road. This is a rural area; the closest store is 12 minutes away. My area has only around 20 houses, and I do not see any neighbours from my home. Development here has been slow but not non-existent.

Holly Bikadi from the Lil’wat Nation met with me to share pre-settler information about the area where I live.  Poole Creek was a very important area for the Lil’wat people.  It was used for fishing, hunting and trapping. Animals in the area consisted of deer, moose, and goats, along with fishing areas along the Birkenhead River.  One family had a cabin here to stay in while they hunted. The trees in the area were also used for cultural purposes, such as making clothing from cedar strips. Other trees were marked with tree blazes, which are burn marks. These tree blazes were trail markers so people could find their way to the fishing, hunting and trapping zones. Today, trees in the area still show cultural modification, and some tree blazes are still visible. Also, people have found fishing hooks, weirs and arrowheads in the area. Bikadi also shared how the Transformers, supernatural beings, visited this area and were responsible for bringing water here. There was no water here before. The Transformers were walking in the area, and one brother tried to get water, but it wasn’t working, so the other one said save your powers and let sister try.  Sister tried, and water came out of the ground.  In recent years, Heather Joseph, who grew up in St̓át̓imc territory, shared with me that many people came to Poole Creek to pick mushrooms.

The book The History of a Settlement Pemberton by Frances Decker, Margaret Fougberg, and Mary Ronayne (1978) has a lot of information about the early days in the area. The first explorer to come through the area was Alexander MacKenzie in 1793, as mentioned on the Líl̓wat Nation website.  The following recording is in 1827, when a Hudson Bay employee came from Lillooet via Seton Portage to Anderson Lake and onto the area where they explored the valleys around the Birkenhead and Lillooet Rivers, which are close to my house (Dekker et al., 1978). Three years later, James Murray Yale came through the area in the opposite direction, looking for easy passage. Then, in 1846, Alexander C. Anderson came in search of an alternate route up Harrison Lake, Lillooet Lake, and Anderson Lake to access the Gold Rush in Lillooet. This route was sought out because the route up the Fraser Canyon was quite a treacherous one. A new route was discovered and then built; it had multiple names:  the Douglas Road, Lillooet Trail, Harrison Trail, and the Lakes Route.  500 men were brought in to build this road. The section of the trail that I live on is called Long Portage. It is a 38.5 km section between Lillooet Lake and Anderson Lake. Today, our street name reflects that era, Pemberton Portage Road.

Bikadi also mentioned that settlers brought invasive species, including Hogsweed and broombrush, which are still in the area today. In addition, settlers brought fruit trees, potatoes, and other food for agriculture.

Another dwelling was established in Poole Creek during the Gold Rush in 1859 by Peter Dickerson and then bought by Thomas Poole.  Poole ran a halfway house providing meat and other staples for gold seekers en route; the area took on this man’s name.  This road saw a lot of traffic during this time; it is estimated that 30,000 men travelled through here. Once an easier route was built from Yale to Barkerville, Douglas Road was used sparingly by the late 1860s. This was probably the busiest time this area has ever seen.  In 1879, Poole and his children were brutally murdered, and the stopping house was burned to the ground.  Shortly after, a few people from the Goldrush left the area. New settlers started trickling in 1885 to Pemberton. Only a few people made their way to Poole Creek to settle. There was no big industry. At one point, an old trapper lived in Poole Creek. His job was census taker for England, and he nicknamed his house #10 Downing. People still refer to it as #10 Downing. Also, in the early 1920s, a steam-powered sawmill was run by Llyod-Owen. Different people settled here, but development was slow and still is.

The next big event for Poole Creek was the completion of the railway in 1914 from Squamish to D’arcy, which is in N’quatqua Nation Territory. Poole Creek Station was a stop along the railway, and the old abandoned building still stands beside it. When I moved here in 2004, the train stopped in Poole Creek for a few years.

Jeff and Susie Gimse, locals who grew up here, shared with me that by 1946, the Bridge River Power Project north of Poole Creek was completed, and the power lines went all the way through the valley, taking power to the lower mainland. Over the next few decades, more power lines were added. The road was paved in 1986, and a small gravel pit was located in Poole Creek during construction.

Another neighbour shared that the area was logged in the early 1990s.  After that, lots were developed and sold. A few people started moving here. Today, about 100 people Live in Poole Creek. There is no cell service here, and telephones have only been in the area for about 25 years.  My neighbour was the one to convince Telus to bring in phone lines.

Today, the area’s wild animals include beavers, raccoons, coyotes, deer, black bears, cougars, and squirrels. The creek has salmon that return each fall, and the air has vultures, bald eagles, and various small birds. People have impacted and changed the area by logging, building houses, constructing roads and railways and planting new vegetation,  but there is not a lot of industry here. It is a quiet rural living area.

Bibliography

Bikadi, Holly. Interview by author. In person. Mount Currie, June 3, 2024.

Decker, Frances, Fougberg, Margaret, & Ronayne, Mary. Pemberton: The History of a Settlement. Burnaby: Hemlock Printers Ltd. 1978.

Gimse, Jeff, & Gimse, Susie. Interview by author. Email. June 15, 2024.

Joseph, Heather. Interview by author. In person. June 2, 2024.

Lilw’wat Nation.  (2019). History – European Contact. https://lilwat.ca/wearelilwat7yul/history/