Chilcotin District of B.C.

The Chilcotin District of British Columbia is usually known simply as "the Chilcotin", and also in speech commonly as "the Chilcotin Country" or simply Chilcotin.



It is a plateau and mountain region in British Columbia on the inland lea of the Coast Mountains on the west side of the Fraser River.

Chilcotin is also the name of the river draining that region.

In the language of the Chilcotin people their name and the name of the river means "people of the red ochre river" (its tributary the Chilko River means "red ochre river")

The Chilcotin district is often viewed as an extension of the Cariboo District, east of that river, although it has a distinct identity from the Cariboo District.

The vast majority of the population are First Nations people, members of the Tsilhqot'in and Dakelh peoples, while others are non-native settlers and ranchers.




 Literary contributions 

Despite its small population and isolation, the region has produced a small but very readable literature mixing naturalism with native and settler cultures and memoirs.

The most well-known Chilcotin authors are Leland Stowe and Paul St. Pierre; the latter was formerly Member of Parliament for Coast Chilcotin and a noted Vancouver journalist.

St. Pierre's writing encapsulated Chilcotin folklore and daily life and are written in a crisp, ironic and often humorous style; the best-known is Smith and Other Events and Cariboo Cowboy. 

Stowe's writings focus on the wildlife of the area on the western rim of the district, adjacent to Tweedsmuir South Provincial Park. His Crusoe of Lonesome Lake is about early settler Ralph Edwards and his work protecting the trumpeter swans which migrate through the region; Edwards' own volume Ralph Edwards of Lonesome Lake parallels Stowe's account, and the book Ruffles On My Longjohns by his sister-in-law Isabel Edwards documents her tribulations as the wilderness wife of a wildlife advocate.

Another notable book from more recent times are Chiwid by Sage Birchwater of Tatlayoko Lake, documenting eyewitness reminiscences of a First Nations eccentric-cum-spirit person, Lilly Skinner, and Nemaia: the Unconquered Country by Terry Glavin, which recounts the story of the Chilcotin War of 1864 and the flavour of the Nemaia Valley today (the Nemaia is the main residence of the Xeni Gwetin, who were the main instigators of the war). 

Edwards's cabin, and the trumpeter habitat, are world heritage sites although his cabin was burned out in large forest fires in the summer of 2004. 

Another Chilcotin author is Ted "Chilco" Choate, a hunting guide at Gaspard Lake in the southeastern part of the district who writes about animals, hunters and the wilderness lifestyle. 

Choate is one of the main advocates for combining the Tweedsmuir, Ts'il?os, Spruce Lake/South Chilcotin, Big Creek and Churn Creek wilderness areas into one large national park spanning the Coast Mountains and plateau between the Fraser and the spine of the Coast Mountains.

Wild horses 

The Chilcotin is also known for its large population of mustang horses, that are "controlled" today due to their competition for forage with cattle herds.

They are believed to be stock brought in during gold rush times, as according to contemporary records the Chilcotin did not have horses until then.

Author and guide-outfitter Chilco Choate, says,  it is more likely that they entered the area,  perhaps offshoots of the large horseherds acquired by the Okanagan and Nez Perce and other plateau peoples several decades before.

Despite their controlled status, their population survives today, though imperilled by expansion of ranching and logging.

 
Settlements and towns
The largest towns in the Chilcotin are Alexis Creek, Anahim Lake and Hanceville, which are all First Nations communities.


The Gang Ranch 

Also of major importance in the Chilcotin is the Gang Ranch, once the world's largest and still among the major beef suppliers in British Columbia.

"The Gang" dates from the 1860s and covers nearly all terrain south of the Chilcotin River and east of Taseko Lake and the Fraser River, and skirting the Bridge River Country to its south.

Similar ranching conditions are found from the Burns Lake and Smithers area in northwestern Interior BC all the way south to the US border, including the famous Douglas Lake Ranch south of Kamloops, but the Gang is by far the largest, and the most wild in character.


 Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilcotin_District