June 25th, 1808. Simon Fraser rallies near what is now the Lytton First Nation and begins his march into Sto:lo country, and to the sea. While individual traders may have come north, and ships mapped the shore, this is the real first contact, where the two peoples met.

50 years after this first encounter with the Camshins they're at war with non-Native gold miners from the US, & with German/French mercenaries. It begins when the miners rape a 'Camshin' woman. The Camshin retaliate by sending the decapitated torsos of miners down river.

An army of American miners launch a war of extermination but on their first night, they panic, and in the confusion and dark, shoot each other, killing hundreds and ending their raid on the Camshin. The Camshin make an internal decision not to pursue the war and it ends.

June 26th, 1808. Simon Fraser and his party travel through the Fraser Canyon, using ropes and poles, and ancient footpaths along the cliff sides. He ends the day at another small village where he encounters Sto:lo visitors from nearby Spuzzum.

June 27th, 1808. Simon Fraser arrives at the village of Spuzzum and visits a tomb. They are given a dinner of salmon (boiled, and roasted) berries, and onions cooked on oolichan oil.

After 3 days of travelling, Simon Fraser and his crew of about 40, including Native guides have travelled about 70kms into Sto:lo country - s'ólh téméxw -which he calls 'Ackinroe'. At the start, each man was weighed down with 80lbs of "indispensable necessaries".

June 28th, 1808, Simon Fraser and his crew visit two Sto:lo villages. They note the wood frame house construction - which looks 'American' to them. They sit on 'tatami' mats and are served salmon in wooden bowls, and they remark on the friendliness of the people.

During their trip to the river, Simon Fraser's crew crosses a bridge. Which is one of those things, I suspect, non-Natives don't think of existing before they arrived. But in the picture is a pre-contact bridge. One of many large civic structures dotted over the landscape.

Pictured are the hats and mats Fraser described. He finishes his trip this day near Lady Franklin Rock, which is a big deal, because in the Sto:lo version of this story, this is where things start to go wrong for Fraser and his mission becomes doomed.

In his journal, Fraser mentions being shown a rock with marks on it. He said they were made by white people like him - but that he couldn't see them. By white people, the Sto:lo were trying to explain that they were made by sky people, demons, angels.

Until that time, Sto:lo thought that he might be another sky person, another angel because of his colouring. But when he couldn't recognize the marks, they realized he was just a person. Look at how he was greeted - that wasn't a normal greeting, they treated him like family.

Here is June 28th, 1808 from the Sto:lo perspective - written a few decades after the event. They tested Fraser to see if he was a god. And if you remember anything from Ghostbusters - if someone asks if you're a god, say 'yes'. Things went downhill for him from here on out.

June 29th, 1808. Simon Fraser reaches what is now Hope and I suspect what is now the Seabird Island people. He remarks on their flat faces, and their weaving, which he says is like a Scottish highland style.

The flat faces is due to skull deformations which, along with long hair, were a signifier of the upper class. Sto:lo society was divided into 3 classes, the Smelalh, the Stexem, and the Skwiyeth. Or roughly translated: rich people, worthless people, and slaves.

Only the rich, the smelalh class, had skull deformations, and long hair. The others were forbidden both, so that class could be identified on sight. Here are 2 contact-era Smelalh from Vancouver Island. Note the height and angle of the forehead and the long hair.

I have a shaved head, in part because on the very remote chance that our faith is true, when I get to hell, I'd rather people not confuse me with a slave master.

Fraser also talks about weaving and that's something that has continued, unbroken, since contact. That's the type of rug he's talking about, and the spindle whorl she's holding, those were ornately designed and are even now, like in India, the national symbol.

One thing that should stick with you. People from upriver have followed him. Even he has noticed that the greeting wasn't quite as good. His failure to prove himself a god, has shown the Sto:lo that he's one of the feared rapacious people that the southerners have warned about.

Fraser notices during his trip European trade goods, that have come from the south, where contact took place earlier. Those goods came with stories. Stories that don't paint his people in a good light.

June 30th Simon Fraser reaches Chilliwack and moves on to Sumas. He is unimpressed by the people of Chilliwack - who he calls dirty and smelly. At Sumas he notes the fish, the seals and the clouds of mosquitos.

Sumas is named after its lake: Sema:th. 100 years after Fraser visits, local settlers drain the lake, and convert it into farmland. Disease has reduced the numerous Sema:th villages to one, with few survivors, and none able to resist the destruction of their livelihood.

Non-Native settlers complained about the mosquitoes on the lake. In the Sto:lo faith the god Xa:ls encountered a cannibal woman, like a Sasquatch/warewolf. He saw her kidnapping children to eat so he burned her to ash, and turned each of the embers into the most detested of bugs.

He told the cannibal's spirit that she would forever be hated as a mosquito, and it would be a reminder for all time to those that it bit, that they're nothing but weak humans, and that they should fear and obey Xa:ls.

However far from fearing the mosquito, Sto:lo came to admire them for their fearlessness and persistence. When a young man would go off and find his guardian spirit, he would hope for it to be a mosquito, the fiercest of warriors, who would fight against all odds, to the death.

The loss of the lake almost destroyed the Sumas people, who are today working to get compensation for their loss: http://www.vancouversun.com/life/sumas+first+nation+seeks+compensation+lost+lake/8307346/story.html - BC historian Chad Reimer recently wrote a book, about the impact of the loss of Sumas Lake: https://vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/book-review-chad-reimer-dives-into-the-mystery-of-the-missing-sumas-lake

July 1st, 1808. Simon Fraser arrives near what is now Katzie territory in Maple Ridge - though was at that time a part of Seyem Kwantlen. He is met by dancers and tours a lalem. He negotiates for new canoes. He notes the locals aren't as generous or surprised to see him. 1

He says the locals aren't generous because they must be poor. Then as now, the Kwantlen are some of the wealthiest Indigenous peoples around. They aren't generous or welcoming because news of his arrival has spread, and news of the test he was given at Spuzzum has spread. 2

There's a replica of the type of house Fraser visited at the History/Civilization Museum in Gatineau. These are things which are still built, but back when Fraser encountered them, they would be subdivided into apartments.