History and Culture
October 3, 1978
People of the Old Days in Burns Lake
Spoken By: Mr Sam Patrick
Written By: Mrs. Marie Patrick
While in my younger days I very much remembered a lot or rather a few people, who first settled in Burns Lake. The person who I very much remember was called “Burns Lake Tommy” and his two brothers are Michell and Plasway these people owned and lived in a reserve which is the whole Burns Lake, their reserve was all over the place. These men lived in three houses that were on the reserve one house for each person. There are white people who I also know that were the only white people I knew that were on the reserve, there were no other white people that were around when Burns Lake
IN GOING MAIL
first came into being. Barney Mulvany, who owned a café, the past master, who delivered mail, was old Jimmy Mackenna, this man dealt with mail until he got very old, then his son Bill Mackenna took over. Now Barney owned a café which was under a tent. These were the only two people that I knew of, that lived in Burns Lake and ran a business. After living in Burns Lake for a long time, white young, the other person that settled here in Burns Lake was Andy Rodey, who built and owned a garage. There were only Indian people that settled in Burns Lake and a few white people, that ran business and they are mentioned above, there weren’t very many white people at all. The three Indian men that I have mentioned above are the ones that owned the land. This whole Burns Lake is supposed to be a
ROBERT ABRAHAM~BISHOP O’GRADY~SAM PATRICK
reserve, because these three men were the first to settle here, and have found Burns Lake. The late Frank Tibbets father, whose name is David Tibbets owned a land or a reserve, right where Babine
Forest Products is now located, His house can still be seen and is still standing it has not been destroyed yet. In Palling there was land that belongs to Donald Walter as a matter of fact it is a reserve belonging to him. His graveyard is right in Palling he was buried right on his own land. Now there a lot of people that live in Palling. I came to Burns Lake very young in those days when Burns Lake was first known. In Pendleton Bay which was just named a few years ago, in those days they called that place the Winter Trail where Donald owned land. He was the father of Jimmy Donald this man had been trapping on his land for a long time on this land near Pendleton Bay. Right across from Pendleton Bay is a land owned by Sylvester Joseph and Alex Joseph; they do a lot of trapping on that land.
Years back this land was given a name because of the rocky mountain, the name they gave was Rock Pile Up. That is How Burns Lake came into being. Just lately white people started moving into
TENT TOWN BURNS LAKE
Burns Lake and claiming it as their land. The first three people that I have mentioned before were the only people that first settled in Burns Lake when we first moved into Burns Lake. As I have said before this whole Burns Lake is suppose to be a reserve, and yet the white people just pushed us Indian people aside into one spot and called burns Lake their land. There was no church at all during that time but there was one person whose house the Priest would celebrate his mass, and that house belonged to Burns Lake Tommys brother Plasway. Willie and Johnny Mackenna used to be accompanying the Priest at that house and they used to act as alter boys for the Priest. I was in my younger age at that time and I remember all that has happened during that time and the people I remember during that time from the old days. Willie Mackenna is one year ahead of me when he died he was practically here in Burns Lake his whole life since his childhood. I know and remember all that I have told. That is how Burns Lake was first known and how Burns Lake started.
A Legend Of The Old Days Around 1870
By: Robert Abraham
ROBERT ABRAHAM AND WIFE ELLEN
The Hudson Bay Company were the first people to build and run stores in the isolated areas such as Old Fort and Fort Babine. How their selling items came to Fort Babine and Old Fort was through the land called light bay. The products for sell at the Hudson’s Bay in Babine and Old Fort used to arrive at that Bay after coming through Stewart Lake on a stern wheel, known as a steam boat, which was not very big enough it did all the delivering along Trembulier Lake on a stern wheel to the landing, where is would land from the steam boat they transferred the items on the wagon and delivered them into the stores. Then suddenly they stopped the delivering. At Forte age they made a road and through that road they delivered the selling products on a wagon, and from there the stocks were put on a schooner to be delivered to Fort Babine and Old Fort. The schooner itself was built to deliver products. This is very old legend, at that time the legend teller himself was not even born yet. It was told to him by his elders such as Leon George who was also a child at the time. The story goes back to the year 1870-1884. Then they started a boat between Prince Rupert and Hazelton to Fort Babine before
HUDSON BAY STORE
that there used to be only one boat coming from Hazelton, and the boat belonged to the Indian people of the Hazelton-Prince Rupert areas. They also had Hudson Bay stores in Prince Rupert and Fort Simpson, so the stock came on a schooner through the Skeena River from Prince Rupert or Fort Simpson. When arriving the stock would be hauled into the stores by hand. Finally a steam boat began through the Skeena River, during that time there were no trains or anything to travel in. The trains started in the year 1914-1918. Then the stocks started coming in through trains for the Hudson Bay
SCHOONER also known as STEAMBOAT on Babine Lake
store. The people in that time owned a few stores these used to be over 100 miles which delivered stock from Hazelton to Fort Babine. From Fort Babine the mules would continue on their journey to mason, where people worked, the mules delivered stock to them. As time went by and the legend teller grew old enough there were still things happening in the future. The Priest travelled by boat which came from Prince George and Quesnel, and at the postage which is not very far from the isolated areas, the Priests were transferred into another boat which comes from Babine. The Lumber started to come in people than began making a big boat for travelling people across the Lake and the Priest can come and go in the boat. In the winter time the Priest would travel into the isolated areas from Hazelton in a toboggan. The same transportation was required for the Bishop. The Bishop would visit the people in the isolated areas every three years. He would be brought to Babine by a saddled
STEAMBOAT FROM HAZELTON
horse. As years went by there was now travelling of Burns Lake and Donald’s Landing and stock came in on the wagons, and from the wagon the stock would be transferred onto a boat. During the winter time the legend story teller himself would accompany the Priest to the isolated areas. It was quite a hard time to get the Priest to the isolated areas on Christmas for mass, the snow was deep and the weather would be very cold. There was a pack train going to Donald’s Landing, from Donald’s landing the people in Burns Lake would have their stock on a wagon to Burns Lake. Then a road came into the picture through Topley Landing. The wagons were used to have stock through that road. When the pack trains which in other words would be freight trains were started for transportation, then the way travelling by horses has stopped. Very many people in the late 1870-1884 owned pack trains. Almost 200 heads of horses were brought to the isolated areas. When Robert the legend teller and others were young there was a place called Hadrea which is a place where the fish would increase or reproduce this place was known to the people. As years went by the mail was delivered in a hard way, it was packed on the backs of the mailmen. He quit and then Moses Dennis started packing the mail on his back to the Hudson and Hadrea. After a long time of delivering the mail for the two companies they decided to take some mail off his back, so they let Tommy Andrew take over the mail for the Hudson’s Bay Company sometimes Robert Abraham would take the mail for the Hudson’s Bay and go with Moses Dennis. That is how the mail was delivered. A post office was built in Topley and so the Hudson’s Bay mail started coming in through Topley. Then Hudson’s Bay put in a telephone or wire in
TRAIN STATION IN BURNS LAKE
their stores, so there is no danger for people who take illness and are living in an isolated area. If anyone should get sick they could always wire for an airplane. Through the telephone or wire they could also communicate with the Indian Agent in Hazelton. It was very hard to live in the isolated areas; people had gone through many hardships for there were no cars, trains or airplanes. A road was made to the isolated areas making it a bit easier for the people living in that area. Whenever people got sick it was very hard to get help in the winter time. In the summer time they would use horses to get the sick person to the hospital. Soon telephone or wire were put in the nearest, which was Old Fort and there too people would get instant help when someone got sick. Leon George and his sister named Sophie were very young at the time they lived on their own land, In those days there were some people that were fully grown who knew that the wagon did all of the hauling. People used to go hunting leaving their home in the fall and they come home in the springtime. Some people would come home only for Christmas they would sell their furs to the Hudson’s Bay Company when they came home from hunting. That was how people earned their living in those days; the people that owned the land were the only people that made money in those days. The people of today are not making use of the land that they own like the people did in those days. It was very hard for some people to obtain a gun. It took them all winter to trap and hunt but they could only buy one gun with whatever they made from trapping. That was what the old parents of those days have been telling their younger people. Today when Robert the legend teller and many other have grown old enough and are able to tell a story of their own, a story that happened in their time. In 1905 was the first time that Indian people in Fort Babine get themselves into trouble, while fishing and getting themselves food prepared for the winter. They had a fish trap set up across the lake they would catch a lot of fish in one trap just sort of like scooping the fish up having enough for all winter. The department of fisheries arrived at Babine to destroy the fishing trap, when all the ladies tried to stop them in order to keep the fishing trap up. After a big battle with the department of Fisheries all those who were involved in the battle were arrested and taken to court in Hazelton and then later to a court in New Westminster. When the 12 people returned home after one month in court, two Chiefs were taken to Ottawa for three months to protest the removal of the fishing trap. Accompanying them was father Cocola who understood and spoke Indian very well. He helped them out by interpreting for them the whole three months they were there in Ottawa. He warned them they will put a lot of silver and gold on the table for you and they will tell you that will pay for the removal of the fish trap and Indian people will live off of it as long as they live. Do
OUR REASON TO FIGHT FOR OUR FISH RIGHTS
not accept it he told them, instead of silver or gold ask them for something that will last as long as the people will live. So the two chiefs did turn down the pot of gold and silver, instead they asked for fishnet and social assistance. They asked for the fishnet simply because they were going to destroy the ways of fishing which was the fish trap. The people in Ottawa thought that the gold would supply every Indian person for as long as they lived. It was settled that the Indian people would be supplied with fishnets and everything that came with it and social assistance for as long as they lived year after year. The fishnet was to be supplied to the Indian people every year. Since the department of fisheries destroyed their means of the fish trap in Fort Babine. These are the two reasons the two Chiefs and father Cocola settled with the government in Ottawa that is why they spent three months in Ottawa. After all that has been settled the father and the two chiefs took a train back to Vancouver and from there they continued on their journey to Kitimat on a steamboat. From kitimat they caught a ride with a man who delivered mail on a sled. From the time they left Babine to Ottawa in the fall or about near Christmas the two chiefs and the Priest came home to Fort Babine during the spring time in the month of March. This story was told to the legend teller by the two chiefs who had to travel to Ottawa for a settlement on fishing rights. That’s how it all went in the year of 1905. Today the fishing rights are getting to strict for the Indian people the department of fisheries are beginning to change the promise they have made back in 1905 to the two chiefs they don’t seem to be giving out fishnets anymore. There are people who are still living today who lived in those days who knew what happened in that time but they do not speak up or have any say about it. There are also people who have lived in Roberts time who should remember what has been happening but do not remember mainly because they did not know how to read or write, as time went by they are all shut down. It was told by Robert himself his late grandfather as a tale that the fish family which were created by God be put in a proper to hatch it should be placed in a creek where it would not increase, they would lay eggs and turn into many other different types of fish then they travel into the sea where they would turn into salmon. This fish story is a tale told by the elders it had to do with a child who put some branches into the water, and the branches pulled the child into the water and so the child was pronounced drowned but the child turned into a mermaid which is half fish and half human being, and so the child ended up in the fish family because of the mermaid all of the fish were drawn back from the deep sea into the river, the spot where the child was first pulled into the water by the branches. That is how there are many fish, this legend was told by many elders. Today the departments of fisheries are being strict and are trying to put an end to the Indians rights for fishing. When the department of fisheries gets too strict the legend teller will bring up the whole history on fishing at a meeting to make it known to them that natives have every right to fish whenever they want. He will tell of what has happened in the years 1870-1905 on the fishing all along the lakes and rivers, the fish would reproduce and they would turn into various types of fish once the reproduction has taken place turns into different types of fish, especially salmon they do not travel into the sea mainly because of the tale story of the fish. All along the Fraser River, Skeena River, Peace River, Babine River, and many other Rivers that join into the sea the fish would journey. It is not believed that white people are making it possible for the fish family to increase and that is all the story on fishing.
HUDSONS BAY COMPANY IN FORT BABINE
The people in Fort Babine were all employed in a mining at a place called Mason. Earning $2.00 per day for Ten Hours a day. They had to walk all the way from Babine up to Bytell Creek, leaving Babine in the fall and come home from mining in the spring; this was another way people in Babine earned their living. Lately the fur prices went up and so people who owned land lived mainly on their trapping. When they sold their furs they made a living on it. Now back to the mining, Robert Abraham worked at the mining for three months in the year of 1934-1936 and then decided to quit knowing how dangerous it was along with several crew quit from that time on. Robert and his family lived in Babine until about 1941 than moved to Pinkut Lake which was not far from Burns Lake. When a sawmill was built Pendleton Bay the family decided to move to Pendleton bay and settle down there for as long as the sawmill ran there. Then when the sawmill ran there. Then when the sawmill were taken away from Pendleton bay, then the family had to move from Pendleton bay to Burns Lake in 1965, where the family had a house built for them. This is the whole legend story of the Old days during the years og 1870-1942-1965.
