190:(Xwisten First Nation, Xwisten being the name of the Bridge River in St'at'imcets), the site is shared by the area's various Indian bands, with certain families having long-standing rights to certain rock platforms and campsites, though few come from other First Nations people in the rest of the Interior anymore. Pole-built fishing platforms jut out over the narrows of the rapids, which form a small waterfall, especially during spring run-off, and fish-drying racks are scattered around the surrounding area (wind-dried salmon is a local specialty, the area being so subject to dry winds pouring down the canyon no smoking is required). A modern pictograph created by
194:, showing a sun-face with a salmon-shaped mouth, overlooks the main part of the site, which is a series of rock formations in the angle of the Bridge and Fraser Rivers. Fishing by non-natives is not permitted unless permission is granted by the Bridge River Indian Band. Historically natives used spears and dip nets to catch salmon, which are readily visible in their attempts to leap the rough waters of the gorge.
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The rapids are among the fiercest on the Fraser and are generally considered impassable to canoes and river-rafting expeditions and are formed by the narrowing of the Fraser's banks by rock ledges at this point. However the diversion of the Bridge River in 1958 with the
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A 1950s era proposal to build a dam at
Lillooet Canyon, just above the site of today's suspension bridge, which would have inundated the fishing spot and ended the Fraser salmon runs, was abandoned, along with another at
150:. That name came from the toll-bridge built over the river at this point in 1859 to replace a native-built pole bridge. The town only lasted a few years, as an easier crossing to the
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a few more miles upstream, below the community of
Fountain, which was formerly known as the Upper Fountain; those rapids today are the Upper Fountain Rapids).
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severely curtailed the flow of the Bridge River, and the combined flows of the river no longer produce the "fountain" of combined waters during spring
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from the many different peoples of the
Interior. It was here early in the 19th century, that an insult by the chief of the
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leaping back and forth from bank to bank so as to make a barrier for salmon and places for people to fish.
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A complex culture of the
British Columbia Plateau: Traditional Stl'atl'imx resource use
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A complex culture of the
British Columbia Plateau: Traditional Stl'atl'imx resource use
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92:(The Upper Fountain was a longer but equally difficult but not as narrow gauntlet of
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Same as yesterday: the
Lillooet chronicle, the theft of their lands and resources
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Same as yesterday: the
Lillooet chronicle, the theft of their lands and resources
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Same as yesterday: the
Lillooet chronicle, the theft of their lands and resources
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and historically it and neighbouring sites along the stretch of river between
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450:
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158:, closer to today's Lillooet, at the site of a 1913-built suspension bridge.
410:, Joanne Drake-Terry, publ. Lillooet Tribal Council, Lillooet, B.C. (1989)
336:, Joanne Drake-Terry, publ. Lillooet Tribal Council, Lillooet, B.C. (1989)
312:, Joanne Drake-Terry, publ. Lillooet Tribal Council, Lillooet, B.C. (1989)
324:, Brian Hayden (editor). University of British Columbia Press. Vancouver.
300:, Brian Hayden (editor). University of British Columbia Press. Vancouver.
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attracted over 15,000 people at a time to fish at the site during key
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which led to the location's frontier-era name of the Lower
Fountain.
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The location is the most important aboriginal fishing site in the
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261:, Lorraine Harris, J.J. Douglas, North Vancouver (1977),
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The Six Mile Rapids - The Bridge River
Fishing Grounds
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with the Fraser and on the northern outskirts of the
146:the site was the location of a boomtown known as
259:Halfway to the Goldfields, a History of Lillooet
104:The narrows in aboriginal legend were formed by
386:, Irene Edwards, self-publ. Lillooet, BC, 1976
287:, Irene Edwards, self-publ. Lillooet, BC, 1976
249:, Irene Edwards, self-publ. Lillooet, BC, 1976
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346:Notes of the Jesup North Pacific Expedition
170:, which would have backed the Fraser up to
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358:History of the Chiefs of the Okanagan
60:six miles north of the confluence of
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398:, British Columbia government, 1956
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428:Bridge River Indian Band website
396:Water Powers of British Columbia
186:under the administration of the
480:First Nations history in Canada
475:First Nations culture in Canada
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30:Bridge River Fishing Grounds
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505:Rivers of British Columbia
166:and an even larger dam at
83:Bridge River Power Project
113:British Columbia Interior
52:, located in the central
384:Tales from Seton Portage
285:Tales from Seton Portage
247:Tales from Seton Portage
188:Bridge River Indian Band
451:50.75000°N 121.93333°W
233:BC Geographical Names
228:"Bridge River Rapids"
34:St'at'imcets language
456:50.75000; -121.93333
369:The Thompson Country
182:Today located on an
131:to the chief of the
66:District of Lillooet
56:at the mouth of the
20:, also known as the
447: /
139:in the late 1830s.
18:Bridge River Rapids
373:Mark Sweeten Wade
267:978-0-88894-062-9
178:Current ownership
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500:Rapids of Canada
490:Lillooet Country
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70:British Columbia
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184:Indian reserve
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156:Miller's Ferry
129:Lakes Lillooet
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174:and beyond.
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148:Bridge River
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50:Fraser River
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442:121°56′00″W
350:The Shuswap
164:Glen Fraser
142:During the
125:salmon runs
469:Categories
439:50°45′00″N
356:, section
354:James Teit
215:References
192:Saul Terry
94:whitewater
72:, Canada.
495:St'at'imc
198:See also
121:Lillooet
117:Fountain
76:Physical
348:, Vol.
100:History
87:freshet
48:on the
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137:Nicola
106:Coyote
46:rapids
28:, the
24:, the
270:ISBN
263:ISBN
154:was
119:and
42:Setl
38:Sat'
16:The
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