Image Courtesy of Sʕačkstx artist Hubert “Chief” Rice
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Sinixt Chief James Bernard (portrait at left) once described yaʔmlúp (Nelson) as providing access to stíɬaʔ (caribou) hunting. Our hunters may have climbed a foot trail past Cottonwood Falls.
Colonial explorers for the Palliser Expedition (1857-60) encountered stíɬaʔ trails forged by large herds, high in the mountains south of yaʔmlúp. The autumn rut in the Ymir-Salmo valley provided good hunting. 
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Cottonwood Creek’s watershed is part of our Sʕačkstx (Sinixt) homeland.
It has long been a crossroads for us. Along this creek, we travelled south to the Salmo River (1) and on to the Columbia River, via Beaver Creek. We also came north, from Salmo, to year-round settlements here(2) at yaʔmlúp (Nelson). We came east from a portage around Bonnington Falls (3), the location of one of our important cultural symbols, Coyote Rock. Pit house depressions in yaʔmlúp (2) and at the mouth of Grohman Creek (4) demonstrate our year-round use of this land prior to colonization and epidemics.
Chief James Bernard once called the area across from yaʔmlúp on Kootenay Lake asaʔaʔčí (Cave in the Rocks/Sacred Caves). (5)This might refer to pictographs still visible above a shallow cave on a cliff face immediately opposite the municipal airport.
These waters once gifted us with kokanee salmon and trout. We also managed a freshwater cod fishery at Balfour in spring. (6) Early Nelson newspapers report our people bringing large amounts of fish to local shops for trade.
By the early 20th century, the international boundary had become a firm, invisible barrier for our people. New laws restricted traditional trapping, hunting, and fishing. The growth of the city of Nelson overwhelmed our traditional use.
Chief James Bernard once called the area across from yaʔmlúp on Kootenay Lake asaʔaʔčí (Cave in the Rocks/Sacred Caves). (5)This might refer to pictographs still visible above a shallow cave on a cliff face immediately opposite the municipal airport.
These waters once gifted us with kokanee salmon and trout. We also managed a freshwater cod fishery at Balfour in spring. (6) Early Nelson newspapers report our people bringing large amounts of fish to local shops for trade.
By the early 20th century, the international boundary had become a firm, invisible barrier for our people. New laws restricted traditional trapping, hunting, and fishing. The growth of the city of Nelson overwhelmed our traditional use.
In the floodplain, we gathered roots skʷkʷin (Spring Beauty) & ʔiʔtʷaʔ (Camas) each year.
Blue-flowering ʔiʔtʷaʔ (Camas) is an important root crop for our tribe. It once grew throughout our territory in river floodplains.
We stayed in Tipis on these flats in yaʔmlúp after Nelson developed.
The Nelson Izu-shi Friendship Society thanks Shelly Boyd and the Sinixt Confederacy for sharing these stories.
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