its either the valley of lost souls or the valley of the dead... i cant remember which, but this area was unsettled before the ore-hungry white people came. the natives believed that the kootenay valley was a place for spirits and no human would ever live there. perhaps they would quest for totem spirits and burn funeral pyres in the kootenay valley, i dont know too much about it.
i just think that in a morbid, twisted kind of way, its pretty neat that we are living in the valhalla of the local native peoples. kind of viciously atrotious all at the same time, but hey... here we are now.
another interesting fact (guesstimate really, because i dont feel like looking up exact numbers) is that at the turn of the century Kaslo had a pop. of 5000 and had 80-some saloons and 60-some brothels. also, that paddle wheeler on the public beach, the ss moyie used to go up and down the lake (no roads at the time delivering passengers and resources). AND the moyie is the largest, original, intact paddlewheeler on the planet!
ok!
bless
ronin
i just think that in a morbid, twisted kind of way, its pretty neat that we are living in the valhalla of the local native peoples. kind of viciously atrotious all at the same time, but hey... here we are now.
another interesting fact (guesstimate really, because i dont feel like looking up exact numbers) is that at the turn of the century Kaslo had a pop. of 5000 and had 80-some saloons and 60-some brothels. also, that paddle wheeler on the public beach, the ss moyie used to go up and down the lake (no roads at the time delivering passengers and resources). AND the moyie is the largest, original, intact paddlewheeler on the planet!
ok!
bless
ronin
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Canada
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I, too, have heard similar stories, and of other places. I've never really looked into it, but it's interesting...
Here is one response from a similar discussion thread from the nelson/kootenay tribe. I thought I'd paste in an excerpt here, as there is some interesting info shared there. I'll also put the link in.
nelson-kootenay.tribe.net/threa...4eaa3e
"'the valley of the lost souls' is exactly the myth i've been going off about. its a pile of white man urban legend rubbish that has no basis in history whatsoever.
i encourage you to listen to this: sinixt.kics.bc.ca/sinixt.m3u
the sinixt (also called the arrow lakes people) traditional territory was from nakusp in the north, kaslo in the east, down into washington, and east to around invemere.
although many of sites of their winter villages were lost when we built dams and flooded the lakes, there is ample evidence that the sinixt tribe were in this area for well over 2000 years prior to us.
imagine this: whitey used the sinixt as target practice, gave them blankets with smallpox, and systematically pushed them off of thier ancestoral land and drove the survivors into washington were they were assimilated into the colville confederated tribes.
bad enough. but then the government declared them extinct (see www.sinixt.kics.bc.ca). and then to top it off, the invaders (us) walk around nelson saying, 'oh the natives never settled here anyway.'
maybe nelson is a place of healing. i sure is an awesome place to live. let's not live in denial about the facts here though, kids. another culture was destroyed and its people murdered to make way for our fat asses to enjoy these valleys. " -
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Unsu...
Going by what a friend of mine says about what he has done for work in this area (he's an arceologist (sp?)). He talks of many sites found in this valley that show native peoples did inhabit this area, at least seasonally for hunting and fishing.
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cool. well, ive learned. thanks for the knowledge.
i belive that myth has basis, even if we cant find it. i am curious about the native cultures belief in the heavens. if i get it right, they believe all their ancestral spirits are available to guide them etc, but i havent really heard about nirvana or a 'physical' location for the souls of the dead. i could see them as into the gaia spirit. that we are all of the same essence and return to it afterwards. -
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In the spirit of amiable discussion and exchange of ideas .......
What if the basis of myth is merely the lack of understanding of a phenomenon at a particular time in human history? For example - A group of people who have achieved a stone age level of technology hear a loud thundering noise in the sky. They have yet to learn of the various interactions of electricity, atmosphere, storms, etc, so the deify the noise and create the myth of a thunder god.
Since humanity has evolved the opposible thumb, the ability to communicate abstract ideas, and self awareness, we have gradually learned much about things of which we used to stand in awe. Many things we used to worship, we now know are part of our natural world. Though our understanding is far from complete, we try to control most everything we can. In accomplishing all of this, humanity as a whole hase come to think of itself as pretty special. Many, if not most, humans feel that there is some sort of meaning to their special lives.
One thing that has always eluded our control, however, is our own individual death. Because we are so 'special', we will not concede that death is nothing more or less than the end of life. So we invent mythical souls and spirits and ethereal deities that watch over us so we can live on for ever and ever, amen. -
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hmm... well, i am another one who has learned here, and grateful for that. i never really knew what to make of the 'valley of the lost souls' story... it certainly does get passed around a lot. a bit like the giant gold nugget at the bottom of the lake around anisworth, or the giant crystal, also at the bottom of the lake.
... people like legends i guess.
however, reading this, a couple things have come back to me... pieces to the puzzle maybe.
a few years ago someone told me that there was some kind of official declaration that the sinixt were an extinct tribe... but i dont think this went over too well with the remaining (if few) sinixt members around the area who tried to contest this... due to their limited numbers, and to the blissful oblivion of the valley's new inhabitants, there was never much press about it.
in light of this, and in light of the extreme brutality against the sinixt people that is sadly not unique to this area, although conceivablely worse than normal, because this valley has been settled quite a bit longer than most of BC due to mining etc, giving white people more time to kill them off at a time when extreme brutality was accepted, normal even...
it is possible that the myth grew from something along the lines of:
"To us, Kootenay Valley means valley of lost souls, because of the hundreds of thousands [i'm guessing] of our people who have been slaughtered here"
was transformed by white telephone to...
"the indians call this valley the valley of the lost souls"
to:
"the natives say this valley holds the souls of their people"
to:
"this valley was a sacred place to the natives, they believed it was where souls collected after death. because it was considered sacred they didn't live here, thats why there are no reservations in this valley while there are everywhere else in BC."
and so on...
there is a seed of truth in every myth it seems to me, only that things taken out of context can have radically different meanings...
where are the sinixt now? what is being done to make repairations? to admit culpability for their slaughter?
... i would like to know. -
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one thing I do know about native use of kaslo area: Kaslo Bay was the site for their traditional summer gathering, a "Coulee".
Kaslo Bay is most definitely a power spot, I love it there. It always pleases me to imagine a summer village there with berries & fish drying, games, trading, feasting, music, *romance*, etc.... -
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I met a Sinixt woman in the spring of 2001 when I was living in the Winlaw area. She hosted a "Sinixt Talk" at the Spicer Centre in Winlaw. I remember that she had said that there are still a few Sinixt people remaining alive in the valley. I also remember that she was passionate about protecting the remains of wildlife, forests and freshwater.
I forget her name, but I'm sure Al, who owns and operates the Earth Spirit Metaphysical Bookstore would have some knowledge pertaining to the Sinixt people.
I definately feel honoured to have met such a beautiful woman. -
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Hello
I am not a kasloian. Was an east shorian but I have my own expereince researching this topic.
I put together a film called valley of the lost souls in my time there. My dog was the hero/helper sprit of the movie and he died before we could reshoot any of it..... it is still in scraps, the piece of art perhaps to be assmebled in some form at some point in future......
Anyways/ I too spoke with the sinixt about the legend. Marilyn I think her name is. She is the one who did the opening prayer at starbelly for instance...
It is not their saying. It is ours.
That is what she told me...
Blessings
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