20 Ch’iyáḵmesh

[chi yak mesh]

Geographical location: along Cheakamus River and the entire surrounding area. It is known as "cheek eye."

*Please note: Before contact we did not navigate within our territory by means of an outlined/defined map. We navigated from knowledge of the land and the seasons.

Ch’iyáḵmesh can translate to "fishing weir place." Our village was located at the mouth of the creek that empties into the Cheakamus River. Fishing weirs were built across shallow sections of the Cheakamus River. We used weirs until missionaries came in 1860’s. This location as good for fishing (coho, chum, and pink salmon). It was a good place to hunt grizzly bears. The bears like to eat here when the fish spawned. There is an important story attached to this area about our people. They had special gifts associated with otters and minks. The village owned a lot of mountain goat wool blankets.