The Tsilhqotʼin or Chilcotin are a North American tribal government of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group that live in what is now known as British Columbia, Canada. They are the most southern of the Athabaskan-speaking Indigenous peoples in British Columbia.
The Chilcotin region of British Columbia is usually known simply as "the Chilcotin", and also in speech commonly as "the Chilcotin Country" or simply Chilcotin. It is a plateau and mountain region in British Columbia on the inland lee of the Coast Mountains on the west side of the Fraser River. Chilcotin is also the name of the river draining that region. In the language of the Tsilhqot'in people, their name and the name of the river means "those of the red ochre river". The proper name of the Chilcotin Country, or Tsilhqotʼin territory, in their language is Tŝilhqotʼin Nen.
The Chilcotin River /tʃɪlˈkoʊtɪn/ located in Southern British Columbia, Canada is a 241 km (150 mi) long tributary of the Fraser River. The name Chilcotin comes from Tŝilhqot’in, meaning "ochre river people," where ochre refers to the mineral used by Tŝilhqot’in Nation and other Indigenous communities as a base for paint or dye. The Chilcotin River, Chilko River and Lake, and Taseko River and Lake make up the Chilcotin River watershed. This 19,200 km2 (7,400 sq mi) watershed drains the Chilcotin Plateau which reaches north to south from the Nechako Plateau to Bridge River county and east to west from Fraser River to the Coast Mountains. It is also one of twelve watersheds that make up the Fraser River Basin. Made up of seven major tributaries, Chilcotin River starts northeast of Itcha Mountain, flowing southeast until it joins the Fraser River south of Williams Lake, 22 km (14 mi) upstream from Gang Ranch.
The Chilcotin Ranges are a subdivision of the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains. They lie on the inland lea of the Pacific Ranges, abutting the Interior Plateau of British Columbia. Their northwestern end is near the head of the Klinaklini River and their southeast end is the Fraser River just north of Lillooet; their northern flank is the edge of the Plateau while their southern is the north bank of the Bridge River. In some reckonings they do not go all the way to the Fraser but end at the Yalakom River, which is the North Fork of the Bridge.
The Homathko River is one of the major rivers of the southern Coast Mountains of the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is one of the few rivers that penetrates the range from the interior Chilcotin Country to the coastal inlets of the Pacific Ocean. The Homathko River reaches the sea at the head of Bute Inlet, just west of the mouth of the Southgate River.
The Chilcotin War, the Chilcotin Uprising or the Bute Inlet Massacre was a confrontation in 1864 between members of the Tsilhqot'in (Chilcotin) people in British Columbia and white road construction workers. Fourteen men employed by Alfred Waddington in the building of a road from Bute Inlet were killed, as well as a number of men with a pack-train near Anahim Lake and a settler at Puntzi Lake.
Lhatŝ’aŝʔin, a chief of the Chilcotin (Tsilhqot'in) people, led a small group of warriors in attacks on road-building crews near Bute Inlet, British Columbia, in April and May 1864. The road crews had been starving and underpaying Tsilhqot'in workers, which provoked Lhatŝ’aŝʔin to declare war. On 29 April 1864, Lhatŝ’aŝʔin arrived at a ferry site 30 mi (48 km) up the Homathko River. He and his warriors killed ferry-keeper Tim Smith, plundering the food and stores kept there.
The High Bar First Nation is a First Nations government of the Secwepemc (Shuswap) Nation, located in the Fraser Canyon-Cariboo region of the Central Interior of the Canadian province of British Columbia. It was created when the government of the then-Colony of British Columbia established an Indian reserve system in the 1860s. It is one of three Secwepemc bands that is not a member of either the Shuswap Nation Tribal Council or the Northern Shuswap Tribal Council. The High Bar people are also partly Tsilhqot'in and have links with some Chilcotin First Nations.
The Tlʼesqox First Nation is a Tsilhqotʼin community located west of the Fraser Canyon in the Chilcotin region of the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is a member of the Carrier-Chilcotin Tribal Council, which includes both Tsilhqotʼin and Carrier (Dakelh) communities.
The Tŝideldel First Nation is the band government of the Tsi Del Del subgroup of the Tsilhqot'in people, located in the Chilcotin District in the western Central Interior region of the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is a member of the Tsilhqot'in National Government.
The Tlʼetinqox-tʼin Government Office is a First Nations government located in the Chilcotin District in the western Central Interior region of the Canadian province of British Columbia. Governing a reserve communities near Alexis Creek known as Anaham Reserve First Nations or Anaham, it is a member of the Tsilhqotʼin Tribal Council aka known as the Tsilhqotʼin National Government. The main reserve is officially known as Anahim's Flat No. 1, and is more commonly as Anaham. Other reserves are Anahim's Meadow No. 2 and 2A, and Anahim Indian Reserves Nos. 3 through 18. Anaham, or Anahim and Alexis were chiefs of the Tsilhqotʼin during the Chilcotin War of 1864, although they and their people did not take part in the hostilities.
The Xeni Gwetʼin First Nation is a First Nations government located in the southwestern Chilcotin District in the western Central Interior region of the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is a member of the Tsilhqotʼin Tribal Council.
William George Cox was Gold Commissioner for the Cariboo and Boundary Districts in the Colony of British Columbia, Canada during the Rock Creek Gold Rush. He was born in Ireland.
Donald McLean, also known as Samadlin, a First Nations adaptation of Sieur McLean, was a Scottish fur trader and explorer for the Hudson's Bay Company and who later became a cattle rancher near Cache Creek in British Columbia's Thompson Country. McLean was the last casualty of the Chilcotin War of 1864 and the father of outlaw and renegade Allan McLean, leader of the "Wild McLean Boys" gang.
Tatla Lake is a small unincorporated community in the west Chilcotin area of British Columbia, Canada, located at the west end of its eponymous lake. Situated 220 km west of Williams Lake along Highway 20, Tatla Lake's 123 people live approximately halfway between the two ends of the highway; Williams Lake to the east and the coastal community of Bella Coola to the west. The community is the service centre for three major mountain valleys of West Branch, Chilko and Tatlayoko. These valleys extend southward via secondary roads.
Cheẑichʼed Biny, known as Chilcotin Lake, is a lake in the Chilcotin District of the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada. It is located on the Chilcotin River to the north of Puntzi Lake.
Canadian Forces Camp Chilcotin is a Canadian Forces training camp in the Chilcotin District, to the west of the city of Williams Lake on the eastern Chilcotin Plateau. The 40977 hectares of land is currently owned by the Federal Government. Within its boundaries, the so-called "Military Block" contains Drummond (Island) Lake, Fish Lake, Callanan Lake, as well as innumerable other small lakes. It also contains the Volcanic Neck, Danilʔaz, and parts of Beecher Prairie.
Chilanko Forks is an unincorporated settlement as well as a First Nations community of the Tsilhqot'in people, located on the north bank of the Chilanko River just northeast of Tatla Lake, and immediately south of Puntzi Lake, in the Chilcotin District of the Central Interior of British Columbia. Chilanko Forks is the location of the offices of the Alexis Creek First Nation.
Alexis Creek is a creek in the Chilcotin District of British Columbia, Canada, flowing southeast from its source in Alexis Lake into the Chilcotin River a short distance upstream from the town of Alexis Creek.
The 1862 Pacific Northwest smallpox epidemic was a smallpox outbreak that started in Victoria on Vancouver Island and spread among the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast and into the indigenous peoples of the Northwest Plateau, killing a large portion of natives from the Puget Sound region to Southeast Alaska. Two-thirds of British Columbia natives died—around 20,000 people. The death rate was highest in southeast Alaska and Haida Gwaii—over 70% among the Haida and 60% among the Tlingit. Almost all native nations along the coast, and many in the interior, were devastated, with a death rate of over 50% for the entire coast from Puget Sound to Sitka, Alaska, part of Russian America at the time. In some areas the native population fell by as much as 90%. The disease was controlled among colonists in 1862 but it continued to spread among natives through 1863.
