Kitwanga

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Kitwanga or Gitwangak is in the Skeena region of west central British Columbia. Among the Hazelton and Bulkley Mountain Ranges, the place is on the north shore of the Skeena River, east of the Kitwanga River confluence. On BC Highway 37, northeast of the junction with BC Highway 16, the locality is by road about 115 kilometres (71 mi) northwest of Smithers, 99 kilometres (62 mi) northeast of Terrace, and 212 kilometres (132 mi) southeast of Stewart. The Gitwangak Band Council governs the First Nations portion. Adjacent to the northeast, the freehold part is an unincorporated community.

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From Wikipedia

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Introduction

Place in British Columbia, CanadaKitwanga GitwangakGitwangak Battle Hill, Kitwanga, 2017.KitwangaLocation of Kitwanga.Coordinates: 55°05′59″N 128°04′05″W / 55.09972°N 128.06806°W / 55.09972; -128.06806CountryCanadaProvinceBritish ColumbiaRegionSkeenaRegional districtKitimat–StikineArea • Total17.6 km2 (6.8 sq mi)Population (2021)0(indigenous only) • Total450 • Density26/km2 (66/sq mi)Time zoneUTC-8 (PST) • Summer (DST)UTC-7 (PDT)Area codes250, 778, 236, & 672Highways Highway 16 (TCH) Highway 37WaterwaysSkeena RiverKitwanga River Kitwanga /ˈkɪtwəŋɡə/ or Gitwangak is in the Skeena region of west central British Columbia. Among the Hazelton and Bulkley Mountain Ranges, the place is on the north shore of the Skeena River, east of the Kitwanga River confluence. On BC Highway 37, northeast of the junction with BC Highway 16, the locality is by road about 115 kilometres (71 mi) northwest of Smithers, 99 kilometres (62 mi) northeast of Terrace, and 212 kilometres (132 mi) southeast of Stewart. The Gitwangak Band Council governs the First Nations portion. Adjacent to the northeast, the freehold part is an unincorporated community.

Name origin

[edit] Meaning "place of rabbits", Gitwangak was formerly called Kitwanga, with variations such as Gitwangar, Kitwangagh, or Kitwangar.

Gitwangak Battle Hill

[edit] According to legend, Lutraisuh, daughter of a Gitxsan noble family, was kidnapped by a Haida war party. After bearing three sons to a blind chief, she escaped with the surviving third son. The boy, called Nekt, grew up to become a fierce warrior. He killed a grizzly bear, lined the hide with sheets of slate, and created a simple suit of armor. His people built the hilltop stronghold from which they waged war. His enemies regarded Nekt as a mythical bear that could not be killed. His war club was called Strike-Only-Once. Eventually, a shot from the first firearm in the territory killed him. Designated a national historic site in 1971, the Gitwangak hilltop fort (Ta’awdzep) was burned and abandoned about 1835. Formerly known as Kitwanga Fort, the site was occupied from at least the mid-1700s. Palisades surrounded the hilltop stronghold, which enclosed five longhouses. No above ground structures have survived. From here, the Gitwangak people raided settlements along the Skeena River and the coast. Battles were waged to control fishing sites, protect trade routes, and enhance tribal prestige. A defensive measure was a system of logs designed to roll down upon approaching attackers. The location offered a vantage point over the adjacent Kitwankul Trail and the Kitwanga River Valley.

Railway

[edit] During the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (GTP) construction, camps were established in 1909 at Andimaul. Here, Foley, Welch and Stewart, the prime contractor, wintered its two steamboats. During 1910, a constable was assigned, a steam shovel arrived, and a general store opened. Two years later, the latter was the final one to exit Andimaul. At the beginning of March 1912, the eastward advance of the GTP rail head from Prince Rupert passed through Kitwanga and reached Mile 151. The standard-design Plan 100‐152 (Bohi's Type E) station building was erected that year. During the 1920s, the Canadian National Railway (CN) scheduled a longer stop for passengers to view the totem poles. In 1928, a locomotive engineer sustained serious injuries to his scalp. In 1957, a westbound passenger train derailed east of Woodcock. A few months later, a falling boulder killed a section hand 1.6 kilometres (1 mi) east of Andimaul. In 1963, a derailment occurred near Kitwanga. In 1978, Kitwanga was one of several communities between Prince Rupert and the Alberta border, where CN eliminated the agent-operator position. In 1979, an acting conductor slipped under a boxcar during switching, which caused injuries that required one of his legs to be surgically amputated. In 1981, the CN Express office shuttered. Closed in 1985, the station property was relocated back from the tracks. Boarded up and covered with graffiti, the building burned down in 2003. In 2005, runaway rolling stock struck a locomotive on the main line. In 2012, a freight train struck a tractor trailer unit at the railway crossing. A 2019 report investigated the concept of constructing a railway line between Kitwanga and Stewart or at least a transloading facility at Kitwanga. In 2020, 34 covered hopper cars, containing wood pellets, on a westbound freight train derailed. A month later, a train clipped the end of a transport trailer at the railway crossing. The Andimaul passing track is 2 kilometres (6,530 ft). A trackside signpost marks the Kitwanga flag stop for Via Rail's Jasper–Prince Rupert train. Train Timetables (Regular stop or Flag stop) Mile 1914 1923 1932 1943 1950 1960 1971 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 Ritchie 1625.9 Flag Regular Flag Flag Flag Flag Flag Cedarvale 1617.5 Flag Regular Regular Regular Regular Both Flag Flag Flag Flag Flag Flag Woodcock 1612.0 Flag Regular Regular Regular Regular Flag Flag Flag Kitwanga 1604.5 Both Regular Regular Regular Regular Regular Regular Regular Flag Flag Flag Flag Andimaul 1599.8 Flag Regular Flag Flag Flag Nash 1595.2 Flag Regular Flag Flag Flag Flag Skeena Crossing 1593.4 Regular Flag Regular Regular Flag Flag Flag ^a. From 1989, the next stop eastward was New Hazelton.

Local confrontation

[edit] In the early 1920s, First Nations in the Kitwanga Valley ejected government census takers, threatened European settlers, and blocked visitors from passing through the area. In 1960, when the province expropriated land for highway widening, the Kitwanga band demanded compensation and the prosecution of the highways minister. In 1985, CN obtained a BC Supreme Court injunction to stop the band from obstructing the main line. However, access to the industrial park beside the track, which housed maintenance facilities, remained blocked. A sawmill operated within the industrial park. The long disputed land included the railyards, the railway right-of-way, and a 12-hectare (30-acre) industrial park, which the band claimed was improperly transferred to the GTP at the time of railway construction in 1910. In return for lifting the blockade, CN returned an 11-hectare (27-acre) site to the band. Indigenous girl fishing, Kitwanga, 1915. In 1986, a gathering of hereditary chiefs at Kitwanga affirmed their intention to defy federal and provincial fishery laws regarding the protection of endangered fish stocks. Days later, Gitwangak members prevented three federal fisheries officers from entering reserve land to investigate illegal fishing. In 1990, the band blockaded a sawmill road following concerns over reduced lumber demand, which had resulted in 35 mill layoffs over a five-month period. Periodic highway blockades caused a dramatic drop in tourist traffic on Highway 37 and threatened the mining and forestry industries. In 1992, the band defied a court order to end a two-week blockade of a logging road. Later that year, when three band members were charged with defying a court injunction, a five-day blockade of the CN rail line ended. Released in 1994, the 90-minute documentary "Blockade" was filmed over a 15-month period. The subject matter was the ongoing conflict between two histories. Further examples were the Gitwangak blocking the logging crews of a family who had been settlers since the 1930s and a mob forcing seniors from their freehold property. In 2002, an Edmonton resident was fined $12,000 for illegally importing tainted salmon from Kitwanga, which had been caught using an aboriginal communal licence. Two months later, the Gitxsan of Kitwanga proceeded to sell fish illegally. In 2013, the CN line was blockaded for a day at Kitwanga. In 2017, the elected band chief obtained a court order to remove a group of hereditary chiefs and other protesters from the band office.

Forestry

[edit] A Kitwanga Lumber Co sawmill existed from the mid to late 1920s. In the 1930s Roy Doll started a sawmill on his property. In partnership with his brother Leon they created Kitwanga Sawmill and were the main employer through the 1940s and 1950s. In 1960 they sold their interests to Vernon, Lorne, and Alvin Hobenshield who operated as ALV. In 1963, locally owned Kitwanga Lumber Co established a sawmill. In 1970, Columbia Cellulose acquired the other Kitwanga mill. In 1973, the province acquired Columbia Cellulose and created a new company called Canadian Cellulose. In 1981, the company announced that shift cut backs were not likely at the Kitwanga mill. That year, Canadian Cellulose was renamed BC Timber. In 1982, the mill only operated in June. Employees rejected a proposal to reopen for 10 weeks to yearend. The installation of new machinery, a government training grant, and the prospect of new markets, facilitated reopening a month later. However, the future remained uncertain. In 1984, BC Timber was renamed Westar Timber. The Kitwanga sawmill, which specialized in export products, was able to sell lumber at premium prices. In 1986, Skeena Cellulose, a subsidiary of Repap Industries, bought the Westar assets. Unable to sell their Kitwanga mill, Repap implemented another period of closure in 1993. Repap purchased a stake in the mill and licences of Kitwanga Lumber Co in 1995 and took full control in 1999. Skeena Cellulose was renamed Repap BC in 1996. The next year, the name reverted to Skeena Cellulose and the insolvent group ceased operations in June but restarted in October after restructuring. In 2002, NWBC Timber and Pulp bought the group. During that intermediary period, Skeena received $400 million in various forms of loans from the province, while Kitwanga and the associated BC mills operated intermittently. In 2002, NWBC demanded wage cuts prior to reopening. The next year, Skeena Cellulose was renamed New Skeena Forest Products. In 2004, the company sold the two Kitwanga mills. The next year, the Kitwanga Lumber mill sold again. The Kitwanga Lumber mill closed in fall 2008 and was purchased by Pacific Bioenergy in 2009. Reopened in June 2011 to provide the raw waste material for a wood pellet plant, production ceased in October, and the company filed for bankruptcy protection in December. The mill restarted and has operated as Kitwanga Forest Products.

Kitwanga

From Wikipedia

Introduction

Name origin

Gitwangak Battle Hill

Gitwangak reserve

Railway

Main roads

Ferry and bridge

Local confrontation

Forestry

General community

Public school

Notable people

Maps