Kitwanga
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 northwest of Smithers, northeast of Terrace, and 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
Meaning "place of rabbits", Gitwangak was formerly called Kitwanga, with variations such as Gitwangar, Kitwangagh, or Kitwangar.Gitwangak Battle Hill
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 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.
Gitwangak reserve
After abandoning the fort, the inhabitants briefly moved to another village before settling at the present site by the river. The totem poles, erected between 1840 and 1942, depict the history of the fort. More than 500 photos document their presence from 1899 to the early 1980s. The 1924–1926 restoration project comprised extensive work on both standing and fallen totems. From 1926 to 1942, poles were moved back from the river edge to the centre of the village. During summer 1969, a further restoration project was undertaken. Both deliberately and accidentally, fire has destroyed many examples.Significant earlier painters who captured the poles were Emily Carr and George Pepper. A further reproduction appears on a 1930 postage stamp.
Gitwangak is one of six communities that belong to the Gitxsan grouping.
Rev. Alfred Edward Price established the Anglican mission, having charge 1889–1911. The church also administered the day school on the reserve 1898–1975. During winter 1887, a measles epidemic broke out, which quickly spread because people travelled for cultural events.
In 1974, the rotted church bell tower was replaced.
In 2009, funding from Northern Development and volunteer labour, enabled extensive renovations to the community hall.
Gitwangak Health and a volunteer fire department serve the community.
In 2021, the second of two suspicious fires destroyed the abandoned St. Paul's Anglican Church, which was built in 1893. The adjacent bell tower was saved despite some fire damage.
Opened in 2023 were a childcare centre providing more than 50 spaces and the two-storey 52-unit Gitwangak Affordable Apartment Complex.
On reserve land at the junction of highways 37 and 16, the Kitwanga Petro-Canada provides fuel, a minor repair shop, a small restaurant, and a convenience store.
Railway
During the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway 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 station building was erected that year.
During the 1920s, the Canadian National Railway 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 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.
A trackside signpost marks the Kitwanga flag stop for Via Rail's Jasper–Prince Rupert train.
Main roads
In 1911, the first of the Naas wagon road north toward Stewart was completed.By the early 1930s, the Kitwanga–Hazelton road was considered fairly good. A road extended east to Prince George. To the west, an isolated section existed in the vicinity of Terrace.
In 1944, work was completed at the Prince Rupert end and on the Pacific–Kitwanga leg, which opened the Prince Rupert–Prince George highway to military traffic.
In 1956–57, Kitwanga–Hazelton was reconstructed to an all-weather highway.
In 1958, Western Coach Lines inaugurated a Prince Rupert–Prince George bus service, which included a scheduled stop at Kitwanga. The next year, the company withdrew the service.
In 1960, when Prince Coach Lines assumed the Prince Rupert–Prince George route, only was paved. In 1966, when Canadian Coachways bought the company, only was still gravel.
In 1963, Woodcock–Kitwanga was completed on the northwest shore, which connected with the existing Cedarvale–Woodcock road. Using the ferries at the respective ends, this provided an alternative scenic route. The Kitwanga ferry was also popular for motorists wishing to view the totem poles.
In 1970, Greyhound Canada purchased Canadian Coachways.
In 1992, when a tanker-trailer crashed though the roadside barrier, of heavy asphalt oil spilled into the Skeena near Andimaul.
Prior to ceasing all intraprovincial services in October 2018, Greyhound had eliminated the Prince Rupert–Prince George run that June. BC Bus North immediately assumed the route.
The current passenger transit providers are BC Bus North and BC Transit.
Ferry and bridge
In 1913, a subsidised seasonal cable ferry was installed over the Skeena.During summer 1921, the ferry did not operate, because of sparse traffic.
In 1923–24, a new reaction ferry was installed.
In 1925–26, new towers and floating landings were built.
In the 1936 flood, the north tower of the ferry crossing moved and the landings were damaged. The ferry operator's residence floated down the river past Cedarvale.
During the 1942 spring runoff, the cable of the new tower under construction had to be cut in order to save the structure.
In 1943, a RCAF pilot died when his plane struck the ferry cable.
In 1947–48, a new ferry with steel pontoons was installed.
When a strong gale in 1959 pushed the ferry upstream, the operator and passengers took six hours to pole across the river.
An ice bridge was used during wintertime and a rowboat during the change of season.
In 1964, floodwaters collapsed both towers and severely damaged the ferry, cancelling service for several years.
Contracts awarded in 1973 for the new bridge were the substructure to Dillingham and steelwork to Canron. In 1975, the deck was awarded to Ansha Contracting. Officially opened that November, the two-lane bridge included ice-pressure measurement equipment on one of the piers. The ferry was discontinued.
Local confrontation
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 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 site to the band.
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.