A Drowned Forest: Hydrocolonialism and the Destruction of the Tsek’ehne Mixed Economy in Northern British Columbia, Canada

• In Event: The Far Off Omineca and Beyond: Reconsidering the Finlay-Parsnip Watershed of Northern British Columbia, 1860-1956

Abstract

The 1960s witnessed a radical transformation in Tsek’ehne relationships to settler extractive economies on their traditional territories in the Finlay and Parsnip watersheds of Northern British Columbia, Canada. In the early 1960s, Tsek’ehne territories remained peripheral to settler extractive economies and there was a lack of available settler workers in the region. In the period, lumbering in the region relied heavily on Tsek’ehne workers. Milling operations centered in Finlay Forks, at the junction of the Finlay and Parsnip rivers, and followed a seasonal pattern that accorded well with the rhythms of Indigenous life. Tsek’ehne families moved seasonally between winters on distant traplines and summer work in forestry at Finlay Forks. Mixing these different economic activities, they were able to maintain autonomy and sustain their families. However, the provincial government of the period viewed Tsek’ehne territories as remote and undeveloped. Provincial officials decided the hydroelectric potential of the region superseded the value of the mixed economy in the region on which the Tsek’ehne relied. Subsequently, they implemented plans to radically remake the region, building a 60-foot dam downstream of the junction of the Finlay and Parsnip rivers and flooding 1,770 square kilometres of land in 1968. Finlay Forks disappeared under the Williston Reservoir. Moreover, in the government haste to create the dam, it neglected to even log the forest prior to flooding. Thus, the forest and the Tsek’ehne mixed economy it supported was left drowned by development to support the electrification of Southern British Columbia.

Author

• Tyler McCreary, Florida State University