Road Tripping: Gitsegukla Aka Skeena Crossing

Gitsegukla (also Kitsegeucla or Skeena Crossing) is a Gitxsan community of about 500 at the confluence of the Kitseguecla and Skeena Rivers, approximately 40 km southwest of Hazelton, British Columbia, Canada. The community is on Gitsegukla Indian Reserve No. 1. The original village was located below the present day graveyard, near the Skeena River. The village was destroyed in 1872 when a party of miners on their way to Omineca failed to extinguish their camp fire. The result was a significant confrontation that was only resolved when the Lieutant-Governor travelled on the war-ship, HMS Scout, to meet the Gitsegukla chiefs at Metlakatla. They received compensation for their losses. Subsequently, the community relocated slightly upriver. Following the building of a church, the village divided along religious lines. Methodists moved to the upriver community of Carnaby, and followers of the Salvation Army to Andimaul, although most later returned to Gitsegukla in the decades that followed… read more >