Chief Hunter Jack
Encyclopedia
Chief Hunter Jack was a 19th C. chief of the Lakes Lillooet (today's N'quatqua
and Seton Lake bands
). His name in St'at'imcets, the Lillooet language, is cited in one source as Tash Poli.
A celebrated guide outfitter, his hunting territory was the basin of the Bridge River above its Big Canyon, a region which had been the focus of a brutal war the Lillooet and Chilcotin peoples earlier in the 19th Century. According to tradition it was Hunter Jack who negotiated an end to this war, learning the Chilcotin language
to achieve this end; it may also have been him who led the last battle against the Chilcotins at a location named "many roots", believed to at a place known as Graveyard Valley just over the divide between the Bridge and Chilcotin River basins.
As guide-outfitter he had many prominent clients including British Rear-Admiral Michael Culme-Seymour, who on their hunting expedition had gestured over the broad basin of the upper Bridge River and said "Jack, you are the hyas tyee (king) of all this country" and afterwards sent Jack a Royal Navy officer's uniform,. Jack took the Admiral at his word and became the effective ruler of that region (although as chief of the Lakes Lillooet by tradition he already was the ruler of the area in question). His protege as hunting guide was W.G.C. "Billy" Manson, Métis grandson of HBC Chief Trader Donald Manson, whose own sons would continue to work the hunting territory into the 20th Century.
Jack's control over the Bridge River was unofficial but very real. He would choose which prospectors he would allow into the area and at other times chasing out large parties of Italians and Chinese which had penetrated the difficult-to-get-to upper valley in search of gold. Somewhere in the upper Bridge River Country, perhaps up Tyaughton Creek - it is believed - he had his own extremely rich placer find - so rich that at potlatch
es at Shalalth he would dispense handfuls of nuggets to band members and guests alike. As the prospecting population grew in the Bridge River Jack also operated a fresh fish business to supply the miners with food, and also ran a ferry over the Bridge River from which he could monitor the comings and goings of everyone in the valley.
Jack died in what official records describe as a "boating accident" on Seton Lake, where he is supposed to have fallen as he stepped from his boat "hitting his head on an oarlock". St'at'imc and others in the region contend that Jack was murdered by men seeking to force from him the secret of his hidden gold mine (which remains lost today).
He was succeeded as chief of the N'quatqua or Anderson Lake Band of the St'at'imc by his son Thomas Jack, who led an unsuccessful campaign for redress for the gold of the Bridge River Country (40 million ounces of gold from the Bralorne mine alone).
N'quatqua
N'Quatqua, variously spelled Nequatque, N'quat'qua, is the proper historic name in the St'at'imcets language for the First Nations village of the Stl'atl'imx people of the community of D'Arcy, which is at the upper end of Anderson Lake about 35 miles southeast of Lillooet and about the same...
and Seton Lake bands
Seton Lake First Nation
The Seton Lake First Nation, aka the Seton Lake Indian Band, is a First Nations government located in the Central Interior-Fraser Canyon region of the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is a member of the Lillooet Tribal Council, which is the largest grouping of band governments of the...
). His name in St'at'imcets, the Lillooet language, is cited in one source as Tash Poli.
A celebrated guide outfitter, his hunting territory was the basin of the Bridge River above its Big Canyon, a region which had been the focus of a brutal war the Lillooet and Chilcotin peoples earlier in the 19th Century. According to tradition it was Hunter Jack who negotiated an end to this war, learning the Chilcotin language
Chilcotin language
Chilcotin is a Northern Athabaskan language spoken in British Columbia by the Tsilhqot’in people....
to achieve this end; it may also have been him who led the last battle against the Chilcotins at a location named "many roots", believed to at a place known as Graveyard Valley just over the divide between the Bridge and Chilcotin River basins.
As guide-outfitter he had many prominent clients including British Rear-Admiral Michael Culme-Seymour, who on their hunting expedition had gestured over the broad basin of the upper Bridge River and said "Jack, you are the hyas tyee (king) of all this country" and afterwards sent Jack a Royal Navy officer's uniform,. Jack took the Admiral at his word and became the effective ruler of that region (although as chief of the Lakes Lillooet by tradition he already was the ruler of the area in question). His protege as hunting guide was W.G.C. "Billy" Manson, Métis grandson of HBC Chief Trader Donald Manson, whose own sons would continue to work the hunting territory into the 20th Century.
Jack's control over the Bridge River was unofficial but very real. He would choose which prospectors he would allow into the area and at other times chasing out large parties of Italians and Chinese which had penetrated the difficult-to-get-to upper valley in search of gold. Somewhere in the upper Bridge River Country, perhaps up Tyaughton Creek - it is believed - he had his own extremely rich placer find - so rich that at potlatch
Potlatch
A potlatch is a gift-giving festival and primary economic system practiced by indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada and United States. This includes Heiltsuk Nation, Haida, Nuxalk, Tlingit, Makah, Tsimshian, Nuu-chah-nulth, Kwakwaka'wakw, and Coast Salish cultures...
es at Shalalth he would dispense handfuls of nuggets to band members and guests alike. As the prospecting population grew in the Bridge River Jack also operated a fresh fish business to supply the miners with food, and also ran a ferry over the Bridge River from which he could monitor the comings and goings of everyone in the valley.
Jack died in what official records describe as a "boating accident" on Seton Lake, where he is supposed to have fallen as he stepped from his boat "hitting his head on an oarlock". St'at'imc and others in the region contend that Jack was murdered by men seeking to force from him the secret of his hidden gold mine (which remains lost today).
He was succeeded as chief of the N'quatqua or Anderson Lake Band of the St'at'imc by his son Thomas Jack, who led an unsuccessful campaign for redress for the gold of the Bridge River Country (40 million ounces of gold from the Bralorne mine alone).