This page is about natural hot spring near the First Nations community of Skookumchuck 50 kilometres south of Pemberton Pemberton, British Columbia

Pemberton, British Columbia

Pemberton is a village north of Whistler in the Pemberton Valley of British Columbia in Canada, with a population of 2,192. Until the 1960s the village could be accessed only by train but that changed when Highway 99 was built through Whistler and Pemberton.-Climate:The climate of Pemberton is...

. For the town and associated rapids in the East Kootenay see Skookumchuck, British Columbia

Skookumchuck, British Columbia

Skookumchuck is a Canadian town in the East Kootenay region of the province of British Columbia, along British Columbia highway 93/95 at the junction of the Kootenay and Lussier Rivers.-Industry:...

; for the saltwater rapids at the mouth of Sechelt Inlet

Sechelt Inlet

Sechelt Inlet is one of the principal inlets of the British Columbia Coast and the third of such inlets north from the 49th parallel north, the first of which is Burrard Inlet, Vancouver's harbour. The inlet is significant in that it almost makes an island of what is instead the Sechelt Peninsula,...

 see Skookumchuck Narrows

Skookumchuck Narrows

Skookumchuck Narrows forms the entrance of Sechelt Inlet on British Columbia's Sunshine Coast in Canada. Before broadening into Sechelt Inlet, all of its tidal flow together with that of Salmon Inlet and Narrows Inlet must pass through Sechelt Rapids. At peak flows, whitecaps and whirlpools form at...

. For other uses see Skookumchuck

Skookumchuck

Skookumchuck is a word in the Chinook Jargon that is in common use in British Columbia English and occurs in Pacific Northwest English. Skookum means "strong" or "powerful", and "chuck" means water, so skookumchuck means "rapids" or "whitewater"...

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T'sek Hot Springs, near the First Nation community of Skookumchuck (the name on older maps) and more recently as Skatin ("ska-TEEN")is on the historic Harrison Lillooet Gold Rush trail in the Lillooet River

Lillooet River

The Lillooet River is a major river of the southern Coast Mountains of British Columbia. It begins at Silt Lake, on the southern edge of the Lillooet Crown Icecap about 80 kilometres northwest of Pemberton and about 85 kilometres northwest of Whistler...

 valley, south of Lillooet Lake

Lillooet Lake

Lillooet Lake is a lake in British Columbia, Canada about 25 km in length and about 33.5 square kilometres in area. It is about 95 km downstream from the source of the Lillooet River, which resumes its course after leaving Little Lillooet Lake, aka Tenas Lake...

, in British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. The hot springs

Hot Springs

Hot Springs may refer to:* Hot Springs, Arkansas** Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas*Hot Springs, California**Hot Springs, Lassen County, California**Hot Springs, Modoc County, California**Hot Springs, Placer County, California...

 themselves, named Tsek in the St'at'imcets language
Skookumchuck Hot Springs was also known as "'St. Agnes Well'" during the days of the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush

Fraser Canyon Gold Rush

The Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, began in 1858 after gold was discovered on the Thompson River in British Columbia at its confluence with the Nicoamen River. This was a few miles upstream from the Thompson's confluence with the Fraser River at present-day Lytton...

 also called the Douglas Road

Douglas Road

The Douglas Road, aka the Lillooet Trail, Harrison Trail or Lakes Route, was a goldrush-era transportation route from the British Columbia Coast to the Interior...

, along which it is located, while Harrison Hot Springs farther south was known as St. Alice's Well; both were named by Justice Bailey

Matthew Baillie Begbie

Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie was born on the island of Mauritius, thereafter raised and educated in the United Kingdom...

 for the daughters of Governor Douglas

James Douglas (Governor)

Sir James Douglas KCB was a company fur-trader and a British colonial governor on Vancouver Island in northwestern North America, particularly in what is now British Columbia. Douglas worked for the North West Company, and later for the Hudson's Bay Company becoming a high-ranking company officer...

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Near the community of Skookumchuck were road houses known as 18 Mile House or 20 Mile House, a reference to its distance from Port Douglas

Port Douglas, British Columbia

Port Douglas, sometimes referred to simply as Douglas, is a remote community in British Columbia, Canada at the head of Harrison Lake, which is the head of river navigation from the Strait of Georgia...

, at the Douglas Road's commencement at the head of Harrison Lake

Harrison Lake

Harrison Lake is the largest lake in the southern Coast Mountains of Canada, being about 250 square kilometres in area. It is about 60 km in length and at its widest almost 9 km across. Its southern end, at the resort community of Harrison Hot Springs, is c. 95 km east of...

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An Oblate

Oblate

An oblate spheroid is a rotationally symmetric ellipsoid having a polar axis shorter than the diameter of the equatorial circle whose plane bisects it. Oblate spheroids stand in contrast to prolate spheroids....

 mission was established in the 1860s and, under direction of the priests, the native community began to build a village at Skookumchuck, about 4 kilometres south of the hot springs. As their community became more settled, the Stl'itl'imx people built a striking Carpenter Gothic

Carpenter Gothic

Carpenter Gothic, also sometimes called Carpenter's Gothic, and Rural Gothic, is a North American architectural style-designation for an application of Gothic Revival architectural detailing and picturesque massing applied to wooden structures built by house-carpenters...

 church in 1908, which was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1981, and remains standing and in use today, the Church of the Holy Cross

Church of the Holy Cross, Skatin

The Church of the Holy Cross is a National Historic Site of Canada, located on one of the Indian Reserves of the Skatin First Nation, in southwestern British Columbia. It is located on the east side of the Lillooet River on BC's first inland Gold Rush trail, the Douglas Road...

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T'sek Hotsprings are managed by members of the Skatin community; camping is available for a fee. Many local families still use the hotsprings, and visitors are asked to respect local family values, be discreet in language and behaviour, and to wait until children have finished bathing before entering the hot tubs.