We, the Tahltans, like other natives, traditionally were hunters, gatherers, and traders. Long ago native groups had their own trading routes and trading partners. Our ancestors established a successful trading system with our neighbours, especially with the Tlingit and Kaska.

Over time the traditional trading system between us and other natives was interrupted and then stopped altogether. In the following pages, you will see how events, such as the gold rushes, disrupted our trading system. These disruptions resulted in the break-up of our traditional native trade. There was a change in who was involved in trading and the way trading was done. Changes took place within us Tahltans as a group that were also important. For example, deaths by smallpox and measles caused a sharp decrease in Tahltan population which had an effect on trading and on our traditional way of life.

Long, long ago, our elders say that there was little or no trading between native people in this area. Teit (1912-15) was told this story about the days before trading began:

People were few and widely scattered. Therefore they seldom met each other. Long ago the Tlingit of the coast were never seen. They did not come up the Stikine very far and Tahltans did not travel down the Stikine very far. So there was no trading with the Tlingit.

At last the Tlingit began to come up the Stikine and finally they met the Tahltans. After this time, they came often and finally came each year after the ice melted on the Stikine.

The time when trading with the Tlingit began was long ago, but still not so very long ago. The time is not certain. It seems, however, that the Tlingit have traded with the Tahltan for a long time back.

The first trading was done with Tlingit people who brought goods that they made or harvested on the coast. Later, when trading ships began stopping at the mouth of the river in search of furs (around 1750), they brought other goods, such as metal tools and utensils. Later the Russians and the Hudson Bay Company built permanent trading posts in the early 1800's. Thus, the Tlingit were able to bring even more "modern" goods, such as guns and ammunition. It is seen that trade with interior natives (that is, with us, the Tahltans) became more important to the Tlingit as the trade in fur increased.

In the fur trade, the Tlingit became middlemen between interior natives and the white traders of the coast. This was a very successful trading system for about a hundred years. It has been said that trading in furs was a profitable business for the Tlingit during that time.

Naturally, the Tlingit resented any interference from whites or others in their trade monopoly. Both Tlingit and Tahltans were against outsiders building trading posts within the Tlingit-Tahltan trading area. They stopped other traders in any way that they could.

This balance in trade between Tlingit and Tahltans continued for many decades. Then there were many changes in the area which ended their trade altogether. First, in the 1830's, hundreds of us Tahltans died from smallpox and measles. Later, about 1848, another epidemic carried off more of our people. Our numbers dropped from about 1500 or more in 1800, to 200-300 by 1900. It became difficult for the few remaining to keep up their traditional salmon fishing, hunting, and trap as well.

Then people from "outside" began to come into the area to hunt for gold, not just for furs. The first gold rush, a small one, started when gold was discovered by Alexander "Buck" Choquette on the Stikine in 1861. The gold soon ran out. This little rush did not last long. So, it did not upset the traditional Tahltan way of life too much. However, the story was different with the next gold rush. The second rush, the Cassiar gold rush, brought large numbers of miners in 1874-1876. The exact number is not known, but in 1897-98 Glenora was a town of 3500. This population alone was more than 10 times the number of us Tahltans at that time in history! In all, the estimate is that more than 10,000 people stopped at Glenora on their way to the gold fields.

Let us look at what happened during the gold rush years. First, several thousands of outsiders poured into the country. Some came overland from the south through the Sekani area. People also came up the Stikine from the coast in steamboats. These big boats also brought in goods through Wrangell Ñ far more goods than the Tlingit canoes could carry.

This region was formerly Tahltan country, but in 1863 Governor Douglas claimed all of the country to the 60th parallel as part of British Columbia. This act opened the door for outsiders to set up trade in our county. With the Cassiar gold rush, trading posts sprang up in the Tahltan and Kaska countries to serve the new, larger population. These events caused major disruptions in the Tlingit-Tahltan trade which dwindled away to nothing. White traders replaced the Tlingit and have controlled the trade ever since.

Our Tahltan trade routes ran east and west. This is the same pattern of trade seen with southern coastal natives as well.

In the south and in Tahltan country, all trade routes reached across both the Cascades and Rockies. This route connected the Pacific coast with Plains. The main trade route in the Cassiar region passed up the Stikine River to our meeting places between Telegraph Creek and Tahltan. We then traveled across country to Dease Lake and to the Kaska at McDames. Then the route followed the Liard to the Mackenzie.

A branch crossed Tahltan country to the Liard at the mouth of the Rancheria.The trade route reached north and east from there. Teit was told that a trade route of some importance skirted Tahltan territory on the north. It followed the Taku and Kakina Rivers across to Teslin Lake and on to Rancheria. There it divided, one branch going up the the Nisutlin and one over to the head of the Liard. The other or main branch went down the Teslin River. Tahltans were not involved with this route.

Trade routes running north and south in Tahltan country were not as well-developed as trade with the Tlingit and Kaska.

We traded mainly with the Tlingit and the Kaska. There was some trading with the Sekani and with natives in the Teslin area, but it was not as important.

In early days, the relationship between us and the northern Atlin Tlingit and the southern Nass people was usually one of war not trade. When we made peace with them, we did not go to war anymore. Trade with the Atlin Tlingit and the Nass people was of less importance than trade with the Tlingit and the Kaska.

In early years of trade, Tahltans acted as middlemen between the Tlingit, Kaska and other interior natives. The meeting point for trading was above Telegraph Creek, on the flats above the river at Nine Mile. (Nine Miles upriver from Telegraph Creek.) The Tlingit brought goods from the coast. They sold them to us; we then took their wares inland. Goods were transported with backpacks to Rancheria River and to the head of Dease Lake. Then they were carried by trail or canoe to the Kaska at McDames or at the foot of the lake.

The Tlingit traders brought their goods in canoes up the Stikine to the meeting point past Telegraph Creek. These canoes were mainly large, sea-going canoes capable of carrying several tons of weight. It took the Tlingit one to two weeks to make the trip. The distance was over 100 km (approximately 160 miles) upstream from the salt water. Travel time varied, depending on the weather, the water conditions, and whether the Tlingit wanted to hurry or not. The return journey, downstream, was often made in two da

ys.

The first of the Tlingit traders came in the spring shortly after the ice had broken up in the river. This was usually by the end of April or the first part of May. They brought large quantities of eulachon oil and salmon eggs as well as some common trade goods.

Sometimes very few Tahltans were near the river at this time of the year. If they found Tahltans and sold their goods quickly, they returned to the coast at once. If they could not find people, and were unable to sell their goods quickly, they remained until they managed to do so. Sometimes they did not return home until June.

There were Tlingit families who shared hunting and fishing rights on the Stikine in the area south of Glenora. They dried salmon and berries on the creeks running into the river east of the Cascade range. These families came in July and stayed for a month or more.

They returned in the latter part of September along with other Tlingit traders to trade. Sometimes as many as fifteen large canoes came to trade. During this trading trip they stayed from two to five weeks. The last of the Tlingit traders left late in October, about the time ice first appeared in the Stikine.

Tahltans told this trading story to Teit. It is about an incident that took place at the end of a Tlingit trading trip:

It is said that in the early part of the last century (1800), there were several long summers and late falls in a row. There was only light frosts in October and no severe cold until late November.

One year a large trading party of Tlingit in a number of large canoes headed back in November, far later than usual. They expected the fall to be late and mild, as they had been for the past few years. They no sooner started than a sudden and very severe cold snap came on. The ice began to run and the river froze across in places, while the lower reaches of the river, there was a very deep snowfall.

From the mouth of Clearwater Creek down, they got stuck in many places and had to portage their large canoes over the ice jams. Within a few days the people in many of the canoes ran out of food. Many of them were poorly prepared for severe cold. They wore coastal clothing and did not have moccasins or other clothing needed for cold weather.

In addition, they did not know much about hunting in the area Ñ and were not prepared for hunting and snowshoeing anyway. The fish run was over, so fish could not be caught until salt water was reached.

It took them about two weeks instead of two days to reach Wrangell. During this time they suffered severely from cold and hunger. Most of them were either sick or frost bitten when they reached home.

At one place on the way, they camped for the night in deep snow on the river bank. They lit a fire at the base of a large tree. It happened that the tree was hollow. In the night it fell over, killing an important Nanaai chief called Keceske.

The Tlingit believed that our Tahltan shamans boiled rabbits on purpose or by being thoughtless. This action brought on the cold before the Tlingit had time to get home. So, the next year, the Tlingit demanded payment from us for their chief's death and for the suffering they had endured on their trip home.

Our people discussed the demand in our council for several days. Finally we agreed to pay something. We did not wish to have war with the Tlingit since this would stop trade. And, we realized that the Tlingit were very strong and great in number. We might lose the war if we decided to fight. So we paid a large part of the demand. Each clan paid a share. This happened about 80 years ago, so they say.