N'Quatqua, variously spelled Nequatque, N'quat'qua, is the proper historic name in the

St'at'imcets Lillooet , known in the language itself as / (), is the language of the St’át’imc, a Salishan language of the Interior branch spoken in southern British Columbia, Canada, around the middle Fraser and Lillooet Rivers. The language of ...

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 Lillooet () is a district municipality in the Squamish-Lillooet region of southwestern British Columbia. The town is on the west shore of the Fraser River immediately north of the Seton River mouth. On BC Highway 99, the locality is by road abou ...

and about the same distance from Pemberton. The usage is synonymous with Nequatque Indian Reserve No. 1, which is 177 ha. in size and located adjacent to the mouth of the

Gates River The Gates River is a short river in the Lillooet Country of the Southern Interior of British Columbia, Canada. Approximately 14.5 km in length, it flows generally northeast from the outlet of Birken Lake (aka Gates Lake or Summit Lake) to it ...

(see N'Quatqua First Nation for a list of other reserves administered by the band, some of which are also named Nequatque). The village and its beach were at the end of pavement northeast of

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

and Whistler until the opening of the Duffey Lake Road stretch of Hwy 99, which runs on the south side of the

Cayoosh Range The Cayoosh Range is the northernmost section of the Lillooet Ranges, which are a subrange of the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains in British Columbia, Canada. The range covers an area of c. 3770 km² (1455 sq mi) and is approximately 65 ...

which rises above N'Quatqua on the south and east. Beyond D'Arcy towards

Seton Portage Seton Portage () is a community located on a narrow strip of land between Anderson Lake and Seton Lake in Squamish-Lillooet Regional District, British Columbia. The community is home to two Seton Lake First Nation communities at either end of t ...

, at the other end of Anderson Lake, there is only a rough powerline road thousands of feet above the lake, known as the High Line Road, that is not recommended for the unwary or unsure, or the feeble of engine or nerve.

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

people have resided at N'Quatqua "since time immemorial" and there is little doubt that there has been human habitation at this sheltered, food-rich spot soon after the catastrophic collapse of the

8-20,000 BP that created

and separated

Anderson Anderson or Andersson may refer to: Companies * Anderson (Carriage), a company that manufactured automobiles from 1907 to 1910 * Anderson Electric, an early 20th-century electric car * Anderson Greenwood, an industrial manufacturer * Anderson Ra ...

and

Seton Lake Seton Lake is a freshwater fjord draining east via the Seton River into the Fraser River at the town of Lillooet, about long, in area and lies at an elevation of . Its depth is . The lake is natural in origin but was raised slightly as part of ...

s (the catastrophe would have created a huge wave - see

megatsunami A megatsunami is a very large wave created by a large, sudden displacement of material into a body of water. Megatsunamis have quite different features from ordinary tsunamis. Ordinary tsunamis are caused by underwater tectonic activity (movemen ...

- wiping out all human populations in the valley). Prior to the diversion of the

Bridge River The Bridge River is an approximately long river in southern British Columbia. It flows south-east from the Coast Mountains. Until 1961, it was a major tributary of the Fraser River, entering that stream about six miles upstream from the town of ...

into the Seton watershed, the salmon runs coming up the lake were as typically large as on other tributaries of the

Fraser Fraser may refer to: Places Antarctica * Fraser Point, South Orkney Islands Australia * Fraser, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb in the Canberra district of Belconnen * Division of Fraser (Australian Capital Territory), a former federal ele ...

. There were other villages in the Gates Valley, southwest from D'Arcy and up Blackwater Creek towards

Birkenhead Lake Birkenhead Lake Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada, located in the Lillooet Country region to the northeast of Pemberton, British Columbia, Pemberton and immediately northwest of Birkenhead Peak and Gates Lake (a.k.a ...

, as well as at Birken but between the ravages of smallpox, an early 19th-century war with the Tsilhqot'in, the effects of the

gold rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New Z ...

and

Oblate In Christianity (especially in the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican and Methodist traditions), an oblate is a person who is specifically dedicated to God or to God's service. Oblates are individuals, either laypersons or clergy, normally livi ...

evangelization and the

Indian Act The ''Indian Act'' (, long name ''An Act to amend and consolidate the laws respecting Indians'') is a Canadian act of Parliament that concerns registered Indians, their bands, and the system of Indian reserves. First passed in 1876 and still ...

, today there is only N'Quatqua. The N'Quatqua people were part of the Lakes Lillooet group of the St'at'imc, which included today's Seton Lake Band as well as other villages and single residences along

and

s. In the 19th century, the paramount chief of the Lakes Lillooet, or the closest thing there was to such a title, was

Chief Hunter Jack Hunter Jack of Shalalth inhabited the Bridge River Country region of southwestern British Columbia. He was a larger-than-life indigenous personality who died in 1905. Character His formal name was Jack Tashpola or Tash Poli. He was born at 22-Mile ...

(''In-Kick-Tee'' in

, whose principal residence was at D'Arcy, although he often lived at

Shalalth Shalalth and South Shalalth are unincorporated communities on the northern shore near the western end of Seton Lake in the Squamish-Lillooet region of southwestern British Columbia. The localities are by road about northwest of Lillooet, but on ...

and was a habitué of the

goldfields over which he claimed suzerainty). During the gold rush N'Quatqua was busy as a shipping and transference point on the

Douglas Road The Douglas Road, a.k.a. the Lillooet Trail, Harrison Trail or Lakes Route, was a goldrush-era transportation route from the British Columbia Coast to the Interior (NB another route known as the Lillooet Trail was the Lillooet Cattle Trail, which ...

and went by the name Port Anderson. The name D'Arcy was conferred in honour of

Thomas D'Arcy McGee Thomas D'Arcy McGee (13 April 18257 April 1868) was an Irish-Canadian politician, Catholic spokesman, journalist, poet, and a Father of Canadian Confederation. The young McGee was an Irish Catholic who opposed British rule in Ireland, and w ...

when the

Pacific Great Eastern Railway The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

was built, and that name was also applied to the alpine peak just south of "town". N'Quatqua/D'arcy today has a mix of non-native housing and there are large recreational subdivisions in between D'Arcy and Birken. At Devine, two miles from D'Arcy, a sawmill operated in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

by a Frank Devine employed

Japanese Canadians are Canadian citizens of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Canadians are mostly concentrated in Western Canada, especially in the province of British Columbia, which hosts the largest Japanese community in the country with the majority of them living ...

who had been relocated from the coast to a relocation centre at

McGillivray Falls McGillivray may refer to: People * McGillivray (surname) Places * McGillivray Creek (British Columbia), a creek in the Lillooet Country of British Columbia ** McGillivray, British Columbia (formerly McGillivray Falls) in the Lillooet Country of B ...

, a few miles farther northeast along the north side of Anderson Lake.

References

N'Quatqua website
*''Tales from Seton Portage'', Irene Edwards, self.publ. Lillooet 1976 * {{coord, 50, 33, 00, N, 122, 29, 00, W, display=title St'at'imc Lillooet Country

See also

References