Siwash Rock is a rock outcropping in

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 ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Canada's

Stanley Park Stanley Park is a public park in British Columbia, Canada that makes up the northwestern half of Vancouver's Downtown Peninsula, surrounded by waters of Burrard Inlet and English Bay. The park borders the neighbourhoods of West End and Coal ...

. A legend among the Indigenous

Squamish people The Squamish people (Squamish language, Squamish: ''Skwxwú7mesh'' , historically transliterated as Sko-ko-mish) are an Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Archaeological evidence sh ...

surrounds the rock. It is between tall. It became known to mariners as Nine Pin Rock for its resemblance to a

bowling pin Bowling pins (historically also known as skittles or kegels) are the target of the bowling ball in various bowling games including tenpins, five-pins, duckpins and candlepins. Tenpins Pin specifications are set by the United States Bowling ...

Geology

About 32 million years ago, a

volcanic A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates a ...

dike Dyke (UK) or dike (US) may refer to: General uses * Dyke (slang), a slang word meaning "lesbian" * Dike (geology), a subvertical sheet-like intrusion of magma or sediment * Dike (mythology), ''Dikē'', the Greek goddess of moral justice * Dikes ...

formed in the

sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...

that forms the foundation of the park (sandstone and mudstone).

Magma Magma () is the molten or semi-molten natural material from which all igneous rocks are formed. Magma is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and evidence of magmatism has also been discovered on other terrestrial planets and some natural sa ...

was forced to the surface through a

fissure A fissure is a long, narrow crack opening along the surface of Earth. The term is derived from the Latin word , which means 'cleft' or 'crack'. Fissures emerge in Earth's crust, on ice sheets and glaciers, and on volcanoes. Ground fissure A ...

in the Earth's crust creating the

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

stack, which is more resistant to erosion than the softer sandstone cliffs. Siwash Rock is the only such

sea stack A stack or sea stack is a geological landform consisting of a steep and often vertical column or columns of rock in the sea near a coast, formed by wave erosion. Stacks are formed over time by wind and water, processes of coastal geomorphology. ...

in the Vancouver area.

Name

The Squamish name for the rock is Slhx̱i7lsh.Squamish Nation "Skwxwu7mesh Snichim-Xweliten Snichim Skexwts / Squamish-English Dictionary", Published 2011. p147 This name refers to the story of ''a man transformed by X̱aays''. The hole in the rock is where Slhx̱i7lsh kept his fishing tackle, according to

Andrew Paull Andy Paull, (Andrew Paull, Xwechtáal, Xwupúkinem, Quitchtaal) (February 6, 1892 – July 28, 1959) was a Squamish leader, activist, coach, and lawyer. Early life and family Born to Dan Paull and Theresa Paull (née Lacket-Joe) of a prominent fa ...

. In ''Legends of Vancouver'', poet

Pauline Johnson Emily Pauline Johnson (10 March 1861 – 7 March 1913), also known by her Mohawk stage name ''Tekahionwake'' (pronounced ''dageh-eeon-wageh'', ), was a Canadian poet, author, and performer who was popular in the late 19th and early 20th centur ...

relates a Squamish legend of how a man was transformed into Siwash Rock "as an indestructible monument to Clean Fatherhood." A plaque near the rock (pictured) states that it is "Skalsh the unselfish," who was transformed by "Q'uas the transformer" as a reward for unselfishness. There is some controversy over the name of the rock. "Siwash" is a Chinook Jargon word for a person of First Nations or Native American heritage. Though the word 'siwash' in the jargon did not necessarily have a negative connotation and was used by native peoples themselves, its

etymology Etymology ()The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the Phonological chan ...

can be traced to the French word "sauvage," which means wild or undomesticated. The word is considered by some to be derisive, but remains in use in certain place names and other contexts without derogatory associations, as with Siwash Rock, Siwash Sweater, etc.

History

Up on the cliffs overlooking Siwash Rock is a lookout point off the Siwash hiking trail. While today it is an ideal spot for park users to admire the scenery, it was known as "Fort Siwash" during the wars. An artillery battery was mounted there in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, as were searchlights in the next war. A runaway mountain goat, according to park board lore, lived free in this area for almost a year in the mid-1960s until he was hit by a car and died in another area in the park. Also residing in this area, until he was arrested shortly after the

Second World War 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 ...

, was a man living in a nearby cave for a 17-year period interrupted only by his service overseas to fight in the war. The small Douglas fir atop Siwash Rock that helped make it such a distinctive landmark for the first generations of Vancouverites did not survive the exceptionally dry summer of 1965. An article on the tree’s passing in the ''

Vancouver Sun The ''Vancouver Sun'', also known as the ''Sun'', is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The newspaper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network. Published s ...

'' reads more like an obituary than news story, quoting former Vancouver

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

, H. H. Stevens as saying “I’ve known that tree for about 68 years now and I’m sorry the tree has died because it was one of our main attractions in Stanley Park.” A park superintendent felt sure that it was “virtually impossible to establish another fir up on the rock from a young plant.” Less than three years later, however, while park crews were still working to restore the park’s forest from the devastation of

Typhoon Freda The name Freda was used for nine tropical cyclones worldwide: five in the Western Pacific Ocean, four in the South Pacific Ocean, and one in the South-West Indian Ocean. In the Western Pacific: * Typhoon Freda (1962) – formed and remained in the ...

, persistent efforts were rewarded when new saplings finally began taking root. In 2017, Vancouver Park Board commissioner Catherine Evans introduced a motion to change the rock's official name to Slhx̱í7lsh. As ''Siwash'' is derived etymologically from ''sauvage'' (the French word for ''savage''), Evans said: "We shouldn't have a name for any part of our land that is derogatory to the Indigenous people of this land." Indigenous comedian JR Redwater quipped "They say 'Siwash Rock' has to be changed because it's from an Indian word, derived from a French word, that's kinda-sorta-but-not-really a racial slur. That's like black people being offended by the Rio Negro."

References

* Clague, John J.; Alison Parkinson, Vancouver Natural History Society (2006). ''Wilderness on the Doorstep: Discovering Nature in Stanley Park''. Vancouver: Harbour Publishing. * Barman, Jean (2005). ''Stanley Park's Secret: The Forgotten Families of Whoi Whoi, Kanaka Ranch and Brockton Point''. Vancouver: Harbour Publishing. * Johnson, Pauline, ''Legends of Vancouver''. Vancouver: Thompson Stationery Co., 1911. (Project Gutenberg) * Steele, Mike (1993). ''Vancouver's Famous Stanley Park: The Year-Round Playground''. Vancouver:Heritage House. .

Footnotes

External links