Jean-Baptiste Leolo
Jean-Baptiste Leolo (also known as Jean-Baptiste Lolo) was an important man in British Columbia, and more specifically, Kamloops’s history — and he still is, right up to the modern-day. He…
Read moreSpintlum
My book, The HBC Brigades: Culture, Conflict, and Perilous Journeys of the Fur Trade, was published by Ronsdale Press in July, 2024. You may order my books, The HBC Brigades,…
Read moreJohn Whalika
Who was John Whalika? He was one of my great-great-grandfather’s First Nations slaves — a Haida man who James Birnie rescued from the Indian slave trade that flourished up and…
Read more“Indian Mounds”
In following up another story, I discovered this one on “Indian Mounds” on a river that was supposed to be called the Deschutes, or “Falls River.” This river was supposed…
Read moreNicknames
It was a tradition among the voyageurs to use nicknames. As all of us who read a little British Columbia history know, the Native chief Tranquille, who frequented the Kamloops…
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