Until this great work is completed, our dominion is little more than a geographical expression - Sir John A. Macdonald

Travel through the eras of  history and the development of the various nations that make up Canada today.

Tahltan | Carrier | Kutenai

Tahltan People were of the Athabascan family and lived along the Stikine River. They fished the Stikine for the salmon runs that made their way up stream to spawn as a secondary food source. Their main source of food and clothing was from hunting and trapping. They were on fairly friendly terms with the west coast nations due to their mutually advantageous trading relationship. Their main type of living quarters was constructed by sticking strong saplings into the ground in a circular fashion and bending them over the centre of the circle where they could be secured. They would then cover the framework with spruce bark secured with bark rope or the flexible roots of young trees. They could also make a quick structure in the shape of a lean-to once again using a sapling structure and bark. It was only after the invasion of their area by miners during the Cassiar gold rush of 1874 that the Tahltan built their first log structures near the junction of the Stikine and Tahltan rivers. A second permanent log cabin settlement was later built at Telegraph Creek.

Their social structure was a matriarchal one and families were identified by their totem pole emblems such as the wolf, or the raven. By 1909 they number only abut 229 people but have increased in modern times.