Chinlac facts for kids

Chinlac was once a very important village for the Dakelh (also known as Carrier) people. It was located on the west side of the Stuart River, about one kilometer upstream from where it meets the Nechako River. People remember it as one of the biggest Dakelh settlements.

The village was built in a smart spot. The river there was shallow, making it easy to build a special fence called a weir. This weir helped catch salmon as they swam upstream. You can still see parts of this old weir in the meadow today.

What Does Chinlac Mean?

The name Chinlac comes from the Carrier language. It's a simpler way of saying Chunlak. This word itself is a shorter version of duchun nidulak, which means "logs customarily float to a point."

This name describes how driftwood would naturally gather in the shallow part of the river where the salmon weir was built.

Life in the Old Village

Chinlac was a busy place. People lived in special houses called lodges. Today, you can still see the outlines of 13 of these old lodges in the meadow.

Around the village, in the surrounding forest, there are hundreds of "cache pits." These were holes dug in the ground, used like underground refrigerators or pantries. People would store food and other important supplies in them to keep them safe and fresh.

The Village's End

Sadly, the village of Chinlac was destroyed a long time ago, around the year 1745. It was attacked by raiders from the Tsilhqotʼin people, who came from a place called Nazko.

Even though Nazko is a Dakelh village today, it was a Tsilhqotʼin village at the time of the attack.

Discovering Chinlac's Secrets

Archaeologists are like history detectives who dig up clues from the past. In 1951 and 1952, a team led by a person named Charles Edward Borden excavated one of the lodge sites at Chinlac.

They found many interesting things, including a very old Chinese coin. This coin was from the Song Dynasty (which lasted from 960 to 1127 CE). Finding a Chinese coin in Canada from so long ago was amazing!

It showed that people living in this area might have traded with groups on the Pacific Coast, or even directly with Asia, long before Europeans arrived in North America. This discovery helps us understand how connected the world was, even centuries ago.