Virtual Museum of Canada (VMC)

Sqwélqwel Places

S’ólh Téméxw is our land, as Stó:lō people. Our world is unique. It is built from our very long and close connection with the land, the rivers, and our relations. It is full of thousands of years of our history. Like a library, which contains books with titles telling us what information they hold, the land contains places which name important points of connection between our land and people. Here you see Sonny McHalsie guiding Sq’éwlets youth and community members on a place name tour of their territory.

Only since the 1970s has our language, Halq’eméylem, been written in the form of letters and words. Since then, we have recorded and mapped over 700 important places within S’ólh Téméxw, including those in Sq’éwlets territory. These 700 places are only a few of those known from before our losses from smallpox and residential schools. These remaining places contain both our sqwélqwel and sxwoxwiyam. Our ancestral places tell us who we are and locate us in our world.

A soccer pitch is in the foreground of the image, with trees and mountains in the background. The sky above is grey and cloudy.
Panorama of Sq'éwlets Nation buildings and playing fields

Stó:lo New Year and the Fall Run of Spring Salmon (Naxaxalhts'i "Sonny" McHalsie)

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[Naxaxalhts’i ‘Sonny’ McHalsie]: The name of this place here is called Qwíqwexem. It just means the small, uh, spring salmon. It comes from the word sqwéxem. Sqwéxem is the name of the - your guys’ campsite over there. A lot of people say sqwáxem, but it’s actually pronounced sqwéxem. Ok, sqwéxem is the Ts'a'í:les spring salmon, And it’s the arrival of that spring salmon that um, gives the Stó:lō New Year. Like when that spring salmon comes into the Ts'a'í:les River, that’s what we call the Stó:lō, the beginning of the Stó:lō New Year.

Like our sxxwiyám, our sqwélqwel or true stories are carried in places on the land. We present two maps below that show important places in our sqwélqwel that are part of our Sq’éwlets experience. One map shows places seen from where the Harrison and Fraser Rivers meet near our ancestral site Qithyil. The other map shows places seen from our Band Office, where most of our community now lives. The places named in these maps are all geographic references for landmarks that help us orient ourselves. The names of these places can be heard by clicking on them.

Sqwélqwel Places View from the Qithyil Site

A map shows important cultural places that can be seen from where the Harrison and Fraser Rivers meet near the ancestral site Qithyil.

Legend: Viewshed Skiwxo:mexws Analyis

  • Qithyil
  • Skiwxo:mexws (Placenames)

Locations

  • Stemiya
  • Seqwema
  • Sq'éwlets
  • Th'íth'exwemeqsel
  • Lheltálets
  • Kw'íkw'exwelhp
  • Tl'éqteqsel
  • Qweqwatchel
  • Skwi:áp
  • Xexí:tse
  • Mímexwel
  • Ts'a'í:les
  • Sqwá:la
  • Sq'iq'ewílem
  • Qithyil Site
  • River reflecting the sky and forested mountain.

    Stemiya

    There is no identifiable root, but some sources identify the meaning as place of young cedar.

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  • Seqwema

    Some sources indicate that birch is significant to this place, and that the name (based on peeling birch bark) appears to mean peeled out.

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  • Sq'éwlets

    River reflecting the sky and forested mountain.

    Sq’éwlets is based on the root q’éw, related to going around a bend in the river. The Dictionary of Upriver Halkomelem notes 'the river turns there [about two miles east of present Scowlitz reserve] around the bottom of a mountain. The new Scowlitz was named after the old village but is not on a turn'.

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  • Logs for booming on the Harrison River.

    Th'íth'exwemeqsel

    The name is based on the meaning nose. It may mean literally 'pity nose', but it may mean instead 'washing nose'.

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  • Lheltálets

    The name appears to mean 'getting splashed on the bottom'. Some sources translate it as 'splashing bottom of canoe'. According to the Dictionary of Upriver Halkomelem, the name refers to 'a channel between an island and the main shore across Harrison River where the Phillips Longhouse was at Chehalis village, ...and also at Harrison Lake where a hatchery was'.

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  • Harrison River reflecting the sky.

    Kw'íkw'exwelhp

    The name comes from jack pine tree. The dictionary of Upriver Halkomelem identifies the place as 'next mountain above...Títxwemqsel...'jack pines used to grow there long ago'.

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  • A dock beside a river with a grassy river flat in the background with hills rising beyond.

    Tl'éqteqsel

    Literally long nose, used for long beach or long point. The Dictionary of Upriver Halkomelem identifies it as 'longest dirt point sticking out on Harrison River about a quarter mile above Harrison Bay Bridge'.

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  • A section of highway with farmland beyond.

    Qweqwatchem

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  • Xexí:tse

    The base word appears to be a partially doubled ('reduplicated') form of xó:tsa- lake. The particular kind of doubling marks plural or many, giving the meaning many lakes.

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  • Mímexwel

    The name refers to dirty water, muddy water. The Dictionary of Upriver Halkomelem identifies the place as 'next slough on north side of Harrison River above ... Smímstíyexwá:le, a muddy slough where fish spawn'.

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  • Ts'a'í:les

    Some sources give the meaning as 'laying on chest'. The Dictionary of Upriver Halkomelem describes the name origin as coming from a rock that lay near the mouth of the Chehalis river; this rock appears to have been supported by a tree root, and would move up and down, beating like a heart.

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  • Sqwá:la

    Literally sqwá:la therefore means 'container of holes'. Some sources indicate that this name comes from the fact that there are or were many graves (i.e. 'holes') at this site.

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  • Farmland with houses in the mind-ground and forested mountains in the background.

    Sq'iq'ewílem

    The name, as with several other names, appears to come from going around a little bend in the river. The root word is q’éw which occurs in many words related to turning or going around a bend.

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  • River reflecting a cloud-streaked sky.

    Qithyil

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Sqwélqwel Places View From the Sq’éwlets Band Office

A map shows important cultural places that can seen from the Sq’éwlets Band Office.

Legend: Viewshed Skiwxo:mexws Analyis

  • Qithyil
  • Skiwxo:mexws (Placenames)

Locations

  • Stemiya
  • Th'íth'exwemeqsel
  • Seqwema

    Some sources indicate that birch is significant to this place, and that the name (based on peeling birch bark) appears to mean peeled out.

    Close
  • Logs for booming on the Harrison River.

    Th'íth'exwemeqsel

    The name is based on the meaning nose. It may mean literally 'pity nose', but it may mean instead 'washing nose'.

    Close
  • Sq’éwlets Band Office

    Sq’éwlets Band Office

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