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The Simpcw of the North Thompson
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THE SIMPCW ("SEEM-kuh") of the North Thompson form part of the Secwepemc, the largest division of the Interior Salish spread over 56,000 square miles. The closest we come to the pronunciation of the name of the Secwepemc is perhaps "suh-WHEP-muh." In their journals the traders tried several versions of the name: "Shewhoppes," "She-whaps," and eventually "Shuswaps" persisted. For a long time the name was also understood to be a corruption of the French sauvage into "Siwash." Some said the name denoted a many-legged insect, like the shape of Shuswap Lake with its four long arms. (superscript 1) Others suggest that the name refers to scattered people (superscript 2) - aptly so considering their huge territory.
David Stuart first encountered the Secwepemc of the North and South Thompson rivers in 1811, when his search for furs stranded him in a dim, smoky pit house for the winter months. From Fort Astoria on the Pacific he had probed the Columbia-Okanagan route up to the junction of the two Thompson rivers when frigid weather closed in. On a return trip the next year, the North West Company's profits burgeoned as a reported 2,000 Natives congregated at "Cumcloups," (superscript 3) eager for trade goods. Five leaves of tobacco bought a top- quality beaver pelt; the last remnant of white cloth fetched twenty luxuriant skins. Ten days of trading sent sixteen packhorse loads of furs back to Fort Astoria.
Five years after trade began at the Thomson rivers' confluence, Stuart first explored the north branch as far as the present East Barriere Lake, aided by Native guides. He called this lake "Friendly Lake," having had an amicable meeting there with two North Thompson families who were "living on fish, roots and berries, which they were all employed in procuring and seemed in their wretched condition to...