Native pictographs
The Stein, an integral part of native culture
The Stein wilderness is a living environment, a place which has formed an integral part of the traditions and cultures of the native peoples who have used it.
For thousands of years, the Lillooet, Shuswap and Thompson Indians lived a hunter-gatherer existence. This lifestyle required a high level of organization as groups of varying sizes moved to different meadows and valleys in appropriate season. The plant and animal resources of the high mountain slopes and river valleys were of critical importance to the Indian economies. The original users of the Stein watershed had a profound, intricate and harmonious relationship with the region.
This "living force" still survives in the pictographs which are sheltered within the Valley. These pictographs are found in powerful traditional sites where Indian Doctors or young adolescents underwent their ritual training. They are also scattered along the trail through the main valley, a trail that connected the peoples of the Thompson and Lillooet Tribes. To a traveler along this trail, this is a living gallery of culture-in-nature.
The entire Stein logging area may contain other heritage sites, as yet undiscovered, for no extensive archeological survey of the valley has been conducted. BCFP states its intention to preserve each known archeological site, but not enough time remains to uncover the heritage sites which should be "protected".
In fact BCFP will not be preserving these heritage sites but endangering them. Each pictograph panel exists in concert with its particular site, a deep pool in the river, or a shady bluff. From the side of a dusty logging road all connections between these pictographs and the Ancient Culture of which they were a part will be severed. Cut-off, in isolation, they will become mere museum pieces. Their essence will prevail only as long as the Stein Watershed remains intact and unviolated.
