Tsimshian translates to "Inside the
Skeena River" At one time the Tsimshian lived on the upper reaches of the
Skeena River near present-day
Hazelton, British Columbia. According to southern Tsimshian
oral history, after a series of disasters befell the people, a chief led a migration away from the cursed land to the coast, where they founded
Kitkatla Village, the first of three Southern Tsimshian villages. Kitkatla is still considered to be the most conservative of the Tsimshian villages. although Russian fur traders may have visited northern groups earlier. The confluence of the Skeena and Bulkley Rivers was formerly the site of the Tsimshian village of Kitanmaks and became a new European settlement of Skeena Forks (today known as Hazelton). When the
Hudson's Bay Company moved their fort to modern-day
Lax Kwʼalaams in 1834, nine Tsimshian tribal chiefs moved to the surrounding area for trade advantage. Many of the Tsimshian peoples in Canada still live in these regions. Throughout the second half of the 19th century, epidemics of
infectious disease contracted from Europeans ravaged their communities, as the First Nations had no acquired immunity to these diseases. The
1862 Pacific Northwest smallpox epidemic killed many of the Tsimshian people. Altogether, at least one in four Tsimshian died in a series of, at minimum, three large-scale outbreaks. In 1835, the total population of the Tsimshian peoples was estimated at 8,500. By 1885, the population had dropped to 4,500, 817 of whom moved to Alaska two years later following missionary
William Duncan. In the 1880s the
Anglican missionary William Duncan, along with a group of the Tsimshian, left Metlakatla,
British Columbia and requested settlement on
Annette Island from the
U.S. government. After gaining approval, the group founded
New Metlakatla on Annette Island in southern Alaska. Duncan appealed to Congress to grant the community
reservation status, which it did in the late 19th century. In 1895, the BC Tsimshian population stood at 3,550, while the Alaska Tsimshian population had dropped to 465 by 1900. Some of the Tsimshian had returned south to their homelands on the Skeena. After this low-water point, the Tsimshian population began to grow again, eventually to reach modern numbers comparable to the 1835 population estimate. However, the numbers of the inland Tsimshian peoples are now higher than they were historically, while those of the Southern and Coastal Tsimshian are much lower. In the 1970s, the Metlakatla Indian Community voted to retain their rights to land and water, and opted out of the
Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA); they have the only Native reservation in Alaska. The Metlakatla Tsimshian maintained their reservation status and holdings exclusive of the ANSCA. They do not have an associated Native Corporation, although Tsimshian in Alaska may be shareholders of the
Sealaska Corporation. The Annette Islands Reserve was the only location in Alaska allowed to maintain fish traps according to traditional rights. The use of these were otherwise banned when Alaska became a
state in 1959. The traps were used to gather fish for food for people living on the reservation. Legally the community was required to use the traps at least once every three years or lose the right permanently. They stopped the practice early in the 2000s and lost their right to this traditional way of fishing. The majority of Tsimshian still live in the lower Skeena River watershed near
Prince Rupert, as well as northern coastal BC. Some Tsimshian moved south into the Columbia River Basin mid-nineteenth century for picking hops and other agricultural crops. Many Tsimshian have moved into Seattle region from both AK and BC. Long distance canoe travel for a variety of activities was not uncommon prior to contact, and for some duration after contact into the 1920s. A battle ensued at Dungeness Spit near
Port Townsend, Washington where some Tsimshian were camped along the shore. One woman survived and was rescued by a lighthouse operator who later married her. ==Culture==