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Vol. 90 Issue 29 • Wednesday, July 17, 2013 • www.arrowlakesnews.com • 250-265-3823 • $1.25 •
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Lemon Creek opens pit houses to public for third year Claire paradis Arrow Lakes News
For the third year in a row, archaeologists from Hamilton College in upstate New York have invited the public to come learn more about the people who used to spend their winters in the Slocan Valley thousands of years ago. Professors and organizers Nathan Goodale and Alissa Nauman have been opening up their findings to public tours since 2011. In their first year, 150 curious people came to see what was happening, and the number of visitors doubled for their second year. This year, their third, started at 11 a.m. with a dozen people ready to learn more about the settlement by the creek. On the tour side of the Slocan narrows there are nine pit houses, but there are 23 that have been found on the other side, suggesting a large number of people lived in the Slocan Valley in the past. The pit houses at Lemon Creek are the last evidence of a big First Nations village, with any others now under water due to the damming of the river. Following pin flags to the first site, the group was greeted by two students who explained that the large depression in the ground that they were standing in was an old
pit house site. Around 3,100 years ago, pit houses were dug into the ground and the homes then covered with branches. At the first site, two students said the building, a large communal one, would have had a ceiling about 15 metres in height and would have housed around 50 to 75 people. Radiocarbon dating evidence has revealed an interesting fact: the buildings seem to have been occupied consistently for centuries, then abandoned for roughly 500 years, and then reoccupied. Why isn’t clear, but the archaeologists are working to figure out the mystery. Another curious finding was that newer pit houses had been dug that were smaller in size and the larger pits left empty, maybe indicating that communal living had been replaced by smaller family units. The archaeological detective work also involves studying soil samples, bone and rock fragments and the physical makeup of the houses. In one pit, beaver bones and many stone pieces were found in the fire pit, leading the researchers to believe that the house was used to make tools and tan hides. The houses were tidy, with the only garbage seen in fire pits. The archaeologists suspect waste matter was likely put into the river. At the last station, three of the 11 archae-
Students from Hamilton College explain what they have been finding at this year’s dig in pit house sites at Lemon Creek. Claire Paradis/Arrow Lakes News ology students stood at the edge of nine smaller pits. From their place on the ridge, they explained that the origin of the pits was thought to be either structures by First Nations people built for defence or the result of CP Rail’s excavation during the lay-
ing of track. Another mystery waiting to be explored. The archaeologists will be back next year, digging their work and telling the stories that they have discovered. Don’t miss the chance to learn some local history.
Body found in Little Wilson Lake may be Trail man Claire paradis Arrow Lakes News
A body was found floating in Little Wilson Lake on Tuesday, July
9. Three men camping in the area called the police around 3 p.m. that day telling them they had found a body. The remains are believed to be the body of Trail man Michael
Guthrie but the identity has not yet been confirmed. The body was transported to Vernon where an autopsy is scheduled for today, and the family of
Mr Guthrie has been notified of the recovery. The initial examination of the body did not reveal any evidence of foul play, said Sgt. Darryl Little of the Kootenay Boundary
RCMP in a press release. The BC Coroners service is assuming control of the investigation from this point forward.
B.C. marijuana decriminalization vote gets green light Tom Fletcher Black Press
Elections BC has given approval in principle to marijuana activist Dana Larsen’s bid to lead a petition drive for de-criminalizing marijuana possession. Larsen has proposed that B.C. go around the federal law with a “Sensible Policing Act” that would disallow the use of B.C. police resources to prosecute simple possession of
small amounts of pot by adults. This fall, Larsen will be allowed to begin collecting signatures in an effort to force an initiative vote similar to that used to reverse the harmonized sales tax. Individuals and groups have until Aug. 12 to register with Elections BC to oppose the initiative, run ads for or against the petition or collect signatures. Larsen, who was involved with the B.C. Marijuana Party before
seeking the leadership of the B.C. NDP in 2011, has worked for the last year to build support for what he calls Sensible BC. His organization will have 90 days from Sept. 9 to collect signatures from 10 per cent of registered provincial voters in each of B.C.’s 85 electoral districts. If that threshold is reached, Elections BC would hold a provincewide initiative vote, likely by mail as was done to repeal the HST. Decriminalizing pot has received
mainstream support in recent years, including a narrow majority vote at the 2012 Union of B.C. Municipalities convention. In a debate at that convention in Victoria last September, former B.C. Liberal attorney general Geoff Plant advocated for loosening marijuana laws, as has since been done in the U.S. states of Washington and Colorado. The idea was opposed by criminologist Darryl Plecas, who
was elected B.C. Liberal MLA for Abbotsford South in the May provincial election. Larsen has had a colourful career, including editor of Vancouver-based Cannabis Culture magazine and co-founder of the Vancouver Seed Bank, which has sold seeds for marijuana, poppies, peyote and coca. Larsen resigned as an NDP candidate in the 2008 federal election, after videos surfaced showing his drug use a decade earlier.
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