Nkoomptch: Seton and Cayoosh Canyons

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Aerial pic from Photos by Kat	Aerial pic from Photos by Kat
Nkoomptch The Seton-Cayoosh Gorge
This awesome double/triple gorge, formed by the merger of the canyons of Seton Lake and Cayoosh Creek enflanked by a buttress of Mt. Brew, a side peak of which towers high immediately above the gorge, forms the opening into the Fraser Canyon from the Lakes country and the old Lillooet Trail from Port Douglas. Modern Lillooeters may be confused by this name, which I'm using for this confluence of gorges connecting town to Seton Lake. Nkoomptch was a name adopted in the old days from a native term associated with the site. I'm not sure of the meaning but I think it's "crossing water". which is apt in varying senses, from the meeting of several streams and a huge lake and river to the various crossings of the streams necessary to traverse the gorge, and the crossing of Seton Lake; even simply "portage" perhaps (any St'at'imc person reading this who know the right meaning, please let me know) (replace "_at_" in address with @ symbol). . There really is no other name in English to describe the whole, so I've resurrected it after encountering it often in Mrs. Edwards' history and other older material. Locals usually refer to places within the gorge directly by name or location, and most probably don't think of it as a canyon per se, as with Cayoosh Canyon, "the Canyon" (of the Bridge River) or Marble Canyon, but in reality it's the largest of all the canyons in the area other than that of the Fraser itself. The walls of the canyon are a well-known site to townies, though, as the gorge's overhanging walls regularly catch the evening sun after town itself is caught behind the shade of Mission Ridge.
Photo: Mike Cleven
Travellers to the Fraser goldfields in 1858 commented about the route by which they accessed the Interior, the "Lakes Route" via Douglas and Lillooet, that the country through which they passed surpassed most mountain scenery in the world, "rivaling even the Himalayas". While this assessment is true of much of the Coast Mountains, myself I think it was the area of Seton Lake and Lillooet about which they were speaking. Staggering sheer cliffs rise out of Seton Lake on both sides at its eastern end, combining with the canyon of Cayoosh Creek just where Seton and Cayoosh Creeks merge to flow a short distance to join the Fraser at Lillooet. The south wall of the gorge is visible from the town of Lillooet, and typically forms a spectacular sunlit backdrop overhanging from the mountain walls, gleaming gold in the day's last light when the Fraser Canyon town itself has fallen in shadow. The two merged canyons form a cleft in the final wall of the Coast Mountains that is some 7000' in depth, depending on where you measure it from, but which is less than half a mile wide; this gorge is named Nkoomptch in the Sta'at'imcets (Lillooet) language (mostly unknown to local Lillooeters nowadays, but generally known to most in the old days), and as well as being home to the local beach for Lillooet, at the head of Seton Lake, is also the site of the last stage of the Bridge River Power Project, the most noticeable element of which is the Seton Canal, which bridges the natural watercourses twice en route to the Lillooet Powerhouse, which is hidden behind a low hill on the Fraser's bank just south of Cayoosh Creek's junction with the Fraser. Also located in the gorge is the Seton Creek Fish Hatchery, a very nice (free) public campground operated by BC Hydro, and the once semi-secret Walden North estate built by a prospector/engineer-millionaire, the late Vernon Pick.
BC Archives # G-0537	Photo: Mike Cleven

Aerial pic from Photos by Kat	BC Archives # I-57550
Photo: Mike Cleven	Photo: Mike Cleven
BC Archives # NA-03818	BC Archives # I-33338
The old wagon road connecting the head of the lake trail at Seton Beach to Lillooet ran approximately along the route used today by the rail line, along the north flank of the Nkoomptch gorge; originally built as part of the series of gold-rush era roads that formed the Douglas-Lillooet Trail, the road remained in use following the construction of the first phase of the railway, as it provided a connection from town to the main train station used by locals at Craig Lodge on Seton Lake; both these pictures pre-date the rail line, however. Parts of the old wagon road may still exist here and there but most of the grade has probably been destroyed with railway construction and other activities in the area. The overhanging walls of the gorge can be seen in the background of the photo at right..

	Photo: Mike Cleven, 1996
Photo: Mike Cleven	BC Archives # I-55188
These two views from up Cayoosh Creek looking towards Lillooet show the outer wall of Nkoomptch, a high rock wall on the north side of the gorge, the backside of which slopes down through the T-Bird (T'it'kt) Reserve into the town of Lillooet. The cliff-wall is about 500' high but seems tiny in comparison to the other walls of the gorge, which soar thousands of feet above Seton Creek. During a huge forest fire which began at Seton Lake and nearly destroyed town back in the 1970s, the fire "jumped" the wall's heights and tore into the main part of Lillooet in a matter of minutes.


BC Archives # G-00808 (Photo: Charles Gentile, 1865)	BC Archives # H-00109 (Photo: L.A. Genge, 1914)