Museum Hours: Mon - Fri 9am - 4:30pm

Archives Hours: Mon - Fri 9am - 4:30pm

Chilliwack Museum is a Member of the Canadian Museums Association
Home Plan Your Visit Feature Exhibits
The Fraser River: Its Spirit and Place

Running from October 27 2011 - February 2013 is an exhibit that takes an intimate look at the mighty Fraser River. The Fraser River: Its Spirit and Place looks at this amazing waterway that flows through Chilliwack. What does the river mean to the Sto:lo? What species of insects, fish and birds abound in the Fraser and its wetlands? Which species are endangered?

The Fraser itself will guide you though its life journey. Topics include:

  • My early life - 10,000 years ago
  • The Sto:lo and I - A river's relationship with the People
  • The Sturgeon Story - Ancient fish
  • Simon Fraser - Early explorations
  • The Beginning of Change - An industrial relationship with the river
  • Gold - An influx of people flock to my shores
  • Flood - Flooding, Sumas Lake and a natural cycle of life
  • River Islands - Gravel bars and their relationship to life in the Fraser
  • Every life form has a place - even insects!
  • My Future - What will happen to me, the Fraser River?
 
T'xwelatse: We Have to Learn to Live Together in a Good Way

"We have to learn together in a good way" is a lesson that rings as true today as it did during the first contact between early European settlers and Aboriginal Peoples. The exhibit, based on the lesson by Stone T'xwelatse, an ancient ancestor stone of the Sto:lo people, encourages visitors to imagine what the meeting of these two world viewpoints resulted in as thousands of newcomers gathered in the Chilliwack area during the 1858 gold rush. Topics explored include:

  • The Chilliwack Story
  • Gold Rush Gateway
  • Time Immemorial
  • Farms and Fences
  • Faces of the Past
 


(c) Chilliwack Museum and archives 2010. Photography by Jenna Hauck, Chilliwack Progress 2010.