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Hard on the heels of industrial Terrace , the Skeena River (the "River of the Mists") carves a beautiful valley through the Coast Mountains, an important trade route for aboriginal peoples and stern-wheelers before the coming of the railway in 1912. For a couple of hours the road and railway run past a huge backdrop of snowcapped peaks half-reflected in the mist-wraithed estuary. Out on the water there's a good chance of seeing the ripples of beavers and sea otters, not to mention bald eagles perched on the river's immense log jams. Dark valleys peel off the main river's majestic course, suggestive of a deep, untrodden wilderness, and delicate threads of waterfalls are repeatedly visible though the trees. Shortly after Hwy 16 meets the river crashing down from the north near Hazelton and New Hazelton, a couple of minor roads strike off to four nearby Gitxsan aboriginal villages , places where something of the culture of the area's indigenous Gitxsan peoples has been preserved, along with new examples of totem carving and other crafts. 'Ksan and Kispiox, home to the best totems and long houses, are a few kilometres off Hwy 16 on the minor High Level Road (Hwy 62) out of New Hazelton; just north of 'Ksan a road links west to Gitwangak and Gitanyow (formerly Kitwancool), or they can be reached by continuing west on Hwy 16 a few kilometres and heading north on Hwy 37 (the Cassiar Hwy). The most easterly of the west coast aboriginal peoples, the Gitxsan - "people of the river of the mists" - traditionally lived off fish and game rather than agriculture, and were consummate artists and carvers. Many of their traditions were eroded by the coming of whites, and by missionaries in particular, but in the 1950s the people's elders made a determined decision to resurrect as much of their dying culture as possible, re-creating an entire 1870 settlement at 'KSAN . Although there's a good deal of commercialism, this is the village to concentrate on - aboriginal women act as guides around several long houses, giving a commentary on the carvings, clothes, buildings and masks on show, as well as offering accounts of local history (tours mid-April to mid-Oct usually daily 9am-5pm but longer hours July-Aug; $8). KISPLOX , 13km north of Hazelton, is the ancient Gitxsan home of the Frog, Wolf and Fireweed clans, and was given its name by the old Department for Indian Affairs. It means "place of loud talkers" but locals not surprisingly prefer the traditional name, which is Anspayaxw, meaning "the hidden place". The highlights here are fifteen riverside totems. GITWANGAK to the west, just 500m north of the Hwy 16 and Hwy 37 junction, means "the place of rabbits", and was the traditional village home of the Eagle, Wolf and Frog. It, too, has some impressive totems, as does GITANYOW - "people of a small village" - 21km north on Hwy 37, whose eighteen poles include the 140-year-old "Hole in the Ice" or "Hole in the Sky" totem. You can sometimes watch poles being repaired at one of two carving sheds around the village. The nearest infocentre for the villages is near New Hazelton at the junction of Hwys 16 and 62 (mid-May to mid-Sept daily 9am-5pm; tel 842-6071 or 842-6571 year-round, hazletontourist@hotmail.com ), but you should also spend a few minutes looking round the evocative old Victorian streets of old HAZELTON 6km to the northwest on Hwy 62. Accommodation is limited to a couple of motels in New Hazelton, the cheapest being the Bulkley Valley Motel , 4444 Hwy 16 (tel 842-6817; $40-60) Kispiox also has a few rooms and campsite: the Sportsman's Kispiox Lodge (tel 842-6455 or 1-800/KISPIOX, www.kispiox.com/lodge ; $80-100) and the Kispiox River Resort and Campground (tel 842-6182; $40-60; camping $12-20; June-Oct).
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