Geo-Politics Tsimshian Style

Was the Gispaxlo'ots chief Legaic (=Ligeex) so powerful in the early nineteenth century as to mastermind the Hudson Bay Company's trade initiatives on BC's North Coast? Or vise versa?

JR Dean writing in the spring 1994 number of BC Studies , 'These Rascally Spakloids': the rise of the Gispaxlots hegemony at Fort Simpson 1832- 1840 argues that Legaic was the most pliable of three Tsimshian village chiefs; plus the only one to survive the deadly 1836 small pox epidemic. In short HBC made him. Dean uses the Fort's archives to argue his case.

S. Marsden and R.Galois writing in the spring 1995 issue of Canadian Geographer don't bother to argue-- they just state that, based upon adawx collected early in this century, Legaic was supreme.

They use their material to show he controlled access to the upper Skeena River and, more controversially, that he along with his Eagle clan relatives controlled access to the oolichan fishery on the Nass River.

Present day Tsimshian land claim maps show a significant over-lap in this area with the Nisga'a. Small "wars" were fought here between the two in the nineteenth century. This article (The Tsimshian, The Hudson Bay Company, and the Geopolitics of the Northwest Coast 1787-1840) is not only historical geo-politics, but a process of "historicizing'" the present.

(It's also a particularly Lax Kw'alaams view of the world: Port Simpson, as a 'confederacy' of nine villages (tribes); thus the rightful, historical speaker for the "coast" Tsimshian.)

We are told in one article that Fort Simpson trade involved obligatory gifts by all traders to it's owners and a strictly prescribed diplomatic protocol.

Contrast this with Dean's tales of drunken brawls and countless skirmishes. Something doesn't jibe here.

Before one says "a pox on both your houses" and walks away from another pointless shouting match, wait a minute.

There is not that much separating the two. Both acknowledge Legaic was surpassed by Sebassa early in the sea otter trade era; both agree Legaic died in 1840 leaving a weak heir. Both agree Legaic was paramount from 1836 till his death.

Legaic did make three strategic marriages with powerful distant trading partners. Unless we have more information on the other chiefs prerogatives we simply have to leave the matter open.

The great part of this is that authors care enough to look in the adawx and HBC archives. To find century old North Coast history vital, interesting and present in our daily lives.