The Riddle of Thunder River



                          (verbatim transcript)



                   A Mackenzie Valley Heritage Vignette

		    Directed & Edited: Lori J. Schroeder
		  Written and Produced: Jean-Luc Pilon
		     
A production of the Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull, Québec.
February, 1995


(News reader): "News/North, July 11, 1986. Eleven days ago, a cold front 
moving south of the Beaufort Sea triggered off lightning storms and 30 to 
40 kilometre winds in the Thunder River/Traveeyar Lake areas." 

(Jean-Luc Pilon, archaeologist): "What's in a name?  Well a lot more than 
you might suspect.  Take the name Thunder River as an example.  As an 
archaeologist working in the lower Mackenzie Valley of the Northwest 
Territories, I investigated an archaeological site at the mouth of Thunder 
River, a small stream that enters the mighty Mackenzie more than 100 km 
north of the Arctic Circle.  The site proved to be quite interesting since 
it appears to have been a major source of stone to make tools before 
contact with Europeans.  So how did this stream come to be called Thunder
River?"

(Jean-Luc Pilon, archaeologist): "The earliest recorded use of the term 
was by Father Émile Petitot, an Oblate missionnary at Fort Good Hope around 
the 1870's.  But the French term 'Tonnerre' did not correspond to the 
Native words for the same stream.  A clue might lie in Petitot's knowledge 
of the writings of earlier Europeans who had travelled along the river.

(Thomas Simpson, H.B.C. explorer)."On the 24th we encamped a mile above 
old Fort Good Hope, on the opposite side of the river, under a high cliff 
of crumbling slaty rock, strongly impregnated with iron, and containing a 
great deal of sulphur.  There was some thunder with lightning and rain 
during the night."

(Alexander Mackenzie, Northwest Company explorer):"July 8th, 1789 ...Thunder
 and rain prevailed during the night..."

"We passed a small river, on each side of which the natives and Esquimaux 
collect flint.  The bank is an high, steep, and soft rock, variegated with
red, green, and yellow hues. From the continual dripping of water, parts 
of it frequently fall and  break into small stony flakes like slate, but 
not so hard."

(Jean-Luc Pilon, archaeologist): "The importance of the stone here was 
emphasized by the archaeological findings at the mouth of Thunder River in 
1992. David Pokotylo of the University of British Columbia headed the team 
of investigators."

(David Pokotylo, archaeologist): "One of the richest areas of this entire 
ridge is this lower end overlooking the Mackenzie River.  We have over 30 
little concentrations of stone tools occuring in this area.  We've 
excavated 9 of these so far.  One of the major ones has been the deposit 
right in front of me here where we did take this down in levels, one after 
the other, to get down to an actual surface that was flat through here, 
mainly to test and see if this thing had any deeply buried deposits.  And 
it didn't.  The one in the foreground in front of me which is about 2 
metres diameter was one of our richest mounds done this summer, which held 
over 10,000 artifacts. "

"Now one thing that was perplexing us a bit is why we would have so many 
concentrations of artifacts right here at the ridge crest itself looking 
over the river.  Around me, we have a number of very good vantage points.  
You can look out into the valley of Thunder River, you can look upstream 
the Mackenzie as well as downstream a considerable distance.  And I would 
think people would have come up here to fabricate their tools, to make 
their stone spears, their points, their scraping tools and their knives, 
finish them off, but they could also from this point look for game coming 
down to Thunder River itself as well as people coming up and down the river 
right in front of them.  Also in this area too there is always a constant 
breeze which makes it very nice in terms of having very hot weather and 
being able to work in relative coolness compared to being right down in 
the valley bottom itself."

(Jean-Luc Pilon, archaeologist): "The rock found here, siliceous argillite, 
has also been recovered in archaeological sites over a very broad area: to 
the north of Thunder River in the Vidiitshuu region, down the Mackenzie 
and into the outer Delta, and east as far as Colville Lake and Great Bear 
Lake"

(Jean-Luc Pilon, archaeologist): "Many different people made use of this 
stone by gathering it themselves or by trading for it.  More importantly, 
this pattern can be traced back over several thousand years. These facts 
show the importance of this site in the history of the region."  

(Jean-Luc Pilon, archaeologist): "A most remarkable source of information 
about the mouth of Thunder River was provided by the Native people who 
inhabit the lower Mackenzie Valley.  The Gwich'in people who occupied the 
lands to the north and west of Thunder River call this place Vihtr'iitshik;
the mouth of Flint Creek.  The Slavey who live in Fort Good Hope and use 
the lands to the north, east and south, refer to it as Feetee Lu Shee; 
hide scraper or flat rock skipping on water."

(Jean-Luc Pilon, archaeologist):"The Europeans who travelled along the 
Mackenzie River were inspired by the forces of nature that they witnessed 
at the mouth of Thunder River. The name they gave it was poetic. But the 
local people knew it as the source of a useful raw material, and they gave 
it a name that reflected that knowledge.  "

"The next time you pick up a map and read on it an unusual placename, ask 
an elder  'What's in that name?'.  You might be surprised by the answer."