Cordage Fragment

Item number Nd582 from the MOA: University of British Columbia.

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Data
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Description

Cordage fragment made from a double length of cedar root. Roots have been dried and twisted or twined together.

History Of Use

Possibly a fragment from an old suspension footbridge?

Narrative

Judge Castillou's granddaughter suggests that this might be a fragment of a rope bridge, based on a CBC interview with Judge Henry Castillou from 1959. In the interview Henry describes in detail how his father Joseph, and a friend, first arrived to the Nicola Valley (ca 1875), and that he kept a portion of the bridge rope: “...So they went up to see this Indian and he described exactly how to get there. My dad and Gregoria, they crossed the old Indian swingin’ bridge, was made out of root. I still have a portion of it my father saved. It was a suspension bridge made out of cedar root and twined together about 6-7 inches, for the main span. Well, they crossed those cattle one at a time across that bridge, and they went up the Anderson River and up Usillachuck [Uztilius?] Creek and down into the Nicola Valley and sure enough, the bunch grass touched the bellies of the horses...”