First Nations Baskets at the Lytton First Nation

The Collection

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Image	Catalogue Number	Object Name
	1	Triple Cross Pyramid Design
	2	Stone Hammer Design
	4	Butterfly Design

Triple Cross Pyramid Design

Catalogue Number 1 Object Name Triple Cross Pyramid Design Basketmaker Christina James or Mary Ann James Design Description Outlined pyramids with cross at each corner; outline colours natural brown and dyed black cherry bark; pyramid white colour natural white bear grass. Length 21 1/2 inches or 54.6 cm Width 15 inches 38.1 cm Height 13 ¾ inches or 35 cm Shape and Use General storage with handles; rectangular and deep; flared from bottom to top. Weave Coiled bundle Materials Split cedar root, cherry bark, and bear grass Culture Nlaka'pamux History Donor: Gladys Hunter. This basket has been repaired at the top edge. The repairer left out some of the design and a hole was repaired in one of the end walls of the basket as well. As part of her inventory, Mrs. Hunter described this artifact that she called No. 1 as “Basket with Handle and pyramid triangle with cross on each end of the triangle.” Back to table

Stone Hammer Design

Catalogue Number 2 Object Name Stone Hammer Design Basketmaker Christina James or Mary Ann James Design Description From basket researcher and Lytton First Nation Councillor John Haugen’s own knowledge, the major design element on this basket is Tulkist or stone hammer design. Interestingly there is a place a mile inward of Spuzzum Creek called the Beaver’s Hammer. And that is what the other design looks like: the teeth of possibly a beaver. The ends have diamond shape designs in 3 vertical rows that alternate. One row uses design layers from black outside to white to brown in the middle. The other row uses design layers from brown outside to white to black in the middle. This basket and the basket collector Gladys Hunter describes as No. 4 can be attributed to the same maker by what is done on the bottom of the basket, sort of a hidden design element. Length 21 inches Width 13 inches Height 14 inches Shape and Use General storage; rectangular and deep; flared from bottom to top. Weave Coiled bundle Materials Split cedar root, cherry bark, and bear grass Culture Nlaka'pamux History Donor: Gladys Hunter. As part of her inventory, Mrs. Hunter called it No. 2. Back to table

Butterfly Design

Catalogue Number 4 Object Name Butterfly Design Basketmaker Christina James or Mary Ann James Design Description The basket has 3 rows of alternating rows red and black butterflies using natural and dyed wild cherry bark and bear grass which is dried in the sun to become white. Length 21 ½ inches or 54.6 cm Width 12 ¼ inches or 31 cm Height 13 ½ inches or 34.3 cm Shape and Use General storage; rectangular and deep; flared from bottom to top. Weave Coiled bundle Materials Split cedar root, cherry bark, and bear grass Culture Nlaka'pamux History Donor: Gladys Hunter. As part of her inventory, Mrs. Hunter called this basket No. 4. Back to table

Lytton First Nation

About Us

Lytton First Nation is the current recognized name for the largest community within the Nlaka’pamux territory. Living right at the centre of their world at Lytton where the Fraser meets the Thompson River, they have long since been referred to as Thompson Indians as well because people could not pronounce Nlaka’pamux. It was here in 1808 that Simon Fraser met 1200 Nlaka’pamux and he was impressed by their hospitality. The river that descended bears his name and he named the Thompson after David Thompson another early explorer.

The Nlaka’pamux knew this place as Tl’kemstin (Kumsheen). They are Interior Salish people living in the Plateau of British Columbia. It was a very strategic place to live, it supported many people through the large salmon migrations to the spawning grounds and this location offered them the access to these, in earlier times, plentiful salmon runs. This sustained them and was a big part of their economy and culture.

Our Baskets

Another mainstay of both their economy and culture was basketry. The Nlaka’pamux were well known for the skill in producing large, plentiful, and well decorated works of art in coiled basketry. Many women made them and the tradition was passed from grandmother to granddaughter and to nieces etc. These women knew that making the best baskets would prevent them from going hungry. It was a way to making a living.

As basketry was part of ways to make a living through trade, sale, and bartering for other items, changes were made to the way baskets were made. They modernized styles to fancy them for display in homes of white women who adored the beauty and strength that the baskets represented.

A basketry shop was located on Kickkumcheen Indian Reserve 18 and it was here that Rosie Skuki a proficient basket maker herself sold baskets made by Nlaka’pamux women up and down the Fraser. It was through this shop that Rosie Skuki would meet Gladys Hunter (1907-2007) a woman from Vancouver who was married to a prominent judge there. Gladys felt the need to assist Indian people, so she collected clothing, house wares, toys, etc. and would arrange to bring these items to Lytton. Gladys Hunter was born in 1907 and died just short of her 100th birthday in 2007. Ten years earlier in 1997 she repatriated and donated an extensive collection of Native artifacts. Most were baskets she had collected through Rosie Skuki.

It was from this collection that three of the noted ‘James’ baskets came to be located. Baskets that were definitely in the 1930’s photos were taken in North Bend. When Irene Bjerky interviewed Mary James in North Bend, she noted that her mother in law was related to Arthur Skuki (Rosie’s husband) in Lytton but did not know how.  In Mrs. Hunter’s collection she had a small tag which was not attached to any basket, indicating it was from Spuzzum in 1934 made by Mr. Skuki’s sister. Through the research we know the James women from North Bend are connected to Spuzzum as well through Christina’s father Paul Youla, the last survivor of the Fraser Canyon War.

In 2004 Lisa Codd was giving a presentation in Yale about the basket they found in Langley’s collection. Before she mentioned it in her presentation, John Haugen interrupted her and said the basket was from the James photo. John also knew he had seen some of the other baskets before. They were from Gladys Hunter’s collection and they were used to take photos with Lytton Elders. The three baskets in Lytton were indeed in the photo and are included among the Christina James baskets.

Contact Us:
Lytton First Nation
P.O. Box 20, Lytton, BC, V0K 1Z0

Phone: 250-455-2304
Fax: 250-455-2291
info@lyttonfirstnations.ca
lyttonfirstnations.ca