Спуззум: История и современность канадского поселения в долине Фрейзера.

Spuzzum is an unincorporated community in the lower Fraser Canyon area of southwestern British Columbia, Canada. The place is on the west shore of the Fraser River and north shore of Spuzzum Creek. The locality, on BC Highway 1, is by road about north of Hope and south of Lytton.

First Nations have inhabited the canyon for thousands of years. When Simon Fraser stayed overnight in June 1808, he was perceived as a supernatural being. Fraser noted blankets made from the wool of mountain goats and dog's hair and burial boxes set on posts. At the time, the two villages of Spuzzum and Schwimp of the Nlaka'pamux peoples existed but later possessed the collective name of Spuzzum, meaning "little flat". The boundary between the Upper Sto:lo (Tait) and the Nlaka'pamux peoples was at Sawmill Creek, about south. In mid 1858, the first miners passed through the area, which began the co existence and intermarriages between the two cultures. That August, two miners were killed in an encounter with First Nations just below Spuzzum. In retribution, a party of about 40 from Yale travelled north as far as Boston Bar, killed several in battle, and burned their villages to the ground. Historically, summer and winter dwellings, and fishing, hunting, and gathering locations, covered a wide area. From 1860, land was lost to trails, the Cariboo Road, bridges, railways, and pre emptions by settlers. By 1863, pre emptions had compressed the indigenous entitlement mostly to the south side of the creek. In the 1870s, 149 indigenous people lived south of the Alexandra suspension bridge and about was under cultivation, principally potato crops. The Spuzzum First Nation is the name of the local band government. Downstream from the Alexandra bridges, the reserves from north to south are Skuet 6, Papsilqua 2B, Papsilqua 2, Papsilqua 2A, Spuzzum 1 (formerly Spuzzum Rancherie), Spuzzum 7, and Spuzzum 1A.

In 1848, the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) built Simon's House as a store, where the fur brigades crossed the Fraser. During the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush a decade later, this name had been replaced by Spuzzum. However, Rancheria was also sometimes used. Spuzzum Mountain to the northwest is part of the Lillooet Ranges subdivision of the Coast Mountains.

The river is narrow and turbulent at Spuzzum. The large bar was worked by placer miners. The location lies in a constricted part of the Fraser Canyon north of the Yale highway tunnel; the area is dominated by granitic or gneissic bedrock. South of the creek, the land adjacent to the river is low and marshy and subject to spring flooding. North of the creek is higher and flatter.

During the goldrush, Frank May, the ferry operator, established a roadhouse close by, sometimes known as California House. Although a large, single storey log structure, a bishop visiting in 1860 described it as a roadside hut, and a detached bakehouse, which could house an overflow of travellers. The post office operated 1897–1975. A school existed 1897–1906. During World War I, a military camp was constructed. The former two storey general store building on the east side of the railway track opened in the late 1920s. The gas bar installed later was Gulf, then BA, and finally Esso. The building has since become a residence. In 1923, a house was built at 38191 Front St with seven decent sized bedrooms to be used as a hotel when the new highway opened in 1926. In the 1930s, a police detachment was established within the village. By 1941, two officers resided, possibly using the hotel building. In the late 1940s, Japanese Canadians released from internment wholly occupied the hotel building. Employment opportunities diminished when the Neville Lumber sawmill closed around 1950 and only three Japanese families remained in the village. The building has reverted to a residence. The building has since become a residence. On receiving her nursing degree in 1959, she was noted as the most outstanding student in her class. In 1958, the general store/gas bar relocated to new premises on the present highway. does not appear to have eventuated. In 1996, the BC Hydro substation received a $10.3 million upgrade. Better known as the Spuzzum Café, the diner was advertised for sale in April 1995, and from November 1997 to November 1998. The property, which burned to the ground in 2001, was the only remaining business in the community of 14 people.

The town is often referred to in humorous contexts owing to its small size. Examples are "Don't blink or you'll miss it", "beyond Hope", "If you ain't been to Spuzzum, you ain't been anywhere", and "Spuzzum Institute of Technology". At one time, both sides of a highway sign read, "You are now leaving Spuzzum". Although the highway did not bypass the hamlet until 1962, the reputation as an object of mockery was widely understood at least a decade earlier.

In June 1882, the northward advance of the CP rail head from Yale passed through Spuzzum to a temporary terminus at Alexandra Bridge. That August, a train fatally struck an individual on the track near Spuzzum. In 1885, a member of the section crew was killed nearby when a locomotive struck their handcar. In 1890, a freight train fatally injured an inebriated individual sleeping upon the track in the vicinity. In 1892, a CP employee, thrown from and run over by a handcar nearby, was badly injured. In 1895, after a dump car ran over a track worker, he died in hospital after a foot amputation. In 1896, when an eastbound passenger train struck an intoxicated person in the tunnel, the injuries were fatal. Two months later, a collision between a freight train and a work train 4 mile (6 km) south caused considerable damage to the rolling stock. In 1898, a few miles south, a freighthopper fell between two cars and was decapitated. While present at the extinguishing of a fire in the tunnel about north of Spuzzum in 1901, Edmund Juchereau Duchesnay, the CP Assistant General Superintendent of the Pacific Division, was killed by a falling rock. In 1909, two locomotive engineers died and about 30 on board sustained minor injuries when a westbound passenger train mounted a snowslide around 3.5 mile (6 km) south of Spuzzum, derailed, and the two lead locomotives and four cars slid down an embankment to the river edge. In May 1913, the eastward advance of the Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) rail head reached the shore opposite Spuzzum. In 1919, a roadmaster sustained a fatal skull fracture during a rockslide at the CP tunnel. Built in 1884, the standard design (Bohi's Type 5) single storey station building with gable roof and dormers (identical to Keefers) was destroyed in 1964 by a landslide. Train Timetables (Regular stop or Flag stop) Mile 1887 1891 1898 1905 1909 1912 1916 1919 1929 1932 1935 1939 1943 1948 1954 1960 1964 1965 Keefers 110.8 Chaumox 116.5 North Bend 121.5 China Bar 6.1 Spuzzum 15.5 SaddleRock 20.1 Yale 27.1 Choate 34.0 Hope 40.1 Haig 40.1

In 1923, a CP freight train fatally struck a track watchman. In 1930, an eastbound freight train ran over an eight year old boy, who died in hospital. During a nearby 1932 CP derailment of 30 cars, one freighthopper died and two were seriously injured. In 1942, a train struck a CP track watchman within a mile of Spuzzum causing fatal injuries. Six months later, when eight cars of an eastbound CP freight train derailed nearby, damage was minimal and nobody was injured. In 1943, a CP train struck a man walking the track nearby, causing severe head and back injuries. In 1951, three crew died in a CP freight train wreck in the vicinity. In 1953, the 1459 feet (445 m) tunnel was being enlarged for higher loads. In 1968, five cars of a 17 car freight train derailed one mile north. In 1982, 15 cars of 56 car CP freight train derailed at Saddle Rock to the south. In 2002, a man was hospitalized after being struck by a train while walking the track near the Saddle Rock Tunnel. In 2016, a Canadian National Railways (CN) nine car grain train derailed on the CP track about south, sending several cars into the Fraser.

Lower Fraser Canyon maps 1832–1867.