The last few days, I have been trying to demonstrate what colonial history might have looked like when Indigenous law still ruled the Pacific Northwest. People have been here for something like […]
23. Pandosy and the People of the Grass
22. Keeping the Catholics at Arms Length
Here’s a question we can ask: If Chief Peopeomoxmox of Waillatpu, “The Village of Wild Rye Grass,” had installed the new Catholic arrivals of November 6, 1847 on his side of the […]
21. Father Pandosy, Slave-in-the-Making and White Poster Boy
On November 5, 1847, a year after the end of the Mexican-American War, a young Oblate Catholic acolyte, Charles Pandosy, stepped into this story of water at Fort Nez Perce, at the […]
20. What is a River?
Wikipedia is basic about this: A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground […]
19. All This Land Was Water Once
There is no need to think in straight lines. Lines like that say “this stuff is land”… … and “this other stuff is water.” That is simply a false division. There’s an […]
18. Water, Slavery, War and Peace in the Similkameen
No matter what you’re using it for or who you are, British Columbian law states that any water licensed by the government must be put to “beneficial use.” What does that mean? […]
Knocking the House into Shape Before Winter Comes
Everyone is doing it. Ah, here comes the home handyman now. Why put it off until spring?
17. How to Enslave the Land and the Water if You Are British: a Guide for Colonists
This is the fourth in a series of notes on the practice of transferring human slavery to land slavery. This one is a compound method that includes a fair bit of human […]
16. How to Enslave the Land if You are American: a Guide for Colonists
After my trip to the plateau, let’s start in again on the history of how we got to the cultural divides we are in today. If you remember, the theme was slavery […]
Floating on the Glacier
This is a climate change story. The glacier that carved the Marble Mountains out of limestone melted 10,000 years ago. And it is still here.
Okanagan Okanogan 