For thousands of years, the broad expanse between Sumas and Vedder
Mountains east of Vancouver lay under water, forming the bed of Sumas
Lake. As recently as a century ago, the lake's shores stood four miles
across and six miles long. During yearly high water, the lake spilled
onto the surrounding prairies; during high flood years, it reached from
Chilliwack into Washington State. Then, through the 1920s, a network of
dykes, canals, dams and pumphouses was erected and the lake
drained--reclaimed in the words of projects supporters. A new landscape
was created, a seemingly 'natural' prairie carved up into productive
farmland.
Today, few people are aware that Sumas Lake ever existed. The only
reminder is a plaque erected on the old lakeshore, at a rest-stop along
the Trans-Canada Highway just east of Whatcom Road, on the historic
trail blazed to BC's gold fields. Yet for millenniums, Sumas Lake was a
dynamic, integral part of the region's natural and human landscape.
In his new book, Before We Lost the Lake, Chad Reimer sets out to
truly reclaim Sumas Lake, to restore it to its proper place in the
history of the Fraser Valley, BC and the Northwest Coast. Drawing on
extensive primary material, Reimer reconstructs the life history of
Sumas Lake from the glacial age through the lake's demise and after.
Before We Lost the Lake examines the lake's natural history and
ecology, its occupation and use by the Sema: th and other First Nations,
its colonization by White immigrants, the environmental changes brought
about by introduced plants and animals, and the campaign to drain it.
Drainage proponents had their way and gradually the promised benefits
were realized. But these benefits came at a heavy cost to the
environment and for the Sema: th, whose traditional way of life was
irretrievably lost.
