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Death on the Mountain
by L'Ancienne
This is a powerful, hideous, and tragic story about ancient memories that do survive in the land, and in the rocks, and in the water. The cave on Bear Mountain had a shimmering clearwater underground lake in it. This cave was not only beautiful beyond compare, but was too a cave of ancient legend. And the mountain has known many legends over the centuries.
Some archaeologists were wrong when they assumed that there was no cultural use for this type of cave, (a wet cave, as opposed to a dry cave where one might expect to find artifacts). They probably truly didn't know about the traditional use of the land in this area. Maybe few archaeologists do.
by L'Ancienne
This is a powerful, hideous, and tragic story about ancient memories that do survive in the land, and in the rocks, and in the water. The cave on Bear Mountain had a shimmering clearwater underground lake in it. This cave was not only beautiful beyond compare, but was too a cave of ancient legend. And the mountain has known many legends over the centuries.
Some archaeologists were wrong when they assumed that there was no cultural use for this type of cave, (a wet cave, as opposed to a dry cave where one might expect to find artifacts). They probably truly didn't know about the traditional use of the land in this area. Maybe few archaeologists do.
The developers of the Bear Mountain golf course and resort, Les
Bjola and Len Barrie, practice a thing called "mass wasting." They
clearcut. Every tree is removed. Most of them, hundreds of them, are
piled and burned (including a giant arbutus forest). Arbutus are now
sometimes "chipped." Even now, they are taking out thick stands of
arbutus forest on the steep slopes just below the summit, and behind
Gade Road, and along the proposed Echo Valley Road, and up along the
new highway connector snaking its way across the mountain. Nothing is
sacred in Langford.
The topsoil is scraped away, taking with it all the native plants - medicinal plants, camas, moss and ferns and rare wildflowers - then, the undulating natural bedrock formations are blasted and smashed, and the land is made flat. Nothing is left, but sterile jagged broken rock. The hills are blasted away and the deep ravines and valleys are filled in with rubble.
First, archaeologists completely inexperienced regarding caves irresponsibly excavated in it near the entrance, making mud of the crystal clear pure water in the underground lake inside the cave. They crushed into mud the luxuriant growth of moss and ferns that enshrouded the entrance.
The developers crudely drained the water out. This surely killed the intricate and ancient life system that the cave supported. The pure water and the fact the cave had scarcely been disturbed in the last hundred years protected that rare and fragile ecosystem against all odds. The old people said it was their Holy Water drained away.
Then they stuffed the cave with massive piles of old tires, surely breaking delicate stalactites and rock formations in the cave. Then they jammed logging debris and tree stumps down in the entrance. They announced they were going to "remove the roof of the cave."
Some archaeologists said they needed to find an artifact to PROVE it was a cultural site in order to protect it under the Heritage Conservation Act. They said that sometimes it is necessary to destroy a site (or a cave) in order to properly "investigate" it !?! (Does anyone remember that Denise Blackwell works in the Archaeology Branch?)
They all knew perfectly well that it was a cultural site; First Nations people were screaming that to them, demanding it be protected and left alone. It was unlikely that there would be artifacts in the cave. It was clearly not a habitation site, and any offerings left there would have been ephemeral in nature.
The failure of the Archaeology Branch in this was appalling. Archaeologists, biologists, and cave specialists around the world reacted in shock and disbelief.
Bear Mountain "allowed" elders to conduct a cultural ceremony on the ruined cave site as part of their "negotiations!"
"A healing ceremony is part of the agreement, which would transfer the spiritual significance away from the cave site, Young (mayor of Langford) said."
The presence, let alone the size of the security force at the ceremony, and their gross interference was inappropriate and culturally offensive. Yet nothing could diminish it. And nothing will ever take away or destroy the spiritual significance of the cave site and all that surrounds it. And no one will ever forget it.
It was Remembrance Day weekend, 2006 that the cave was violated. Every year now, and increasingly as the years go by, First Nations people, on behalf of their ancestors and their descendants will REMEMBER and pay homage to the cave.
They blasted the cave, repeatedly. Then Bear Mountain filled the huge rock basin at the end of the sacred canyon nearby, filling it with dirt, gravel and rock rubble, causing mud flows to wash down over the sacred spring, and on down the stream that runs through the canyon below.
The spring was choked with mud and was no longer flowing by December 5th. By Christmas, they were running their filth down the stream and all through the canyon.
The purest mountain spring water, bubbling out of the rocks - the water that we used to drink; the water we would climb the mountain for, so that we could drink it - is now all mud, filth and contamination. The stench was at times unbearable last year. It is all buried under some kind of foul sludge that dries to sickly clay in summer. The once lush streambed, bordered with moss and ferns, now looks like a blood-stained desert wasteland.
How does anyone save what's left? How do you restore this? Is it possible to save anything, ever, from people like this? Is it better to just let it all go; to let the ancient secrets die with the old ones, but die with dignity? Then, those who have seen it would be able to hold what they have seen in their hearts, knowing that at least that much could never be taken away from them.
But then, what in God's name is left for the 7th generation? Bare mountains without trees or the soil to support them? Scorched fields of sun-baked fractured rock? Putrid ponds of stagnant orange, undrinkable water where the purest mountain springs used to flow from the earth?
You don't have to wait seven generations for that; it is on Bear Mountain now. This is what they have done.
The cave was not the only thing violated. This mountain was an ancient ancestral stronghold. It will not be forgotten. It was a living mountain, with springs, waterfalls, flowers, and exquisite secret caverns.
The natural spring's - the source of all the water - ancient wisdom told the people the springs and pools of purest water are sacred. Beauty and wisdom so simple it is sublime.
The topsoil is scraped away, taking with it all the native plants - medicinal plants, camas, moss and ferns and rare wildflowers - then, the undulating natural bedrock formations are blasted and smashed, and the land is made flat. Nothing is left, but sterile jagged broken rock. The hills are blasted away and the deep ravines and valleys are filled in with rubble.
They Blasted the Cave on Bear Mountain: But They Mutilated it First.
First, archaeologists completely inexperienced regarding caves irresponsibly excavated in it near the entrance, making mud of the crystal clear pure water in the underground lake inside the cave. They crushed into mud the luxuriant growth of moss and ferns that enshrouded the entrance.
The developers crudely drained the water out. This surely killed the intricate and ancient life system that the cave supported. The pure water and the fact the cave had scarcely been disturbed in the last hundred years protected that rare and fragile ecosystem against all odds. The old people said it was their Holy Water drained away.
Then they stuffed the cave with massive piles of old tires, surely breaking delicate stalactites and rock formations in the cave. Then they jammed logging debris and tree stumps down in the entrance. They announced they were going to "remove the roof of the cave."
Some archaeologists said they needed to find an artifact to PROVE it was a cultural site in order to protect it under the Heritage Conservation Act. They said that sometimes it is necessary to destroy a site (or a cave) in order to properly "investigate" it !?! (Does anyone remember that Denise Blackwell works in the Archaeology Branch?)
They all knew perfectly well that it was a cultural site; First Nations people were screaming that to them, demanding it be protected and left alone. It was unlikely that there would be artifacts in the cave. It was clearly not a habitation site, and any offerings left there would have been ephemeral in nature.
The failure of the Archaeology Branch in this was appalling. Archaeologists, biologists, and cave specialists around the world reacted in shock and disbelief.
Bear Mountain "allowed" elders to conduct a cultural ceremony on the ruined cave site as part of their "negotiations!"
"A healing ceremony is part of the agreement, which would transfer the spiritual significance away from the cave site, Young (mayor of Langford) said."
The presence, let alone the size of the security force at the ceremony, and their gross interference was inappropriate and culturally offensive. Yet nothing could diminish it. And nothing will ever take away or destroy the spiritual significance of the cave site and all that surrounds it. And no one will ever forget it.
It was Remembrance Day weekend, 2006 that the cave was violated. Every year now, and increasingly as the years go by, First Nations people, on behalf of their ancestors and their descendants will REMEMBER and pay homage to the cave.
They blasted the cave, repeatedly. Then Bear Mountain filled the huge rock basin at the end of the sacred canyon nearby, filling it with dirt, gravel and rock rubble, causing mud flows to wash down over the sacred spring, and on down the stream that runs through the canyon below.
The spring was choked with mud and was no longer flowing by December 5th. By Christmas, they were running their filth down the stream and all through the canyon.
The purest mountain spring water, bubbling out of the rocks - the water that we used to drink; the water we would climb the mountain for, so that we could drink it - is now all mud, filth and contamination. The stench was at times unbearable last year. It is all buried under some kind of foul sludge that dries to sickly clay in summer. The once lush streambed, bordered with moss and ferns, now looks like a blood-stained desert wasteland.
How does anyone save what's left? How do you restore this? Is it possible to save anything, ever, from people like this? Is it better to just let it all go; to let the ancient secrets die with the old ones, but die with dignity? Then, those who have seen it would be able to hold what they have seen in their hearts, knowing that at least that much could never be taken away from them.
But then, what in God's name is left for the 7th generation? Bare mountains without trees or the soil to support them? Scorched fields of sun-baked fractured rock? Putrid ponds of stagnant orange, undrinkable water where the purest mountain springs used to flow from the earth?
You don't have to wait seven generations for that; it is on Bear Mountain now. This is what they have done.
The cave was not the only thing violated. This mountain was an ancient ancestral stronghold. It will not be forgotten. It was a living mountain, with springs, waterfalls, flowers, and exquisite secret caverns.
The natural spring's - the source of all the water - ancient wisdom told the people the springs and pools of purest water are sacred. Beauty and wisdom so simple it is sublime.
L'Ancienne
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