Fraser Canyon wind-dried salmon
Salmon opened, scored and hung on roofed racks in the dry canyon winds of the Fraser River: slhíts'es in Stó:lō documentation, sts'wan in St'át'imc records.
Built structures · Terraces, platforms and stands
Fraser Canyon salmon wind-drying racks
Covered salmon wind-drying rack · Fraser Canyon salmon drying rack · Stó:lō wind-drying rack
Stó:lō teaching materials describe roofed racks in the exposed Fraser Canyon for wind-drying salmon. Xwísten describes a separate living St’át’imc practice at Bridge River; these sources do not establish one shared rack design.
How it is built
Risks and precautions
Descriptive record only; not a construction plan or validated fish-preservation process.
Materials
- Roofed rack (construction materials unspecified)
- Stó:lō Food Preservation and Preparation, a community teaching resource hosted by the University of Victoria, names slhits’es as wind-dried salmon and distinguishes it from smoked salmon. It describes racks in the exposed Fraser Canyon with a roof that shields fish from rain and direct sun. Wind, rather than maximum sunlight, is part of the documented drying context. The source also records exchange of wind-dried salmon for smoked salmon made elsewhere.
- Xwísten Experience Tours identifies the Bridge River fishing grounds, north of Lillooet, as the past and current fishing area of the St’át’imc people. Its current site describes wind-dried salmon as a practice still used by the community and offers a fish-cutting demonstration. That is evidence of living practice and place; the website does not specify that every St’át’imc rack is roofed or built to one plan.
- A 2007 British Columbia government report on Stl’atl’imx policing records salmon being cut into strips and hung on racks, with weather-dependent drying time. This is a dated report, not a validated preservation procedure. It supports a rack-and-hanging relationship but does not establish dimensions, materials, capacity, roof shape, airflow targets or a safe endpoint.
- These related regional examples must remain distinct: the Stó:lō source describes slhits’es and roofed Fraser Canyon racks, while Xwísten describes St’át’imc practice at Bridge River. A 1961 photograph catalogued by UBC’s Laboratory of Archaeology Archives is specifically titled “Salmon drying rack. Fraser Canyon,” but the archival record does not make it a universal design. This page describes sources and context, not construction instructions or a food-processing method.
Places
Fraser Canyon
Documented use · Region evidenceStó:lō teaching materials describe roofed racks and wind-dried salmon in the Fraser Canyon. A 1961 UBC Laboratory of Archaeology Archives item is catalogued as a Fraser Canyon salmon drying rack; its record is a geographic and form reference, not proof of one standardized design.
Xwísten (Bridge River fishing grounds)
Traditional use · Locality evidenceXwísten identifies Bridge River as past and current St’át’imc fishing grounds and describes wind-dried salmon as a living practice. This separate tradition is not treated as the same roofed rack form described in the Stó:lō teaching source.
Related
Used for
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Sources
University of Victoria Ethnographic Mapping LabForm · Use · Geography · Terminology
Stó:lō Food Preservation and PreparationThe resource names slhits’es as wind-dried salmon and distinguishes it from smoked salmon.
It describes roofed racks in exposed Fraser Canyon settings, with the roof protecting fish from rain and direct sun; it also records exchange with smoked salmon from elsewhere.
Xwísten Experience ToursGeography · Current use
Xwísten Experience Tours — Bridge River Fishing GroundsThe site identifies the Bridge River Xwísten fishing grounds as the past and current fishing area of the St’át’imc people and says traditional wind-dried salmon remains in use.
The site lists a demonstration of cutting St’át’imc salmon for hanging and wind drying; it does not specify a universal rack design.
Xwísten Experience ToursVisual reference · Method · Geography
Tour Packages — Xwísten Experience ToursXwísten describes a fish-cutting demonstration for St’át’imc wind-dried salmon at the Bridge River fishing grounds.
Government of British ColumbiaForm · Geography · Use
Stl’atl’imx Tribal Police Service ReviewThe 2007 review describes St’át’imc fish camps on the Fraser River and reports salmon cut into strips and hung on a rack to wind-dry; its reported weather-dependent time is not treated as a safety endpoint.
Laboratory of Archaeology Archives, Department of Anthropology, University of British ColumbiaForm · Geography · History
Salmon drying rack. Fraser CanyonThe archive catalogues a 1961 photograph as a Fraser Canyon salmon drying rack; it documents one archival example, not a universal design.