Galena Bay is an unincorporated locality, on the bay of the same name, at the head of Upper Arrow Lake in the West Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia. The Sinix't Nation, or Lake People, used the bay annually, at least, for hunting and fishing. A productive run of kokanee salmon would have made it an attractive camp in the autum…Galena Bay is an unincorporated locality, on the bay of the same name, at the head of Upper Arrow Lake in the West Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia. The Sinix't Nation, or Lake People, used the bay annually, at least, for hunting and fishing. A productive run of kokanee salmon would have made it an attractive camp in the autumn. The Sinix't name for the bay mean "the place to make canoes" because the large cottonwoods made excellent dugouts. In 1894, the shooting of Cultus Jim, a Sinix't man, was an infamous event that followed several violent interactions between the Sinix't and white settlers, recounted by Parent. Cultus Jim was protecting his family's traditional right to camp in Galena bay and was shot by a settler, Samuel Hill, who had homesteaded a farm in Galena Bay in 1893. Hill was not charged and the creek that empties into Galena Bay was named for him.
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