Spuzzum, a small community located beyond
Hope and just before
Hell's Gate, was established in 1848 as a depot for the HBC. It was originally known as Simon's House before it became known as Spuzzum. The name is an adaptation of the Indigenous name for a nearby creek called Spozem,
which means
little flat lands.
The community was situated in the gold mining area west of the
Fraser River, between
Yale and
Boston Bar.
Douglas notes that the banks of the
Fraser River near Spuzzum were known as a rich mining area. In
this despatch,
Douglas writes that
Chinese Miners
have settled near Spuzzum and that
their own small means are insufficient to bring in an artificial supply [of water]
from the neighbouring mountains, [so] they convey the soil for washing wheel barrows
to the rivers edge, a fact which goes far to prove the extensive richness of the deposit.