A people, who were S'a'tcinko, lived at the head of a creek which takes its rise in a lake called Cultus Lake, situated in the hills back of Chilliwhack. They lived near the place where the waters flow out of the lake, and they fished plenty of salmon and other kinds of fish at this place. They had lived there a long time, and yet they knew very little about the lake which was so near to them. The country right at the source of the creek and all around the lake was a tangled forest, rocky and impassable owing to the thick underbrush: consequently the S'a'tcinko, who lived on the creek, never attempted to penetrate it.
One day two young men from the creek were out hunting in the neighboring hills, and from a distant eminence they obtained a good view of the lake. To their surprise, they beheld a wreath of smoke rising from the timber near the lake's edge. They thought it must be smoke from some camp: so they approached the lake from the direction opposite to the creek, and found that the country was not so tangled as around their own home, near the outlet of the lake. After a long walk they arrived at the place where they had seen the smoke, and were astonished to find many people living there. These people lived principally by fishing in the lake, and knew nothing of the S'a'tcinko who lived so near to them. They talked in a language which was unintelligible to the S'a'tcinko, and was said to be similar to a language spoken by a tribe of Indians on the American side, west of the Cascades. These people thought the young men were interior or Thompson Indians, of whom they seemed to know. The chief gave a wife to each of the S'a'tcinko young men, who, returning home, informed their people that a people almost as numerous as themselves were living on the lake.
These two peoples had been living for generations within a mile or so of each other, and neither knew of the other. Then the S'a'tcinko set to work and cleared the upper part of the creek and adjoining lake of all obstructions, and also made trails along the banks to the village of these people. After communication had been established by canoe and trail between the two villages, intercourse between the two peoples became frequent, and they intermarried one with the other. Eventually the lake people were absorbed by the S'a'tcinko, whose language they adopted. The last person who could speak their language was a very old man,' who died a few. years ago.
A Thompson Legend