THE STORY OF JACQUES,
LE BUCHERON

Along time ago when French Canadian voyageurs
™t came through the Rockies, they used rivers as
iwhways. Their discoveries paved the way for
opening this great Western Province. As the
canoes made their way towards the coast, the
voyageurs encountered the wild turbulence of the
Fraser Canyon. Their canoes entered the
turbulence and without a chance to portage, the
voyageurs were swept to their deaths.

All plunged to their deaths except one, a young
boy named Jacques who rode a bundle of furs
through the canyon to safety. Altough only a child,
the voyageurs had invited him along because of
his spirit of adventure and determination.

The young boy grew up in the peace and
tranquility of the lower Fraser Valley where the
Salish Indians adopted him, treating him as one of
their own by protecting him and teaching him their
culture and beliefs.

Soon Jacques, learned to adapt to this wild and
new land that had so much to offer to those who
dares to discover it. As an adolescent Jacques
was given a gift by the Salish Indians; a colt from
their best herd of wild horses. This colt grew up
and became one of the biggest and most beautiful
horses ever seen in the land. Jacques gave him
) name of Mawoma ("little chief").

The coastal terrain was not easy on it’s settlers.
Logging trees while building homes, was a very
difficult task; occasionally the settlers would hear
the sound of a fiddle playing on a distant hill. This
was a welcome sound because it was always
followed by a surprise shipment of logs.

And so the myth was told that Jacques was said
to play his fiddle before cutting a large area of
trees, load the logs onto Mawoma who would drag
them to the river. The logs were then floated
down river to the settlers to build their homes and
communities.