Klah ah men was always a village site for the Tla'amin people, and the name refers to it being used as a place of refuge for the Tla'amin Nation.
"No matter which way the wind is blowing, there would always be a protected side of the bay. Our people said that some of the homes here were built up on stilts over the rocky foreshore. Lund was the site of some battles between the Tla'amin and Laichwiltach people who moved down towards Campbell River from further North. Some of these battles the Laichwiltach won, but others were won by the Tla'amin. In recent memory, elders of the Tla'amin Nation talked of fishing for herring right from the wharf using a herring rake, they were so abundant in those days they were an easy catch." - Drew Blaney, Tla'amin Nation
Klah ah men was a thriving village of permanent and winter residents and must have been an impressive and vibrant community that provided protection and refuge . With the arrival of European colonists during the last decades of the 19th century traditional ways of life and settlements were drastically changed. The implementation of the Indian Act in 1876 brought an abrupt end to the traditional Tla’amin way of life in Klah ah men and dispossessed most First Nations communities of their traditional lands as well as their cultures.
In 1889 Fred and Charles Thulin arrived, and founded a new settlement on the native village site. They built a wharf and put up buildings and services to support commercial logging and fishing. They called their settlement Lund, after a town in Sweden and because it was an easy name to remember and spell. The Thulins built a store, post office and in 1895, opened the first licensed hotel outside of Vancouver. The hotel operating today was built in 1918 after a forest fire had destroyed the original building.
In 1954, the first land route to Klah ah men/Lund was opened and saw the end of steamer services two years later. Depending whether you are an optimist or pessimist, Klah ah men/Lund is the end or beginning of Highway 101.
"No matter which way the wind is blowing, there would always be a protected side of the bay. Our people said that some of the homes here were built up on stilts over the rocky foreshore. Lund was the site of some battles between the Tla'amin and Laichwiltach people who moved down towards Campbell River from further North. Some of these battles the Laichwiltach won, but others were won by the Tla'amin. In recent memory, elders of the Tla'amin Nation talked of fishing for herring right from the wharf using a herring rake, they were so abundant in those days they were an easy catch." - Drew Blaney, Tla'amin Nation
Klah ah men was a thriving village of permanent and winter residents and must have been an impressive and vibrant community that provided protection and refuge . With the arrival of European colonists during the last decades of the 19th century traditional ways of life and settlements were drastically changed. The implementation of the Indian Act in 1876 brought an abrupt end to the traditional Tla’amin way of life in Klah ah men and dispossessed most First Nations communities of their traditional lands as well as their cultures.
In 1889 Fred and Charles Thulin arrived, and founded a new settlement on the native village site. They built a wharf and put up buildings and services to support commercial logging and fishing. They called their settlement Lund, after a town in Sweden and because it was an easy name to remember and spell. The Thulins built a store, post office and in 1895, opened the first licensed hotel outside of Vancouver. The hotel operating today was built in 1918 after a forest fire had destroyed the original building.
In 1954, the first land route to Klah ah men/Lund was opened and saw the end of steamer services two years later. Depending whether you are an optimist or pessimist, Klah ah men/Lund is the end or beginning of Highway 101.
The following story was printed in The Powell River News, March 28, 1935.
