This Komoks Village on the Salmon River is thought to have been abandoned in 1917. On the question of why the settlement was abandoned, archivist Jennifer J Hailes Kerr provides some insight.
"It's a complicated question. When European contact happened, Kussam was a Coast Salish Village. European contact led to a decline of 90% of First Nations population due to new diseases by the late 1800's. With such a drastic reduction in population, they lost most of their key people and events like flooding left them vulnerable, so they abandoned the village in the early 20th century and consolidated with the larger Coast Salish population in the Comox Valley."
![Komoks Village on the Salmon River Komoks Village on the Salmon River](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY5tdk26-7NECS_K3iwNDcCU-fY1iFlOguwcPDztEr-4vuvBSyZ_fGZ1kvewTwC90_QSEVxKtVE00aXcHO22Nqu7QUyAL5gjVE795SdVSDM7z3NNrO18u2J-WJnTtVwXkB9CICuvoQ4rWpISUOKQksY9tHsFW7uwVUL9MB-zYUINya1WVeHyp-IZHj/s16000/Komoks-Village-Salmon-River.jpg)
1800's
coast salish
comox
comox valley
Contributed by Don Bruce
european
first nations
flooding
jennifer j hailes kerr
jennifer kerr
komox
population
salish
salmon river
village
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