The Skeena, second longest river in the province, remains an icon of British Columbia's northwest. Called Xsien ("water of the clouds") by the Tsimshian and Gitksan, it has always played a vital role in the lives of Indigenous people of the region. Since the 1800s, it has also become home to gold seekers, traders, salmon fishers and other settlers who were drawn by the area's beauty and abundant natural resources. Combining forty illustrations with text selected from the pioneer interviews CBC radio producer Imbert Orchard recorded in the 1960s, the book follows the arrival of the Europeans and the introduction of the fur trade to the Omineca gold rush and the building of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. At the heart of these stories is the river, weaving together a narrative of a people and their culture.

Preface --Introduction -- Navigating the cloudwaters : Chief Jeffrey H. Johnson on the life of the Gitxsan and Tsimshian along the Skeena -- And they poled for all they were worth : Vicky Sims on travelling the Skeena by canoe --- More trader than missionary : Agnes Harris on Robert Cunningham and the founding of Port Essington -- There's old Cataline! : Martin Starret on British Columbia's most famous mule train packer -- Monarch of all I survey : Sarah Glassey, the first woman to pre-empt land in British Columbia -- It's just one big boil : Viroqua Godfrey on navigating the Skeena by paddlewheeler -- Skeena, river of the clouds : Wiggs O'Neill, Captain Joseph Gardner, Agnes Johnson, Viroqua Godfrey, Flora Martin, Martin Starret and Chief Jeffrey H. Johnson on the wonders of a trip up the Skeena -- Traditional place names.