Simon Gunanoot was a prosperous Gitxsan

Gitxsan

Gitxsan are an indigenous people whose home territory comprises most of the area known as the Skeena Country in English...

 man and a merchant in the Kispiox Valley region of Hazelton

Hazelton, British Columbia

Hazelton is a small town located at the junction of the Bulkley and Skeena Rivers in northern British Columbia, Canada. It was founded in 1866 and has a population of 293...

, British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. He lived with his wife and children on a large ranch. His brother in-law, Peter Himadam, his wife and their children also lived at the ranch.
One night, in June 1906, Gunanoot and Himadam were returning from Kitselas

Kitselas

Kitselas, Kitsalas or Gits'ilaasü are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation of British Columbia, in northwestern Canada. The original name Gits'ilaasü means "people of the canyon." The tribe is situated at Kitselas, British Columbia, at the upper end of Kitselas Canyon, which is on the...

 when they decided to stop in at the roadhouse at Two Mile, near Hazelton. There Simon and Peter got into an argument with a Hazelton dock worker named Alex McIntosh and another man, a stump farmer, Max Leclair. The argument led to physical blows and threats. Simon left, after commenting he was "going to get a gun and fix him".
Alex McIntosh also left, for the Hazelton hospital to get his wounds from the fight bandaged. His body was found on the trail a few hours later and nearby was the body of Max Leclair. They had both been shot. Based on the reports of the fight at the roadhouse, Constable James Kirby got a posse together and they went out to Gunanoot's ranch. The wives and children were at home, but Simon and Peter were gone. The posse then tracked them to Kitselas. But while they were occupied with questioning the residents of the fishing village, all of their horses either got loose or were set free. Kirby and his posse had to walk 25 miles (40.2 km) back to the ranch. Upon their arrival they found that Simon and Peter had doubled back, packed up their wives and children and had disappeared. A reward of a thousand dollars was offered for the capture of Gunanoot and Himadam and the search was on. A search that would last for thirteen years, cover thousands of square miles of wilderness and would cost the provincial government $100,000. No one ever claimed the reward although many tried. The Pinkerton Agency

Pinkerton National Detective Agency

The Pinkerton National Detective Agency, usually shortened to the Pinkertons, is a private U.S. security guard and detective agency established by Allan Pinkerton in 1850. Pinkerton became famous when he claimed to have foiled a plot to assassinate president-elect Abraham Lincoln, who later hired...

 was hired and even they had no luck. They could catch Jesse James

Jesse James

Jesse Woodson James was an American outlaw, gang leader, bank robber, train robber, and murderer from the state of Missouri and the most famous member of the James-Younger Gang. He also faked his own death and was known as J.M James. Already a celebrity when he was alive, he became a legendary...

, but not Simon Gunanoot. By 1914, local law enforcement, decided to just wait him out. Sperry Cline

Sperry Cline

Sperry Cline, DCM was a frontier policeman and author in British Columbia, Canada.-Early life:Cline was born near St. Thomas, Ontario in the early 1880s. In his teens, he traveled to England and joined the British South Africa Company's cavalry...

 was the Chief at Old Hazelton by then and he took down the wanted poster in the police station and waited for Gunanoot to come into town and surrender. In 1919, Gunanoot relayed a message to Cline through George Beirnes, a fellow Kispiox rancher. Gunanoot was ready to turn himself in and wanted a lawyer. Cline hired Stuart Henderson

Stuart Alexander Henderson

Stuart Alexander Henderson was a Scottish-born lawyer and political figure in British Columbia. He represented Yale from 1903 to 1909 in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia as a Liberal....

, one of the best criminal defense lawyers in British Columbia, on Gunanoot's behalf. Through Beirnes, a date for Gunanoot's surrender was set and he was met in Hazelton by Stuart Henderson. By the time the case came to trial in New Westminster

New Westminster, British Columbia

New Westminster is an historically important city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and is a member municipality of the Greater Vancouver Regional District. It was founded as the capital of the Colony of British Columbia ....

, it had received national media coverage and Gunanoot's story of survival in the wilderness had become legendary. In the courtroom Henderson argued that the evidence was circumstantial. Gunanoot was found not guilty. After hearing the results of the case, Peter Himadam also surrendered and was given the same verdict.

Legacy

• Mount Gunanoot
  Mount Gunanoot
  Mount Gunanoot is a mountain in the Spatsizi Plateau of the North-Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada, located just east of the headwaters of the Spatsizi River. It is named for Simon Gunanoot, a Gitxsan packer, entrepreneur and erstwhile fugitive who was hunted for several years before...
  
  , near the headwaters of the Spatsizi River
  Spatsizi River
  The Spatsizi River is a tributary of the Stikine River, rising near Mount Gunanoot in the southeastern Spatsizi Plateau."Spatsizi" is a phrase from the Sekani language meaning "red goat", a reference to the habit of mountain goats in the region of rolling in the red dust of a particular mountain,...
  
  , is named for Simon Gunanoot.
• Gunanoot Lake
  Gunanoot Lake
  Gunanoot Lake is a lake in the Skeena Country of the Northern Interior of British Columbia, Canada, located northeast of the town of Hazelton near the confluence of the Babine and Shelagyote Rivers...
  
  , near the confluence of the Babine
  Babine River
  Babine River is a river in central British Columbia, Canada. It drains Babine Lake and is a tributary of the Skeena River, and is about 60 mi long....
  
   and Shelagyote Rivers, is named for Simon Gunanoot.

External links

• Chasing Shadows, The Simon Gunanoot Story http://www.northword.ca/connections/Past_Issue/summer01/simongunanoot.html
• Gunanoot, Simon Peter at Canadian Encyclopedia Onlinehttp://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?