How to pronounce Chilliwack?

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Chee-le'-wak

First Name, City Name

Canadian

chi - le - wak

Chilliwack is a Salish Indian term probably meaning “valley of many streams.”

Archeological records date the presence of Aboriginal people in the area today known as Chilliwack and the Fraser Valley, to be approximately 10,000 years ago." At the time of first contact it is estimated that there may have been as many as 40,000 to 60,000 people living within Sto:lo territory. After contact with Europeans beginning in 1782, diseases were introduced and reduced this population by 90 to 95%. When gold seekers first arrived in British Columbia in 185,7 there were few aboriginal people left to meet the challenge of the changes brought by the newcomers.

By December, 1858 up to 30,000 miners were pouring into the area, with most travelling through the Chilliwack area. By the mid-1860s a few of the gold seekers had established small farms to service this growing population. These farms were located near riverboat landings. In Chilliwack, this meant that Miller's, Sumas and Chilliwack Landing became early population centres.

Township of Chilliwhack

The Township of Chilliwhack was incorporated in 1873, the third oldest municipality in British Columbia. Initially the settlement was concentrated along the Fraser River at Chilliwack Landing. Here the steamboats (the main mode of transportation between Chilliwack and New Westminster), arrived and departed goods and passengers.

Since the small community had little room for expansion along the river, the main commercial area of the town moved up the road to the junction of the New Westminster-Yale Wagon Road, Wellington Avenue and Young Road. The centre came to be called Five Corners.

In 1881 a large subdivision called Centreville was developed. In 1887 the name Centreville was replaced by a more popular name, Chilliwhack, and the area was incorporated in 1908 as a separate municipality, the City of Chilliwack. The City and the Township co-existed for 72 years, and finally in 1980 they merged to form the District of Chilliwack. In 1999 the District of Chilliwack changed to the City of Chilliwack.

Chilliwack is pronounced as ch ee - l ew a k

ch	is pronounced as		ch	in chin
ee	is pronounced as		ee	in see
l	is pronounced as		l	in let
ew	is pronounced as		u	in cute
k	is pronounced as		k	in key

Chilliwack is pronounced as: Phonetic Spelling:[ ch ee - l ew a k ]

ch	ee	-	l	ew	k
chin	see		let	cute	key

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