Salmon runs are meager now. And most of the ancient villages are gone. It is not a comfortable story. The train slows as we enter Kitwanga, one of the few surviving villages. There the rails knife through a Gitskan Indian burial ground.
Passengers are horrified.
Crew members are aware of the travelers' consternation. They left behind a phalanx of bold totems near the tracks as reminders of better times. Passengers watch a dozen or more bald eagles swooping over a Skeena River canyon. Prince Rupert, just ahead. The late-staying summer sun seems to turn the Skeena to molten silver as the river races to the sea.