Siwash Rock
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Siwash Rock is a famous rock outcropping in Vancouver, British Columbia's Stanley Park. A legend among the Squamish First Nation surrounds the origin of the rock [2]. The rock is 15 to 18 metres tall (50 to 60 feet).
Geological background on this signature feature of Stanley Park is as follows. About 32 million years ago, a volcanic dyke formed in the sedimentary rock that forms the foundation of the park (sandstone and mudstone). Magma was forced to the surface through a fissure in the earth's crust creating the basalt stack, which is more resistant to erosion that the softer sandstone cliffs.
There is some controversy over the name of the rock. 'Siwash' is a Chinook Jargon word for a person of First Nations or Native American heritage. Though the word 'siwash' in the jargon did not necessarily have a negative connotation and was used by native peoples themselves, its etymology can be traced to the French word 'sauvage' which means wild or undomesticated. The word nowadays is, however, widely considered derisive but remains in use in certain placenames and other contexts without derogatory associations, as with Siwash Rock. In Legends of Vancouver, poet Pauline Johnson relates a Squamish legend of how a man was transformed into Siwash Rock "as an indestructible monument to Clean Fatherhood."[1]
[edit] References
 |
This Vancouver-related article is a stub. See WikiProject Vancouver. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 |
This British Columbia geographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
