science

Siwash Rock

Siwash Rock is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Siwash Rock rather than just read about it. In short: Siwash Rock is a rock outcropping in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada's Stanley Park. A legend among the Indigenous Squamish people surrounds the rock.

Key takeaways

Siwash Rock belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Siwash Rock to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Siwash Rock from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Siwash Rock is a rock outcropping in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada's Stanley Park. A legend among the Indigenous Squamish people surrounds the rock. It is between 15 and 18 metres (49 and 59 ft) tall. It became known to mariners as Nine Pin Rock for its resemblance to a bowling pin.

Geology About 32 million years ago, a volcanic dike 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 than the softer sandstone cliffs. Siwash Rock is the only such sea stack in the Vancouver area.

Name

The Squamish name for the rock is Slhx̱i7lsh, or sometimes Lhilhx̱í7elsh. This name refers to the story of 'a man transformed by X̱ays'. The hole in the rock is where Slhx̱i7lsh kept his fishing tackle, according to Andrew Paull. 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." A plaque near the rock (pictured) states that it is "Skalsh the unselfish", who was transformed by "Q'uas the transformer" as a reward for unselfishness. 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 'savage', 'wild' or 'undomesticated'. The word is considered by some to be derisive, but remains in use in certain place names such as with Siwash Rock, Siwash Sweater, etc.

History

Up on the cliffs overlooking Siwash Rock is a lookout point off the Siwash hiking trail. While today it is an ideal spot for park users to admire the scenery, it was known as "Fort Siwash" during the wars. An artillery battery was mounted there in the First World War, as were searchlights in the next war. A runaway mountain goat, according to park board lore, lived free in this area for almost a year in the mid-1960s until he was hit by a car and died in another area in the park. Also residing in this area, until he was arrested shortly after the Second World War, was a man living in a nearby cave for a 17-year period interrupted only by his service overseas to fight in the war. The small Douglas fir atop Siwash Rock that helped make it such a distinctive landmark for the first generations of Vancouverites did not survive the exceptionally dry summer of 1965. An article on the tree's passing in the Vancouver Sun reads more like an obituary than news story, quoting former Vancouver Member of Parliament, H. H. Stevens as saying "I've known that tree for about 68 years now and I'm sorry the tree has died because it was one of our main attractions in Stanley Park." A park superintendent felt sure that it was "virtually impossible to establish another fir up on the rock from a young plant." Less than three years later, however, while park crews were still working to restore the park's forest from the devastation of Typhoon Freda, persistent efforts were rewarded when new saplings finally began taking root. In 2017, Vancouver Park Board commissioner Catherine Evans introduced a motion to change the rock's official name to Slhx̱í7lsh. As Siwash is derived etymologically from sauvage (the French word for savage), Evans said: "We shouldn't have a name for any part of our land that is derogatory to the Indigenous people of this land."

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Siwash Rock

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Siwash Rock claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Siwash Rock before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Siwash Rock ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Siwash Rock

In research: Siwash Rock appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Siwash Rock in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Siwash Rock is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Chinook Jargon place names, History of Vancouver, Religious places of the Indigenous peoples of North America, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Siwash Rock outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Siwash Rock in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Siwash Rock means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Siwash Rock out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Siwash Rock in simple terms?

Siwash Rock is a rock outcropping in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada's Stanley Park. A legend among the Indigenous Squamish people surrounds the rock.

Why does Siwash Rock matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Siwash Rock?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Siwash Rock.