This valley once had a village overtop of the river; the houses had doors that opened over the river, which the Nuxalk could use to gather and clean fish right out of their homes. Nutl’lhiixw, which means dry headwaters because there are no laakes that feed this river, it all comes from springs and runoff. When Europeans first caame here they were unable to pronounce Nutl’lhiixw, so they made up an English name for this place, called New Cliff. Much later, a man had such an adventure that people changed this English name again.