Many of the former villages in the Kitselas Canyon were abandoned due to the small pox epidemics of the late 19th century. During this time, the remnant populations came together in what are today the two core villages of the area, Gitaus and Kulspai.
A number of early ethnographers have published materials on the Gitselasu villages. They include: G.A. Dorsey who wrote Geography of the Tsimshian Indians, which was published in the American Antiquarian in 1897; George T. Emmons who wrote the Kitselas of British Columbia published in the journal American Anthropology in 1912; Louis Shotridge who wrote A visit to the Tsimshian Indians published in the Musuem Journal of Pennsylvania in 1918; and Marius Barbeau who wrote Totem Poles: Volume I and II in 1950.
Archaeoligists who have drawn on these resources include the editors of Skeena River Prehistory (1979), Richard Inglis and George MacDonald, and Gary Coupland who wrote Prehistoric Cultural Change at Kitselas Canyon published in 1988.