When the smallpox epidemic spread through Matsqui territory in 1782, its survivors likely consolidated their numbers in the settlements that were the most rich with resources and more easily defended against the coastal raiders. In 1808, the explorer Simon Fraser traveled down the Fraser River and recorded a village that may have been located at Matsqui. Estimating the population to be about 200 people, Fraser also took note of a massive longhouse, "640 feet long by 60 broad [...] under one roof." Near the end of the nineteenth century, anthropologist Franz Boas recorded the name of a village on Matsqui Main Indian Reserve 2, "Ma'mak'ume [Mómeqwem]," and noted that this was one of two Matsqui villages.
