Archaeological evidence places Kitsumkalum with property holdings (laxyuup/territories) in the Kitsumkalum Valley, down the Skeena River to the coast, the Zymagotitz River, areas around Lakelse Lake and many special sites surrounding coastal and inland areas of the North West Coast prior to 1846 and as far back as 5,000 years BP.
The following house-groups (extended matrilineal families) make up the Kitsumkalum tribe, according to McDonald (see bibliography): Of these, the House of Nisgeel represents the first human inhabitants of the Kitsumkalum valley, under the leadership of Nisgeel, according to an oral history (adawx) belonging to this house.
Another village, home of the Ganhada and Laxgibuu, was Gitxondakł, situated between the Canyon and Kalum Lake.
McDonald also lists the following house-groups from other Tsimshian tribes whose members are associated with the Kitsumkalum community: From the 1870s until the 1960s, many Kitsumkalum and Kitselas Tsimshians lived at the cannery town of Port Essington, farther down the Skeena River (now a ghost town), at the confluence of the Ecstall and Skeena Rivers.
A significant event in the modern revival of traditional culture at Kitsumkalum was the "Su-Sit'aatk" double totem pole raising feast of 1987.