Undiscovered Coast: History of Northern Vancouver Island

'Unloading logs in Nimpkish Bay' - 1923. I tend to get a number of questions about this photo, as many people are not aware that the initial Beach Camp (Camp 1), servicing logging in the Nimpkish Valley, was located just south of the mouth of the Nimpkish River. In 1908 Nimpkish Lake Logging Co. was incorporated, and in 1917 it was purchased by the Nimpkish TImber Co. (owned by Frederick Wood and Edward English). Prior to the opening of the mill at Englewood, the headquarters... of this logging operation was at Beach Camp, located at the mouth of the Nimpkish River. The facilities at Beach Camp (or Camp 1), which is referred to locally as Hanuse Beach (for a contractor who used the area at a later date), included a large breakwater, an unloading wharf and coal bunkers, a log dump with a parbuckle dumping system and 15 gin poles, and camp operations. The log dump wharf was 1400 feet long due to the shallow nature of the bay. The camp included bunk houses, homes, a school, railway roundhouse, and a sophisticated lighting plant that even allowed the illumination of the booming grounds. The camp was connected by telegraph to Alert Bay to allow for quick communication to their main offices in Vancouver. From the beginning, this logging operation relied on a railway system, but horses were used to clear the initial grade for the line. When the mill at Englewood went into operation in 1926 the rail line was diverted to Beaver Cove, and people started referring to Englewood as the new Beach Camp. Camp 1 was still used to offload coal. A number of the buildings from Camp 1 were floated to the new camp at Englewood. A hundred years later many of the old pilings are still visible at low tide. #hanusebeach #NimpkishTimber BC Archives NA-06110

Street Scene in Alert Bay showing Chinese-Canadian owned businesses - 1936 In the mid 1800s many North Island First Nation communities established connections with settlers from Asian countries like China and Japan through their involvement in the sealing and whaling industries. Prized for their skills, First Nations sailors were recruited to travel on sealing and whaling ships, often away for more than a year at a time. A number of Chinese Canadians left their legacy closer...Continue reading

Some very cool footage (and great west coast folk songs) of logging on Vancouver Island in the 1930s and 1940s (including at Kelsey Bay).

Cool news! https://www.northislandgazette.com//new-collection-of-coa/#

"Difficult A-Frame Show Charles Creek" - 1935 #kingcome #charlescreek BC Archives NA-11162

The commissary at 120 man logging camp, Kingcome River - 1907 #kingcome UBC Collections - MacMillan Bloedel Fonds - RBSC-ARC-1343-BC-1930-276-11

Fort Rupert (Tsakis) scene - July 20, 1894 This photograph is a part of the collection of Reverend William Washington Bolton from his exploration expedition of 1894, financially supported by "The Province" newspaper. The photograph is credited to Norgate. Read more about early expeditions to survey, map, and discover the riches of Northern Vancouver Island here: http://undiscoveredcoast.blogspot.com//exploring-uncharted .... BC Archives H-05514

Photo of seven totem poles - early 1900s. This photo was likely taken in Quatsino Sound, possibly at a potlatch, by Ben Leeson. Vancouver Public Library 71668

Early settlers at Stranby/ Strandby/ Cache Creek: Soren Christainsen, his sister Marie (Christainsen) Shuttleworth, and Harry Shuttleworth. Early 1900s. Strandby is located just to the west of Cape Sutil, on northernmost Vancouver Island. In the early 1800s the area was home to the Nakomgilisala and Tlatlasikwala First Nations, who about this time merged together and were referred to by ethnographers as the Nahwitti. This amalgamation is likely due to reduced population and t...he threats these communities faced from raiding by northern communities. Soren Christainsen, the first white settler in the area, homesteaded at Strandby in 1894. His sister Marie arrived in 1903. Soren Hill is named for him. Soren died in 1915 and was buried on a hill overlooking the ocean. In 1905 Harry Shuttleworth came to homestead west of Cache Creek. He married Soren’s sister Marie in 1908. The Shuttleworths raised cattle which ranged through the rainforest. In 1911 James Sim preempted a quarter-section in the area, and he, his wife Jesse, and their twin babies arrived. That year Harry Shuttleworth’s brother Robert, his wife Sarah, and their five children arrived. A friend of the Shuttleworths, Tom Lockwood, also arrived with his family. Within their first year the Sim’s home burned down, and the family lost everything. Locals helped them to build another house but all their possessions and family heirlooms from Scotland were lost. In March 1911 a post office was established with Harry Shuttleworth as postmaster. The proposed name, which locals had used to that point, was Cache Creek, but there was already another community by that name in BC, so Marie suggested the community be named Strandby, after the town of her childhood, a small coastal fishing village in Denmark. In 1912 another three families arrived in the area. They initially settled on ‘Burnt Hill’, named because it had been affected by a forest fire, but all eventually moved to better ground. A school opened in the Sim’s residence (while they were living out of the community) in 1913 but only operated for a couple of years. In 1914 there was another boom as more new settlers came to Strandby, Nahwitti, and Cape Scott, and the communities were connected by trails. By 1914 Strandby was identified as having 14 families as permanent residents. The outbreak of the war and the need for people to work in various industries quickly had a negative effect on the local population. Strandby existed until at least 1921. Marie and Harry Shuttleworth lived in Strandby until their deaths in 1938 and 1941. They are buried in the Anglican cemetery in Alert Bay. Shuttleworth Bight is named for the Shuttleworths. In 1947 the Hydrographic Service recommended identifying the now deserted area as Stranby, for the old townsite and Post Office. Local historian Ruth Botel noted the missing "d" in 2005 and the name was officially changed to Strandby. BC Archives A-01957

Quatsino Sound survey photograph - from the top of Merry Widow mountain toward Rainier Creek - 1934 " Item is a glass plate photographic negative created by a topographical surveying party headed by G.J. Jackson, B.C.L.S. The photograph depicts a view SE from Merry Widow Mountain over Rainier Creek. " BC Archives I-64403

Original Fort Rupert Chimney - ordered rebuilt multiple times before it was up to HBC standards, it then stood for 150 years. Photo taken in the early 1900s, reproduced and hand tinted in the early 1940s. Fort Rupert, located on Beaver Harbour on Northern Vancouver Island, was the second significant settler settlement on Vancouver Island after the establishment of Fort Victoria. In 1835 Dr. William Fraser Tolmie was at Fort McLaughlin (near present day Bella Bella) when vis...Continue reading

"[HMS Plumper in Port Harvey, Johnstone Strait, ca. 1860, after Bedwell]; watercolour taken from a drawing by E.P. Bedwell for the Illustrated London News, 1 March 1862." The Royal Navy ship Plumper was built in 1847 in Portsmouth, England. After visiting such locations as Portugal, Nova Scotia, Brazil and Africa she was sent to the Pacific Coast both to assist in the completion of surveys and to protect England's interests in the area. From 1857 until January 1861 Plumper w...as under the command of Captain George Henry Richards. In addition to surveying the BC Coast she was involved in the Pig War crisis in 1859 when American soldiers attempted to construct defensive locations in the San Juan Islands. The HMS Plumper conducted numerous surveys (including the Port McNeill area) in the North Island in 1860. The ship returned to England in 1861 and was decommissioned in 1865. BC Archives PDP00076

Ed Frigon's Central Hotel on Limestone (now Drake) Island. Drake Island is situated near the geographic centre of Quatsino Sound. The area, once the home of the Hoyalas and Koprino First Nations, now forms a part of the traditional territory of the Quatsino First Nation. Drake Island was named after Justice Montague William Tyrwhitt-Drake, who was the mayor of Victoria in 1876-77. The name was not adopted until 1926, and early settlers knew the island as Limestone Island. Pa...mphlet Cove on its North shore was originally named Quiet Cove. Edward (Ned) Frigon set up a trading post in Bull Harbour in the late 1800s, eventually moving to Koprino Harbour in 1889. In 1895 Frigon moved his trading post to Quiet Cove on Limestone Island. It was conveniently located between Quatsino, Coal Harbour, and the developing mill at Port Alice. He also provided the local post office services. In the 1905 elector’s list he was identified as a saloon-keeper. In 1909 Frigon opened the Central Hotel, which included a popular drinking establishment. Frigon’s wharf at Quiet Cove became a steamer stop, where the early Quatsino settlers would pick up mail and deliveries. The steamers Tees and Queen City would call at the floating wharf until about 1914, when a wharf was constructed at Quatsino. The hotel was open until 1917, when Frigon retired to Port Alice, perhaps in anticipation of the coming prohibition on alcohol sales. Eventually the building was moved to Port Alice some time between 1918 and 1920, and became the Jones Hotel providing cheap accommodation for workers in the mill. WD Moore logging moved the three story structure, and proudly boasted that they did so without breaking a single pane of glass. A fire destroyed the upper floor in 1951, and a new roof was put onto the structure. #Quatsino #drakeisland Photo by Ben Leeson Vancouver Public Library Archives 14132

Jim Cordy - a colorful character from the North Island's past. When hundreds of families moved to the new Royal Canadian Air Force base at Holberg, they met a legendary North Island character - Jim Cordy. Cordy was born in 1888 in England, the second-youngest in a family with eleven children. He left school at a young age and joined the navy, but soon decided that was not the life for him. He worked for a few years to save some money and bought passage to work in a mine in t...he interior of British Columbia. When the first World War started he enlisted and served for four years, eventually contracting malaria while posted in Syria. When the war was over he came back to Canada. Cordy first came to Northern Vancouver Island in 1927 while visiting friends prospecting in the Holberg area, and stayed to make an attempt at working the claims. In addition to mining Cordy did a variety of odd jobs, worked a trap line, and for a period of time was hired to conduct the census. Cordy never married, and remained a bachelor his whole life. In the 1940s Jim Cordy took over a pre-emption that Knute Hansen had built in 1913 on the Cape Scott-Holberg trail, and he lived there until 1977. When he was almost 90 years old locals built him a new home at Elephant Crossing. From the 1950s on, workers at the base would call him daily to check in and make sure he was doing ok, and he would report to them the conditions on the trail. In his old age Cordy had the stamina of a much younger man. He worked at the base and would do odd jobs as required until he was into his 70s. He would lead folks from Holberg on walks along the old pioneer trails into Cape Scott. Cordy passed away in 1984 at 96 years of age. Photo from the Pinetree Line archives from Curt Usherwood.

Logged Off Valley Bottom Wakeman River - 1935 This BC Forest Service photo appears to show an area where a road or rail line was removed in the Wakeman River valley, following logging in the area. #Wakeman... BC Archives NA-11161 See more

Taking fresh water onto the boat the old fashioned way - 1932. BC Forestry Boat Taking On Water From Small Falls - Cracroft Island (?) BC Archives NA-11421

Bones Bay Cannery - 1932 Bones Bay Cannery was located on West Cracroft Island, in Bones Bay (named for a character in a travelling minstrel show which toured the area on a ship in the late 1800s - stopping periodically to perform for local communities). The coastal steamships stopped at the settlement in the Bay throughout the 1950s. The cannery was operated by JG (Jack) "Johnny Bones" Dorman from 1928 to 1954. Dorman proudly claimed he ran the only cannery 'never to have h...ad a can rejected.' #BonesBay #cracroft BC Archives NA-11419

The Mahatta road network in the days before there was a road punched through on the southern side of Quatsino Sound... Thanks to Larry Hickford for posting this now historic map.

Kingcome Village - Gwa'yi - 1967 Mungo Martin, when working with ethnographers, identified the traditional name of this village as Okwunalis. It was allocated as a reserve in 1879, as was identified as a "summer village" and eulachon fishing station. The name of the river was identified as Kwae. The area is the territory of the Tsawatainuk First Nation. At the McKenna-McBride Royal Commission, the Tsawatainuk reported that there were 29 houses in the village.... https://digital.lib.sfu.ca//kingcome-inlet-de-menil-collec

Old Port Alice townsite in its original location, beside the pulp mill - 1950s. Photo from Carole Carlson who received it from her dad Carl Carlson who owned a logging float camp in Early Bird Cove (which I had not heard of before but is a part of Vancouver Island just east of Drake Island - known on charts as Atkins Cove) called Drake Island Logging, bought from 'an old Swede named Emil Stevenson.' This photo shows an aerial photo of the original town of Port Alice, a compan...y town owned by the mill owners, located immediately adjacent to the mill site. It was relocated in 1965, apparently due to a recognition about the negative effects of the pollution from the mill, and because of plans to expand the footprint of the mill to install new pollution control measures. Although the company shut off power and water to the old homes when the move happened, some families stayed on and continued to live for a period of time in their homes on the old townsite.

"Indian Totem Pole carvers - Alert Bay" - early 1900s (?) "RBCM Ethnology documentation for this photograph cites informants as agreeing that photo was taken at Alert Bay, identifies the people, and the feast dish as being part of the Rasmussen collection (Portland Art Museum) as of 1949." Thank you to Andy Everson for identifying the men and boys in the photo (taken from the comments below): "Back row (l-r) Heber Harris, Harry Brown, Bill Dawson, Stanley Hunt, Robert Brown, ...Jack Ambers, Jack James, Isaac Abraham, Sonny Kamano, John Harris, and Alfred Nelson. Front row (l-r): Gwusdidzas Charlie Hunt (owner of the dish), Kenny Rufus, Arthur (Pip) Alfred, Freddy Cook, Arthur Shaughnessy and William Dixon. The dish was carved by Yakudas Charlie James." BC Archives D-05070

Captain Larsen At Harpoon Gun On SS St. Lawrence - 1908 There were two whaling stations on the North Island - one at Cachalot (by Kyuquot) and one in Coal Harbour - which operated for a number of years. This photo shows a harpoon gun which was mounted on vessels to chase and kill whales during the period when this province supported a whaling industry. BC Archives D-03820

From "The North American Indian" by Edward S. Curtis; Volume 10; Plate No. 343; Kwakiutl house-frame at the village of Memkumlis/ Memkoomlosh/ 'Mimkwam'lis/ Village Island. - 1914 The name of this Mamaliliala First Nation community on Village Island has been written in many ways in English over the years. #VillageIsland... BC Archives D-08290