Mining, Oil and the Military

Mining

The first mining venture to accomplish and maintain operations of any size was that undertaken by the Japanese fishing firm of Awaya, Ikeda & Company Limited at Ikeda Bay, Moresby Island. The report of the Department of Mines for 1907 comments very favourably on operations of this firm, stating that it was employing "more than one hundred men . . . in mining, mine construction, and prospecting," that it had erected "a large and substantially built wharf capable of receiving the largest of the coasting steamships," and that a 36-gauge tramway had been built connecting the wharf with the mine workings.

The Queen Charlotte News of April 4, 1908, carried a letter from this firm stating that, including the cost of the wharf, mining camp, tramways, tunnels, and the old sternwheeler "Dawson," which had been converted into a bankhouse and office, over $60,000 had been spent at the Ikeda Bay mining project.

This company was also the first to install telephone lines on the Islands connecting the mine-site with the hotel at Jedway, 4 miles distant.

The outcry against Orientals, and Asiatics generally, which was being raised in British Columbia about this time was probably one of the reason why in 1910 the Ikeda firm sold out to a Vancouver syndicate for the reputed figure of $250,000. Under the new directorate that investment possibilities were exploited and a good deal of publicity was given to the venture. However, during the war years of 1914 to 1918 the shortage of labour and the monopoly of transportation facilities by the Imperial Munitions Board made the going difficult. By 1920 this enterprise, which began as one of the most energetic and promising on the Islands, had closed down.

Following World War I a few placer leases were issued, mostly for claims lying along the sandy north and east shores of Graham Island, but no large scale development of these has ever taken place.

Oil Prospecting

For many years prospectors on Haida Gwaii have been intrigued by signs of oil seepage's at various points. When George M. Dawson made his comprehensive geological survey of the Islands in the summer of 1878 for the Dominion Government, he noted bitumen oozing from the beaches of the Tar Islands, just off Ramsay Island in Juan Perez Sound. Oil-boring operations were begun at Tian Head on the west coast of Graham Island in 1913, and though this was not a successful venture, it is still believed that vast beds of oil may underlie certain sections of the Islands. In 1949 interest in the oil possibilities of the North Pacific islands was again renewed, and exploration work was undertaken by the Royalite Oil Company, the initial drilling to be 5 miles north of Queen Charlotte City. Although this first test well has subsequently been abandoned, prospecting of the area continues.

Military Bases

When in 1936, the international situation became more threatening, the Dominion Government began seriously to consider its Pacific Coast defenses. Up to that time the Royal Canadian Air Force had only the one station, that of Vancouver, on the western seaboard. It was then decided to establish an advanced base on the Islands. A suitable site was selected on Moresby Island, at Alliford Bay in Skidegate Inlet. An area of about 160 acres was purchased in 1937, and the following year the development of a seaplane base was begun. This work was still in progress when the Second World War broke out.

The base at Alliford Bay was ready for operations early in 1940, and in May the first aeroplanes were flown north from Vancouver to the new station. Here, with replacements of twin-engine flying-boats in 1941 and long-range Cansos and Catalinas in 1943, routine work continued until the end of the war. This consisted of anti-submarine patrols, transporting personnel and supplies to many spots on the coast, and photographing vital areas. Thus for five years the station was a key point in the Dominion's West Coast defenses. It was finally closed in September, 1945.

Transportation on the Islands

Other than the traditional method of the sea-faring Haida canoes, white settlers generally had to rely on their own transportation. For a good many years the Hudson's Bay Company with their numerous vessels were the mariners of the Islands' coastal service. The Company's most important successor was the Canadian Pacific Navigation Company, who for over twenty years served the upper coastal ports and the islands of Haida Gwaii as well. Among their ships were such well-known names as the "Princess Louise," the "Sardonyx," the "R.P. Rithet," and the 'Islander." Some of these carried excursion parties to the Islands under the guidance of the genial and sociable Captian John Irving. The Reverend Charles Harrison, in his stories of the days on the Islands just before the turn of the century, tells of leaving Massett for England on board the Islander and of being entertained all the way to Victoria by the jolly captain.


In 1901 the Canadian Pacific Railway and Steamship Company bought out the Canadian Pacific Navigation Company. Their first ship on the Charlotte run was the "Amur."

In May of 1912 a new steamer, "Princess Sophia," arrived at Victoria after a 14,000 mile journey from the United Kingdom. Her arrival had been eagerly awaited by the Islanders because of news reports stating that she had been built "especially for northern British Columbia and Island service." Such reports, however, were more than a little exaggerated. The Princess Sophia was placed immediately on the northern run to Skagway, but in the same year the Canadian Pacific discontinued their service to the Islands, and the settlers were once more left without direction connection to Victoria or Vancouver.

In 1909 the Grand Truck Pacific Railway commenced a Prince Rupert to Sandspit run with their first vessel, the "Henriette." This was followed in 1910 by the "Prince Albert" and in 1911 by the "Prince John" and the "Prince Charles." For the year 1930 another vessel, the "Prince William," was also in service to the Islands. Until 1940 the Canadian National (Grand Trunk) continued their steamship connection with the Islands, but in that year they sold out to the Union Steamship Company of Vancouver. The old Prince John, by now an honored veteran of the stormy waters of Hecate Straits, was renamed the "Cassair." In 1948 two new vessels were added to the run by the Union Company--the "Coquitlam" and the new "Camosun." Both these ships are extremely modern and even luxurious craft, and thus the pioneering days of transportation to the Islands are ended.

The Massett Leader, 1913

Air Service was introduced to the Islands when the Queen Charlotte Airlines Limited commenced in May 1946. They took over the aircraft operated by their predecessors, Spilsbury & Hepburn Limited, who had operated both a seaplane and landplane for radio-telephone maintenance. When air service to logging camps, mills, and remote villages was required, the charter flights were begun by the Queen Charlotte Airlines. In 1947 the Canadian Pacific Airlines began a daily service to Sandspit, and from that point the Queen Charlotte Airlines continued to carry passengers and freight to major settlements around the Islands.

Settlement and Commerce

Apart from the transient prospectors and mine-workers, the missionaries who ministered to the needs of the Haida, and one or two general store keepers, Haida Gwaii, throughout the latter part of the nineteenth century, were left largely to what remained of their native inhabitants.

Under the Crown Land Surveys in 1891, William McKenzie and Samuel Reid reported that good agricultural land would be available if the swamps were drained, but "parties who wish to settle upon the islands would have to be people of means, as it would require large outlays before any returns could be obtained."

In 1901 the permanent non-Haida people numbered only fourty, but a few years later, accompanying the general increase of population of Canada's western Provinces, Haida Gwaii known as Queen Charlottes began to attract the attention of settlers, settlement organizers, and their inevitable attendants, the property speculators.

By 1908 the Canadian Government started selling Q.C.I. [Haida Gwaii] as Crown Land to the public at prices ranging from $2.50 to $5.00 per acre, but settlement was still slow. One reason for this, given in a report of that year prepared for the Bureau of Provincial Information, was the lack of regular steamship service to many Island points. This lack made it almost impossible for intending settlers to view their prospective sites in a reasonable time or at a reasonable cost. The same report stresses the fact that large tracts of the Islands, particularly along the shores of Masset Inlet, were blanketed by timber and mining leases, and being unsurveyed it was impossible for a pre-emptor to decide just what land was vacant and available for recording.

By the summer of 1908 there were some fifty settlers located in the Lawn Hill-Miller Creek area and over one hundred in the Massett area, while the new townsite of Queen Charlotte City was beginning to attract venturesome merchants and business-man. Quite a number of these new-comers were Americans. The first drug-store in Queen Charlotte City was opened by the Dudley brothers, of Wisconsin, and Mark Lauder of Seattle, built the first hotel in that center. Among the farmers and ranchers who came to the Islands was a Mr. Dow, who had emigrated from the State of Washington, and who began a small settlement opposite the village of Massett. From the same state came the Mallard brothers to record sizeable pre-emptions near the north end of Kundis Island. These settlers were confident that if roads and surveys were assured by the B.C. Provincial Government, hundreds of farmers would move to the Islands from the North-west United States, their reason for migrating being that land had become too valuable in that area to farm in large blocks.

The first newspaper to appear on the Islands was the Queen Charlotte News. The manager-owner of this paper, D.R. Young, was an early proponent of the great commercial possibilities of the Islands. In 1907 he was in personal contact with then B.C. Premier McBride, stressing the need for a Government Office on the Queen Charlottes [Haida Gwaii] and offering himself as an appointee for the position of the Justice of the Peace on the Islands. It was largerly at his suggestion that the Mining Recorder's Office was established at Jedway, at this place, in his opinion, was to become "the metraliphous center of the Islands, while Skidegate and Cumshewa will be the coal producing, agricultural and commercial centers."

Mr. Young continued for several years to identify himself with the Islands and strove to further its commercial development.

The first few issues of the Queen Charlotte News, beginning on April 4th, 1908, were printed in Victoria, but this was only a temporary measure. Within a matter of months, facilities were provided at Queen Charlotte City and the press was moved to that location.

During the next four years, three other news-sheets made their appearance--"The Islander," "The Massett Review," and the "Massett Leader (1912-1913)," all of which had a vigorous but brief existence.

The same year (1908) a settler's association was formed among the people of Lawn Hill and Skidegate, with a membership of forty. Their first meeting resulted in the petitioning of the Provincial Government for a subsidy to run regular steamship schedules to outlying areas. At this meeting a resolution "to keep this a white man's land" shows that Asiatic labour was felt to be a problem. In this respect the "Queen Charlotte News" took a stand in favour of white labour, and in the following year conducted something of a crusade to rid the Islands of the Japanese. The Japanese groups were given sixty days in which to quit the Islands. Money spent by them in buying property and erecting houses or business premises at Queen Charlotte City was to be refunded.

A permanent hospital and a resident medical practitioner were two of the most urgent needs of the growing settlements. Sufficient money was finally raised by the citizens of Queen Charlotte City in 1908 to erect a temporary hospital building, and the Provincial Government was prevailed upon to provide $1,000 for equipment, plus a $300-per-year subsidy for a resident doctor. In August of that year Dr. J.W. Cross arrived, and a short time later the services of a qualified nurse were secured. The following year a hospital society was formed and the construction of a permanent hospital begun.

Further petitions to the Provincial Government resulted in the sum of $10,000 being appropriated in 1909 for the construction of roads. Several short ones were built in the Lawn Hill area, others at Massett, and a more lengthy one was planned to connect Skidegate and Queen Charlotte City.

Regular steamship calls and mail deliveries were for long a sore point with the Island communities. In the absence of permanent mail contracts the Dominion Government finally appointed a number of citizens, who had facilities for reaching the Mainland, as postmasters. At Queen Charlotte City this post went to Leo Beattie, owner of a general store; at Massett the Reverend W.E. Collison filled the position; other postmaster were appointed at Jedway and Lockeport on Moresby Island. This temporary measure lasted only until the winter of 1909, when the Grand Truck Pacific made arrangements with the Dominion Government to supply a fortnight mail and ferry service from Prince Rupert to various points on the Islands. The government of Canada was to subsidize the venture at the rate of $200 per trip. Because of the difficulties encountered with the rather ancient craft they commissioned for the job, the Grand Truck Pacific seems to have had trouble living up to its agreement, making only four or five trips during the winter months.

The year 1909 saw a new townsite laid out at Stewart Bay on Massett Inlet. This was originally named Queenstown, but within a few years the name appears to have been dropped and that of Port Clements subsituted.

After the hospital was an accomplished fact, or at least after the money had been raised and construction commenced at Queen Charlotte City, the school problem was the next to be undertaken by the people of this district. The Provincial Government was again petitioned for funds, this time to build a school-ouse. In the meantime temporary quarters were acquired, and the first school for white children on the Islands was opened on September 6th, 1909. Mrs. A. Butler, one of the residents, acted as temporary teacher until D. Cochrane, B.A., arrived to take charge.

The same year, Massett obtained a school, presided over by Miss J.A. Peck. Both of these schools were raised from the status of assisted school districts to that of organized school districts in the following year.

The School Children at Skidegate - 1914

In 1912 the agricultural district of Sandspit, as well as that of Skidegate, were given assisted schools. The following year another school was opened at Queenstown (Port Clements), under Miss A.L. Tingley, a member of one of Graham Islands's earliest settler families. Lawn Hill area had no local school until 1920.

By 1910 population on the islands had increase considerably. Although official figures are lacking, the white residents were number perhaps a little optimistically by local patriots, at "over three thousand." The road situation continued to demand attention, particularly in the Massett area. In August the Massett Settlers' Association petitioned the Provincial Government, calling attention to the fact that settlers had no adequate facilities for getting their supplies in or their produce out.

During and after 1912 the central and northern coast sections of Graham Island developed more rapidly. Two newspapers appeared at Massett, and although both initial attempts were short-lived, the press of one was taken over by the enterprising owner of the "Queen Charlotte News" and for some time was published as the Massett Leader. Not much news about the Haida people, mostly serving the white communities.

The Queen Charlotte Islander, first published at Queen Charlotte City in opposition to the News, decided in 1913 to move its location to Queenstown because "development and population have increased faster at the central section of the Island."

The information given in the Report of the Minister of Lands for 1912 is interesting:--

"The north coast from Massett to Rose Spit along the shore is all occupied, nearly one hundred people dealing at Mr. Anderson's store at Towe Hill, situated very centrally about eighteen miles east of Massett. The shores of Massett Inlet are also filled up, the occupiers dealing at Mr. Martin's big store at Queenstown and Massett. There are two English churches, one at Old Massett on the Reserve; and the other at New Masset where there is a small town containing a school, hotel, a large store and post office. . . . The fare from Vancouver to Massett is $26 and the journey . . . occupies three days."

The first public telephone and telegraph line went into service on November 1st, 1913. The line ran from Queen Charlotte City to Towe Hill and connected with Queenstown and Massett. There was one operator at Massett and another at Queen Charlotte City, and the report goes on to say, somewhat proudly, that the installation of fifteen telephones had been ordered for residents between Towe Hill and Massett.

Due to transportation difficulties during and immediately after World War I, steamship connections with the Mainland were still irregular and inadequate. Settlers complained bitterly that under this disability the could not compete in the Prince Rupert market. A further complaint was that there was no cold-storage facilities on the boats which did call, and perishable goods such as meat, poultry and eggs could not be shipped to Mainland ports.

The closing of the Sitka spruce export struck another blow at the small commercial centers. The 1921 census saw the population depleted to little more than 1,000 people, and the depression years of the 1930's were to see it drop still lower. The Skeena Land Recording Division Bulletin of 1938 states: "The Graham Island Farmer's Institute has about fifty members . . . so far there has been little serious farming on any scale."[]

Forestry--The Spruce

Sir James Douglas, may have among his letters, a reference to what may have been the first logging activity on Haida Gwaii. In a letter dated, "Fort Victoria, 26th Aug, 1852," he writes about the American brig "Susan Sturgis" lately cut, and carried off a cargo of spars from the islands.

West end of Queen Charlotte City, 1916

Until the outbreak of the First Great War, logging and lumbering activities on the Islands were of a very restricted nature, for there was only one mill in operation at Queen Charlotte City in 1911. The growing demand for the aeroplane spruce during World War I brought the Islands to the forefront in the logging industry, for the finest Sitka Spruce along the Northwest coast of North America is found there. It was estimated that from Moresby Island alone a number of camps on Cumshewa and Selwyn Inlets shipped over 30,000,000 feet of spruce for aeroplane-manufacture.

Under the direction of the Imperial Munitions Board, this industry attained large proportions. The eight or ten large camps built on Cumshewa Inlet were only a part of this development. At Thurston Harbour, on Selwyn Inlet, where the Board's administration camp was located, all the necessary equipment was erected for making up Davis rafts large enough to carry up to 1,500,000 feet of timber to the Mainland mills, where is was sawn and shipped to factories in Toronto and Great Britain.

Judging by the news reports of the time, the workers in the camps seem to have been well treated--they received from $5.50 to $10 per day in wages. A hospital and a recreational house were built for them at Thurston Harbour, and the Y.M.C.A. operated a station there. A wireless station was erected to serve the logging area and a provision store was operated for the convenience of the independent hand-loggers.

Northward, on Graham Island, other logging operations supplied materials for war purposes. There were many camps located along Massett Inlet, and in 1918 there were no fewer than four large sawmills going "full blast" in the town of Massett. In order to supplement the sawing facilities of the Mainland mills, the Imperial Munitions Board began the erection of three large sawmills at Thurston Harbour. However, these were not completed at the time of the armistice and were almost immediately dismantled.

The Fishing Industry

The first commercial fishing venture on the coast of Haida Gwaii was probably the visit of the sailing-vessel "Oscar and Hattie," from Gloucester, Mass., in 1887. This schooner was attracted to the north by the possibilities of the sealing trade, supplemented by halibut-fishing for fletching or salting, off Rose Spit and in Dixon Entrance, for off the coasts of Haida Gwaii were some of the finest halibut-banks in the world. Many ships later followed the example of "Oscar and Hattie," though it was not long before the catch was shipped to southern and eastern cities, packed in glacier ice obtained in Alaskan ports. This method was superseded by the use of commercial ice as soon as plants for its manufacture were established in Vancouver and other coastal cities.

Canoe bailer

By the first decade of this century, fears were being voiced over the alarming reduction in the size and numbers of the catches. The Queen Charlotte News of March 27, 1909, devotes four columns to a discussion of the "threatened extinction" of the halibut and the need for more adequate fishery patrols to prevent American vessels "poaching well within the 3-mile limit."

It was a year or two, however, before representation to the Dominion Government resulted in the chartering of two steam whalers, the Germania and the Sebastian, for fishery patrol duty in the northern waters. This increased vigilance, plus the unexpected capture earlier in the year of an American gasoline schooner, the Edric, by H.M.C.S. Rainbow, put and end to the more flagrant breaches of the fishing laws and developed a greater respect for Canadian authority in our Pacific territorial waters.

With the coming of the Grand Trunk (later the Canadian National) Railway to Prince Rupert, the fishing industry grew to such proportions that an International Commission was set up to regulate the catch and to guard against depletion. After 1923 the adoption of the diesel engine made it possible for larger vessels to seek fresher and deeper banks to the far west of Haida Gwaii. In 1927 new regulations were issued by the Dominion Government designed to protect British Columbia fisheries from depletion. In this way, the continuance of an important means of livelihood for both the Haida and non-Haida residents of Haida Gwaii was assured.

traditional Haida fish hook

Whaling was once a profitable undertaking around the Northwest Coast of North America coastal waters. In 1909 Captain G. A. Huff, of Alberni, opened a whaling-station at Rose Harbor, on the north end of Kunghit Island. Two years later another firm put up a station at Naden Harbor, Graham Island. Both of these were operated more or less intermittently for many years. The gradual depletion of the whale herds, together with the increased cost of seeking them farther afield, forced the industry into the hands of large concerns, and in 1918 all whaling companies in the North Pacific area were absorbed into one corporation. By 1928 all whaling stations in British Columbia, with the exception of the two on Haida Gwaii, were closed. Even this consolidation was of little avail against the dwindling supply. By 1941 the last two stations were closed down and dismanted, and the Pacific field was left to the American whalers with their single reduction plant at Eureka, California.

"Victoria, B.C. -- Steam whaling vessels operated off Vancouver Island and Queen Charlotte Island [Haida Gwaii] killed more than 1,000 whales in season just ended." -- The Day Book [Chicago, Ill.] November 04, 1912

The first manufacturing plant to be established on Haida Gwaii was for the extraction of dogfish-oil. This plant was in operation as early as the 1870s and continued as a minor industry for many years.

The development of cold-storage and fish-processing plants began in earnest during the boom period of the early 1900s and continued during the war years. News reports of 1909 tell of the Pacific Fisheries Limited rushing work on their oil and fertilizer reduction plant and cold-storage warehouse at Pacofi, on Selwyn Inlet.

iron fish hook with sinker

This company was headed by a well-known business man of German origin, Alvo Von Alvensleben, and included several prominent Vancouver and Victoria investors. At a later date this plant was taken over by B.C. Packers Limited, but was burned down in 1943.

The Cold Storage and Black Cod Fishing Company, under the management of D.R. Young, of the Queen Charlotte News, erected a plant at Queen Charlotte City and entered the business arena with hopes of educating the public taste to like "this splendid table delicacy."

One rather grandiose development was begun at Alliford Bay on the south side of Skidegate Inlet. This was undertaken by the B.C. Fisheries Limited, reported as being headed by Sir George Doughty, and Grimsby fish merchant, and other English fishing interests. The plant was to include a cannery, saltery, fish-meal works, and cold-storage facilities. In the spring of 1912 surveys began on 200 acres of Crown-granted land. The old dogfish-oil works at Skidegate was purchased from the Victoria firm of Simon Leiser & Company to be "enlarged and improved." Mr. Leiser, acting for the English Company, bought at auction the American fishing-boat "Edric" (the same one captured by H.M.C.S. Rainbow the year before), together with a tug-boat, to serve as the nucleus of a fleet of fishing-vessels planned for the future.

Little more than high hopes and a few glowing news reports developed from this venture. Just over a year later the Company was in the hands of the receivers. The enterprise was not, however, a total loss. The cannery, after being taken over by the Maritime Fisheries Limited, was operated off and on for several years. Fishing in general boomed during World War I, dogfish oil being especially valuable in the making of glycerine for ammunition purposes.

After the war the fishing industry and its associated fields continued to attract capital to the Islands. The report of the Minister of Lands for 1918 speaks of a steady development along these lines. Besides the cannery at Alliford Bay, a new cold-storage plant was installed at Rennell Sound by the Atlin Fisheries. The Wallace Fisheries built a cannery at Naden Harbor, Colonel MacMillan of Vancouver built another at Lagoon Inlet opposite Louise Island, and a saltery was operation at Jedway. At Pacofi a new plant for making potash from sea-kelp began operations, with plans for extensive development if the venture proved commercially successful. []

Various Newspaper Clippings

Pittsburg Dispatch, 1889

LAST TOTEM POLE CARVERS CARRY ON A DYING ART
ogdensburg-advance-1957-october-december - 0062.pdf
Totem pole carving was a centuries - old craft of the American Indians, especially those of the northern Pacific coast. They were invariably carved of logs of red cedar into figures of humans, birds or animals that represented the mythology and history of a particular tribe or clan. The Indians used adzes and knives to cut the logs and carve the poles. They used crude paints—burnt clam shells for white, iron ores for rusty reds—which they mixed with salmon roe, and applied the paint with porcupine hair brushes.
...pictured here. Indian artist Henry Hunt carves model of a Haida totem pole at Thunderbird Park, British Columbia, Canada.
Ogdensburg Advance, December 1957

Indians Win
The U.S. Court of Claims in Washington has decided that a small group of Alaskan Tlingit and Haida Indians is entitled to payment for more than 20 million acres of land taken by white men from their ancestors. Millions of dollars could be involved in payment for the land (shaded area on Newsmap). Included are the Tongass national Forest (18 million acres), appropriated by the government in 1902-1907 and Glacier Bay National Monument (two million acres), taken in 1925, and Annette Island (86,000 acres).
Massena Observer, November 1959

Aboriginal Cremation.
The novel scene of burning the dead was witnessed on Point Hudson, near this city, last Sunday. Some Hydah Indians who were encamped there lost one of their number by death, and in accordance with their peculiar custom when any of the tribe die away from home, they prepared a funeral pyre and performed their rites. One aged klootchman stood near the fire with a bottle of liquid, supposed to be whiskey, from which she filled a glass now and then, and threw the contents on the blaze, after which she would give utterance to the dismal wailing notes of the Hydah death song. The ceremony of burning their dead when traveling around is to keep the bodies from falling into the hands of other tribes.--Port Townsend (W.T.) Argus.
Weekly Kansas Chief, July 9, 1874

Women in Alaska
The lowest point reached by the mercury is 29 deg. below zero, and when the wind is from the southeast the snow drifts on the west side of our house until the building is nearly hidden, the snow being three feet deep on the roof. When the storm is over the natives come with their shovels, made of the shoulder blades of the walrus or the baby whale, and dug us out.
. . .
Mrs. Jones, writing from the native village of Juneau says: "It is difficult to improve the conditions of the natives here. Few take any interest in the civilizing or Christianizing of the people in Juneau save the missionaries, and the tide of immortality is something dreadful.
Kansas City journal., August 08, 1897

Alaskan Natives
The Copper-colored first settlers will stand no nonsense
Suspicious of White men
Slow to anger, but dangerous.
The Saint Paul globe., December 19, 1897

Alaska Indians
"It has been noticed that the natives, both on the American and Asiatic coast, have no religious ideas and no conception of a God."
. . . "among the Alaska Indians there is no idea of future life or future punishment." Those who heard Rev. S. Hall Young's lecture on Alaska will remember something of the doctrines of the natives, as to their belief in the transmigration of souls, so that while they do not have a definite idea of Heaven or hell they do believe that the soul never dies but passes from one being to another through countless ages.
The Daily Astorian., April 29, 1883

The Great Northwest
It is a fact not generally known that a great many of the canoes seen on this part of the coast are made by a tribe of Indians further north, the Hydahs, who have their headquarters at Massett, a picturesque little Indian village above Port Simpson, says the New Westminister Ledger. The Hydahs are known far and near among other tribes for their skill in canoe building, and not only in building the graceful craft are they skilled, but also in their use, in which last they are almost unapproachable.
The Anaconda standard., August 18, 1891

The British Daily Colonist, 1858 - 1910
http://www.britishcolonist.ca/

Massett Leader, 1912-1913
http://historicalnewspapers.library.ubc.ca/list/collection/massett

Brooklyn Daily Eagle

News clippings from the digital archives of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle

A Wonderful Island
Curiosities to be Seen on that of Queen Charlotte [Haida Gwaii].
    Probably no other group in the wide world carries more curiosities, natural and artificial, than Q.C.I. [Haida Gwaii]; few I think, have as many in the same extent of country. The geologist, the mineralogist, the botanist, the artist and agriculturist may each of them find a . . .
Saturday, June 21, 1884

The Oregon Treaty
As near as we can learn from newspaper information, is short and sweet--as follows: Article 1. Fixes the territorial boundary between the United States and Great Britian, west of the Rocky Mountains, on the line of 49 degrees, till it reaches Queen Charlotte's Sound, and then through the Straits of Fuca to the ocean, which gives to Great Britian Van Couver's Island. Article 2. Declares the . . .
Friday, June 19, 1846

Two weeks later from California--Arrival of the steamer Cherokee
The Cherokee's news is of considerable interest Among the items is the discovery of gold on Q.C.I. [Haida Gwaii], opposite the coast of Oregon, in latitude 54, belonging to Great Britian. It is confidentially stated that the gold is good, . . .
Monday, December 01, 1851

Good Indians. Speculations concerning those of Alaska.
An interesting account of the aborigines--a people worth looking after.
    The cold blooded maxim that the "only good Indians are dead Indians" does not apply to the natives [people] of Alaska. Whatever may be truly or erroneously stated of the tribes [people] east of the rocky mountains has small significance with respect to the dwellers on the west side.
    . . . Hydahs, who are exclusive occupants of Q.C.I. [Haida Gwaii], in latitude 51 degrees, but regards all other coast tribes [people] as of Asiatic origin. . . .
    One thing is certain, namely, that this remarkable tribe [Haida people] have physical and intellectual superiority over all the other north coast Indians [people], while marked contrasts in the structure of the language denote a different origin. . . .
Sunday, December 27, 1885

Art Among the Hydah Indians
    The Hydahs or Indians of the Q.C.I. [Haida Gwaii], off the north-east coast of North America, posses a very remarkable artistic skill. With a broken knife and a file for tools, they will carve pipes and statutes, and will construct jewelry from silver or gold coin, wonderful both in the execution and in the taste displayed in the design of the ornaments. . . .
Wednesday, February 23, 1870

Gold in British Columbia
It was first discovered on Q.C.I. in 1851.
    The first authenticated discovery of gold in B.C., according to Dr. G.M. Dawson, occured at Mitchell or Gold Harbor on the west coast of Q.C.I. [Haida Gwaii] in 1851, a nugget was brought to Fort Simpson, and coming into the possession of the officer in charge . . .
Monday, July 09, 1900

Hydah Land and its People
    Mountains clothed with dense forests of cedars, spruce and hemlock cover most of the surface of the country we are about to enter. . . .
    There origin, in the absence of any written record or historical inscriptions, is an interesting subject for speculation. . . . Their physical and intellectual superiority over the other north coast indian, also marked contrasts in the structure of their language, denote a different origin. . . . Massett, the principal and probably oldest village of the Hydah nation, is pleasantly situated on the north shore of Graham Island, at the entrance to Massett Inlet. Fifty houses, great and small, built of cedar logs and planks, with a forest of carved poles in front, extend along the beach. . .
Sunday, November 16, 1884

Summering in Alaska
The Siwashes and the Hydahs--Curios and How to Buy Them.    The thrifty Siwashes, which is the generic and common name for one of these people, and a corruption of the old French voyager's saurage, keeps his valuables stored in heavy cedar chests, or daudy red trucks, studded with brass nails, the latter costly . . .
Tuesday, October 07, 1884

New York Times

News clippings from the digital archives of the New York Times.

Proposed Purchase of Queen Charlotte's Islands. [PDF]
It was reported in San Francisco that an American company is in negotiation with the Governor of British Columbia for the purchase of Queen Charlotte's islands, on condition that the sovereignty be transferred to the United States. They lie immediately south of Russian America, and might be considered geographically a portion of that territory. These islands, three in number, extend about one hundred and fifty miles in length by about sixty miles in breadth. They posses several excellent harbors. At Mitchell Harbor, on the middle island, gold has been found embedded in quartz rock. Traces of silver have also been found. The interior of the islands is hilly and well wooded, the climate is healthy, and the soil remarkably fertile. The islands contain some beds of coal, and several fine specimens of lead and copper have been obtained.
August 13, 1867 - Front Page

THE QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS.; SOME FACTS REGARDING THE ISLAND TRIBES AND THEIR CUSTOMS. [PDF]
     OTTAWA, OTTAWA, Ontario, March 27. -- British Columbia and the northwest coast on the Pacific Ocean are inhabited by a number of tribes belonging to seven or eight linguistic stocks; and Dr. Dawson, in his report on the Queen Charlotte Islands, published by the Geological Survey not long ago, gives a most interesting description of the Haidas, one of the tribes, or families. The island tribes appear to be decreasing in numbers, while the coast tribes appear to be almost stationary. The former make fair stockmen, but are very poor; the latter are principally fisherman, and are fairly comfortable. The physical characteristics of the coast tribes are very uniform, which is probably due to the frequent intermarriage between various tribes. This has had a distinct effect upon the various languages, words borrowed from either being used by all. Many tribes of that district deform the heads of their children. In the northern part of Vancouver Island the natives use circular bandages, which give the head an extraordinary length.
      Further south a strong pressure is exerted on the crown of the head; a bandage is laid around it immediately behind the coronal suture, and a soft cushion is used for pressing down the forehead. The flatheads compress forehead and occiput by means of a board and hard cushion. Among many of the tribes a custom prevails of perforating the lower lips of the females, which, as they increase with age, gives a peculiarly repulsive appearance, and pendants weight down the lip. Earrings and anklets are also worn. Chief's daughters among some of the tribes have their incisors ground down to the gums by chewing a pebble of jute, the row of teeth thus assuming an arched form. Tattoing is practiced among the Haidas and some adjacent families, and scars at intervals on the body are an ornament of the Nootka Sound Indians.
     Horatio Hale, who has written very carefully an article on the Pacific Coast Indians, says: "I do not venture to describe any physical features as characteristics of one tribe or the other." He says the possibility of distinguishing individuals belonging to various tribes is principally due to the variety of artificial deformations. The fact that in honor of the arrival of friends, the house is swept and strewn with sand, and that the natives bathe, shows that cleanliness is appreciated. The Indian of that region, moreover, takes repreated baths before praying, "that he may be of agreeable smell to the Deity." Playing is not only considered undignified, but as actually bad, and in their language "to play" means to talk to no purpose, and doing anything "to no purpose" is contemptible to the Indian. Vanity and servility are the worst traits of character among them, and to be strong and able to endure the pangs of hunger is considered a great merit. Skill and daring and bravery are honored. The character of these Indians, on the whole, is sombre, and they are not given to emotions. Even their festivals have this character...
March 28, 1891 - Article

UNIDENTIFIED WRECK FOUND.; Ship Lies in a Bay in the Queen Charlotte Islands. [PDF]
April 30, 1900 - Front Page

PREFERS TO LIVE WITH INDIANS [PDF]
DECLARING city life of to-day fatal to the moral sense and averse to adjusting himself to conditions as he has found them in New York. Capt. Newton H. Chittenden, the first white man who explored the Queen Charlotte Islands, and famous as an archaeologist...
February 18, 1912 - Article

BRITISH COLUMBIA.; Latest from Fraser's River--Shipments of Gold--Expedition to Queen Charlotte's I... [PDF]
The news from British Columbia, by this arrival, is to May 14. The Victoria Gazette has the following: " Through the principals at WELLS, FARGO CO.'S and FREEMAN Co.'s, I have been shown the statement of the amount of gold dust shipped by their respective...
June 16, 1859 - Article

CANADA OPENING UP ITS NEW COUNTRY; $500,000,000 Being Spent in Transportation Facilities for Wester... [PDF]
$500 million being spent to open West . . .
      The Grand Truck Pacific Railway will also open to the world the valuable timber, coal, and mineral fields of the Queen Charlotte Islands, which stand out in the Pacific Ocean about 80 miles from Prince Rupert. Already these islands have been opened to Prince Rupert by lines of steamers, which make weekly trips. When the railroad is finished there will be an awakening of industries on the islands. The anthracite coal fields on the islands are said to be as abundant as any to be found, and the coal is of superior quality.
      "Queen Charlotte Islands are about 80 miles, and 40 miles in width. There is now a population of probably less than 2,000, most of which is located at Charlotte City. The inhabitants, excepting for a few hundred, are all indians [Haida], who engage in agricultural pursuits, and have their schools and stores. They are an industrious lot.
January 28, 1910 - Article

Wreck of the Quadra. [PDF]
May 29, 1892 - Article

IN THE INLAND PASSAGE; "THE TIMES'S" EXPEDITION ON THE WAY TO ALASKA. A THREE WEEKS' SAIL IN STILL ... [PDF]
      The inland passage to Alaska, as usually understood in the Northwest, does not commence until the waters of British Columbia are entered, though, as far as I could see, in a geographical sense, Puget, Sound, projecting . . .
      There is a race of Indians in British Columbia called the Haidas, or Hydahs, that used to make some marvelosly good imitations in steatite [argillite] of the Indian dwellings with their curious "totem poles," but they, too, are gone or at least I could find none. Sometimes they carve black steatite plaques with spread eagles and other fanciful designs upon them. They make rude but serviceable mats from the inner bark of the cedar tree, and all the knick knacks that can come from the barbaric ingenuity of Indian art.
July 26, 1886 - Article

AMERICA'S FIRST SETTLERS; They Came From Japan by the Japan Current or Bering Straits. JUDGE WICKER...  [PDF]
Judge J. Wickersham's Theories...
July 21, 1895 - Article

An Indian Village Burned. [PDF]
August 13, 1892 - Article

NOTES ON RUSSIAN AMERICA. [PDF]
The proposed purchase from Russia of her possessions on the Continent of North America must awaken some interest in the public mind relative to this almost unknown portion of the Continent. Should it become the property of the United States, the question ...
May 3, 1867 - Article

NOTES ON RUSSIAN AMERICA. [PDF]
II. From Puget Sound in Washington Territory, to Bhering's Straits, a distance of nearly 1,000 mles, the whole coast is thickly studded with an archipelago of islands of all sorts and sizes, from that of Vancouver down to some of only a few hundred yards ...
May 4, 1867 - Article

Lyceum of Natural History.; PRESENTATION OF EXHIBITION OF SPECIMENS OF INSECTS, FISH, &C. [PDF]
. . . The Eulachon is a very fine fish, related to the Salmon, but of small size. It is found in vast shoals from the Straits of Fuca northward; being most abundant, it is said, near the mouth of Nass River, at 54"°;"40' N. As an edible fish it surpasses all the other small salt water kinds in excellence of flavor, richness and delicacy. Large numbers are preserved by the Indians for Winter consumption, and many are salted by the white settlers, who esteem them highly. They are so fat usually, that when dried the Indians frequently use them in lieu of candles, as they burn, when set on end, with a clear bright flame. . . .
June 27, 1860 - Article

FROM THE PACIFIC COAST.; Arrival of the Northern Light and the Pony Express. $2,055,368 in Treasure...  [PDF]
The news from Vancouver's Island announces a fight at Cape Mudge, on the shore of the Gulf of Georgia, between 400 Hydah Indians and the British gunboat Forward.
     The British Colonist publishes the following account of the engagement:
     Capt. ROBSON sent Mr. HORN and Mr. GOUGH, of Nanaimo, ashore, and requested that they would deliver up the property stolen from Salt Spring Island and Victoria.
     The Indians refused, and attempted to seize the messengers, who, however, made their escape aboard.
     The Hydahs, who numbered 400, fired several muskets at the gunboat, and Capt. ROBSON fired a shot over their heads, to which they replied by firing several volleys.
     One of the gunboat's people was shot in the leg.
     A discharge of grape shot was then sent among them, and they scattered to the woods, firing as they went.
     The fight then became general. The rifle-plates of the gunboat were raised, and the men placed behind them, poured volley after volley into the Indians, which they replied to briskly.
     After twenty minutes' firing the savages raised a flag of truce, and two of their tyhees came on board. They were put in irons.
     The next morning the canoes were searched, and an immense quantity of stolen property was recovered.
     Mr. CLARKE, gunner, says he saw two dead bodies ashore, and seven Indians mortally wounded. A great many were slightly wounded. The Indians were burying their dead in the morning, and it is thought a large number were killed.
July 4, 1861 - Article

HAIDA TOTEMS AND THEIR MEANINGS. [PDF]
AN interesting collection of totems has just been added to the exhibits of the American Museum of Natural history....
    A totem that recalls a Greek story is especially interesting. A ravaging monster of the sea was fought against and slain by a man. A fabulous bird lent its assistance to the man, and they succeeded in entraping the monster by means of children used as bait to lure him into a path where a great log was prepared to fall upon him.
November 3, 1901 - Article

INDIAN VILLAGE OF KASA-AN; IS SOUTHEASTERN ALASKA ON THE SHORES OF THE SKOWE ARM. Curious Carvings ...  [PDF]
One of the most interesting places in Southeastern Alaska is the Indian village of Kasa-an, situated on the shores of the Skowe Arm, one of the inland passages with which this part of Alaska is so liberally canaled. This place is out of the track of vesse...
November 19, 1893 - Article

IN THE INLAND PASSAGE; "THE TIMES'S" EXPEDITION ON THE WAY TO ALASKA. A THREE WEEKS' SAIL IN STILL ...  [PDF]
The inland passage to Alaska, as usually understood in the Northwest, does not commence until the waters of British Columbia are entered, though, as far as I could see, in a geographical sense, Puget, Sound, projecting ......
July 26, 1886 - Article

THE INDIANS OF ALASKA; A GLANCE AT A PEOPLE WHO ARE LITTLE KNOWN. THLINKETS--SPECULATION AS TO THEI...  [PDF]
SITKA, Aug.--.--Not the least intersting features of a cruise through the beautiful green islands of the Alaska coast are the constant opportunities affordod for studying the daily life of the Indians inhabiting the region....
    The Haidas are intelligent, quick to learn and adopt civilized ways, and skilled in the arts and crafts. All the other tribes say that the Haidas are not of the same origin, and though they have the same customs, familiar spirits, totemic system, and arts, there is a difference in their language.
November 23, 1884 - Article

Condition of the Population

Economic conditions, so often overlooked, played a significant part in the decrease in numbers of the Haida people in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. After the extermination of the sea-otter in the early years of that century, no new commercial traffic of any importance came to take its place. A small trade in potatoes, fish and various land furs with the Hudson's Bay did a little to avert the coming tragedy, but the Haida people steadily grew poorer and fewer in numbers. The first missionaries who went among them in the seventies admitted that the introduction of the white man's civilization had increased the cost of living for the Haida people and had yet supplied no new means of revenue. Epidemics of smallpox and measles carried off tremendous numbers. Pulmonary diseases, to which the people had no natural resistance, were later to take a terrible toll. Worst of all was the decimation of the people by the demoralizing contacts with the lower elements in the white settlements. In their eager search for the coveted rum, boat-loads of Haida men constantly resorted to Victoria, or to Wrangell or Sitka to the north. Here they freely sold their women to a life of prostitution. Whole villages on their islands were almost completely deserted. Scattered along the coasts, mouldering and collapsing, "great house" with their totem poles still standing in ranks before them bore melancholy witness to the passing of a sturdy race of people.

Skidegate Cemetary, Haida Gwaii 1916

John Work, while acting as Hudson's Bay Company factor at Fort Simpson, made an estimate of the population of Haida Gwaii by villages, covering the years 1836 to 1841. His figure was 6,593 people, and it is likely that even at this date the number of inhabitants would have decreased substantially. Work's long residence in the North and his familiarity with the Haida make it seem likely that his figures would be reliable. By 1878 Collison, the resident missionary at Massett, reckoned there were no more than 2,000 Haidas left. This figure included as well all those who lived most of the time away from their Haida villages. Fifty years later a census gave the Haida population of Haida Gwaii as under 700, largely concentrated in the two remaining villages of Massett and Skidegate. By 1938 the number of white settlers stood at nearly 1,000 while the number of Haida has risen to 750.

The Haida of Haida Gwaii never signed a treaty with the Canadian government, and have always considered the immigrants as trespassers. The assimilation and enfranchisement policies included:  Indian Act 1876, Banning the Potlatch 1884, Infected Blankets, Use of Residential Schools , and later on, the 60s scoop. These policies all contributed to the deculturation of the Haida, which nearly silenced a language, and nearly exterminated a people and their history.

In 1884 Canada outlawed or banned the Potlatch until 1951, this had a huge political impact and destroyed the right to self-governance for many native people on the Northwest Coast including the Haida. For many years, the Canadian government called Haida Gwaii, the Queen Charlotte Islands.

In 1866 Susan Kihid Lai Gaaa t'a.angee Smith was born into the Tsiij Git'anee Clan to Ta'ow King Ung Duus (her mother) and passed away in 1926. Susan Smith had ten kids, 4 boys and 6 girls. Mary Louisa Dixon was born in 1910 on Fraser Island in Haida Gwaii. She and her brother and sisters lost their father, Herbert Smith, when he left in the Steamer "Beaver" to Victoria. He never came back. So Nonni (Haida word for grandmother) Mary Louisa Dixon composed a song which she sang and played at every opportunity, called the Steamboat Song. You can Listen to her singing on YouTube. Nonni Mary Louisa Dixon attended Residential School, had 5 boys, and 5 girls, lived to the age of 89 and buried in Skidegate.

Some of Louisa's children also attended residential school which not only destroyed their self-esteem growing up, it damaged their language use, traditions, values, and cultural identity. There were many other hazards they had to face as well, such as physical and sexual abuse, separation from family, and alienation from their culture.

Even after the near extermination, the population of the Haida people has prevailed. Some migrating back to the islands from Alaska after the epidemics peak and from elsewhere. It would appear then that the Haida people had passed the critical point in this history and were beginning to increase in numbers once again.

Christian Missions on Haida Gwaii, 1829-1897

The first contact, slight though it was, between a Christian missionary and an inhabitant of Haida Gwaii took place in 1829. In that year the Reverend Johnathan S. Green, acting under the instructions of the Purdential Committee of the American Board of Foreign Missions, sailed to the North-west Coast of America aboard the barque "Volunteer." This journey was made in order to study the needs of the inhabitants and to determine the best location for a mission center. Although Mr. Green did not yet set foot on Haida Gwaii, and his description of the country as "level, fruitful, delightful" was based solely on the view he obtained of Graham Island as his ship coasted southward from Rose Spit to Skidegate Inlet, he did manage, through his contact with a Haida person while on the Mainland (Kassan), to compile a vocabulary of some seven hundred Haida words. In concluding his report, however, Mr. Green suggested the mouth of the Columbia Rivere was the best site for a permanent American mission. Nearly half a century was to pass before a Christian Mission was established among the Haida.

In an indirect way the British Navy was responsible for the introduction of Christianity to the Haida people. In 1853, when the gold furore was beginning to die down, H.M.S. Virago spent some time in Virago Sound and in the entrance to Massett Inlet. Her commander, Captain James C. Prevost, was at that time much impressed by the fine physique and apparent intelligence of the Haida people, but he saw only too clearly how they were  being demoralized and their numbers decimated by drunkeness and perpetual intertribal warfare. When he returned to England in 1856, Captain Prevost made these conditions known to the Church Missionary Society. The result was that on his return to Victoria in H.M.S. Satellite in 1857 he brought out with him, with the consent of the Admirality, a young man, William Duncan, who was to be the first missionary on the North Pacific Coast. It was from the famous mission established some years later at Metlakatla by Father Duncan (for by that name he was known and long remembered in the North) that the missionary movement spread to Haida Gwaii.

In 1873 the Society in England sent out W.H. Collison and his wife to act as assistants to William Duncan at Metlakatla. Mrs. Collison had nursed the wounded on battlefields in the Franco-Prussian War and was therefore well fitted for her task as the first white woman social worker in the North, and her skill in caring for the sick and injured greatly aided the missionary cause. In 1874 Collison saw his first Haida fleet approaching Metlakatla, "40 canoes each with two snowy white tails spread." Here were the reputed Vikings of the North, feared and hated by the Mainland people, but he was soon to go among them as their first white teacher.

Massett, Haida Gwaii, 1874

In his book, "In the Wake of the War Canoe," Rev. Collison tells of his initial journey to Massett in a Haida canoe. He describes vividly the dangers and beauties of that voyage:--

"The following morning, Wednesday, 8th of June, I was aroused from a sound slumber at about three o'clock a.m., before it was quite light. My Indian [Haida] crew was already on the alert, and informed me that the wind was blowing freshly off shore and was favourable and likely to increase.

After a hasty meal I commended myself and crew to the care and guidance of our Heavenly Father, and soon we were standing off with a "full sheet and a flowing sea." As the wind increased the sea arose and threatened to engulf our frail bark in its yawning depths. In six hours we had lost all sight of land, and even the mountain tops had disappeared. 

None of us were able to retain our seats on the thwarts, nor would it have been well to have done so, as they are only sewn to the sides of the canoe with thongs of cedar withes, and might easily have been given way under the increased strain. In addition she rode better with the ballast low down, consequently all save the steersman had to remain huddled up in the bottom of the canoe.

An occasional wave broke over us, which kept us all on the alert, and soon all four of our young sailors were seized with that dread ailment mal de mer. I, together with my steersman and bowman, remained  unaffected for which I felt thankful, as it required all our efforts to keep our frail craft afloat.

. . . continuing our journey we soon found ourselves off Rose Spit, which is a long and dangerous sand bar extending for several miles seaward from the north-eastern point of Graham Island, the largest of Q.C.I [Haida Gwaii] group. This great sand-spit, which has always been regarded by the Haidas as the abode of some powerful "Nok-nok" or spirit of evil, has evidently been formed by the tides and storms from the west and south meeting here, and thus continually adding to the bank of sand . . . We effected a landing on the islands at about 4:30 p.m., and, having been cramped up in the canoe for thirteen hours, we were glad to be able to stretch our limbs on the island shore.

I realized the importance of my visit, being the first messenger of the Gospel to the Haidas, and whilst my crew were engaged in lighting a fire and preparing some food, I seized the opportunity to enter the forest, and there in faith I bowed and entrusted the work on which we were about to enter to the Divine guidance and blessing.

This was my first visit to Q.C.I. [Haida Gwaii] by canoe. I made the passage seventeen times by canoe, and on three of these voyages we were well-nigh lost."

In October, 1876, with his small family, Rev. Collison embarked in the Hudson's Bay Company's steamer "Otter" for Massett on the distant islands. Under the most primitive conditions he and Mrs. Collison began their struggle with the medicine-men, who sinister influence in the villages was so hard to control. In 1877 Skidegate and Gold Harbor were visited and the first church services held there. Among the first converts at Massett was Chief Edenshaw's son, Cowhoe, as was called in the Haida tongue. Collison tells the story of how the young man one day approached him. This story was also told by a Reverend C. Harrison who wrote about the mission's history. Cowhoe had apparently kept a book given to him by Captain James C. Prevost, and showed it to Reverend Collison.  Collison then tells of how the young man learned to read, how he was baptized and given the name of George, and how finally he became the first native teacher in the Massett Day School. A daughter of Collison's was the first white child born on the islands, and twenty years later she, with her brother, returned to work among the people to whom her father had been the first to bring the message of Christianity.

When Collison was recalled to Metlakatla, his place on Haida Gwaii was taken by George Sneath, who was in turn followed by the Reverend Charles Harrison. Harrison wrote a report, "The Hydah Mission," describing his stay in Massett. Harrison remained at this post until 1890, and during that time the church, St. John the Evangelist, was built at Massett. After spending two years in England and on the Continent, Harrison came back to Haida Gwaii, this time as a landholder. For many years he was a kind of unofficial ambassador for Haida Gwaii and wrote many articles,  dealing with their unlimited possibilities for the development of farming and other industries.

The first Methodist mission was begun in Skidegate as an offshoot of the one established at Fort Simpson some years before by the Reverend Thomas Crosby. The people of Skidegate, seeing how the Tsimshians were prospering under the Christian influence, sent a young Haida man (Gedanst, later renamed Amos Russ) to Fort Simpson to ask for a teacher. It was a serious wish of Gedanst to learn English so that he might improve the lot of his people. In the case of many of the young men the chief desire was to acquire the ability to read and write in order to add to their own prestige or power.

Gold Harbor, Haida Gwaii, 1884

This the missionaries realized, just as they knew that their first converts came from the despised and outcast members of the north-west coast peoples who saw in the new faith a hope and release from their life of bondage. Hence the fierce opposition the earliest missionaries met with from the chiefs and nearly all the medicine-men. These tribal leaders knew that under the democratic spirit of Christianity their powers would be greatly diminished. The missionary at Fort Simpson found the request of Gedanst hard to refuse, and yet the methodist Mission had no funds with which to send a teacher or minister to Skidegate. But George Robinson, a teacher in the Port Simpson School, volunteered to go as a lay preacher on no regular salary until such time as an ordained man could be found. As soon as Gedant (Amos Russ) had received sufficient instruction in English and in the Bible, he went to Gold Harbor and commenced a school; from there he went to the little village of Clue, while his place at Gold Harbor was taken by a native Tsimshian teacher, George Edgar, who was afterwards ordained. Robinson was succeeded at Skidegate by the Reverend G. F. Hopkins, and he in turn by the Reverend A. N. Miller. In 1893 the Reverend B.C. Freeman took over the charge at Skidegate, and that same year the little church at Gold Harbor, which had been built by gifts of blankets, was taken down and removed to the larger village. Here in 1897, the villagers of Clue also joined them, the church as enlarged, and all became part of the village of Skidegate.

Mission schools, where secular instruction in English was given, were a part of the mission plan from its inception. These, at first attended by adults and children at different times, did much to counteract the influence of superstition. Progress was at all times retarded by the nomadic habits of these people. As a result, residential institutes and homes were finally established where the care and teaching of the young could be continued during the time their parents were necessarily absent from the villages for the hunting or fishing seasons. []

Early Coastal Surveys

The actual surveys of the island began with the arrival of Captain George Vancouver, in his sloop "Discovery" and armed tender "Chatham." Captain Vancouver's explorations on the Pacific were to occupy nearly three years. In July 1793, he sailed northward between Haida Gwaii and the mainland, sighting them several times in the distance. In September he was again in their vicinity, and coasting down the west shore he made observations and outlined the general contour. The navigators were to too great a distance, however, to allow for a more exact delineation, nor had they the time to make a complete sketch of the numerous bays and inlets. The sketch Captain Vancouver was able to make did not consider sufficiently accurate to be depended on, yet the first charts made by Admiralty in later years were based chiefly on his surveys. In the years 1852 to 1866 a number of the larger inlets and bays were charted: Port Kuper during the visit of "H.M.S. Thetis" in 1852; Cumshewa Inlet by Captain T. Sinclair of the Hudson's Bay Company; Virago sound, the entrance to Massett Inlet, and Houston Stewart Channel in 1853 when "H.M.S. Virago" visited those sections of the coast; and Skincuttle Inlet in 1862 by the officers of "H.M.S. Hecate." Skidegate Inlet was surveyed in part by D. Pender as part of his extensive charting of the whole coast in 1866.

The Wreck of the Vancouver

Rose Spit was again to take its toll on coastal shipping in August, 1854, when the Hudson's Bay brigantine "Vancouver" was wrecked. She was a comparatively new vessel, having only arrived at Victoria from England the previous May. Under command of Captain James M. Reid, the "Vancouver" went on the spit in a great gale and it was found impossible to float her. A messenger was sent to Fort Simpson, and Captain Charles Dodd was dispatched to the scene in the steamer Beaver. Though the Haida people claimed the wreck, Captain Reid, no doubt recalling the difficulties arising from the loss of the first "Vancouver" at this same spot, set fire to her.

A letter from W.H. McNeill from Fort Simpson to the Board of Management of the Company at Victoria again gives details of this fresh disaster:--

Rose Spit point

"The Vancouver is now no more, she was run on shore on Point Rose Spit early on the morning of the 13th inst. going Seven knots. Mr. Swanson and Griffin arrived here on the 15th with the astounding news about 10 a.m. The Steamer Beaver was fortunately lying here with 25 cords wood on deck waiting the arrival of a vessel with supplies. Captain Dodd ordered the steam to be got up immediately, and started at 2 p.m. for the unfortunate Vancouver and arrived at the scene of trouble at about 10 p.m. The steamer arrived back here on the 18th late in the evening having on board Captain Reid, his officers and crew. All the Powder, six cases Guns, a fur Bale and cases of sundries and some of the stores an account of which is now sent. I will not enter into details as Captain Dodd and Reid will be with you to inform of all particulars . . . I must mention that after all had been done possible to save the "Vancouver," Captain Reid set fire to her, as he says she was breaking up and the Sea making a complete breach over her. The Indians [Haida people] had begun to plunder and break up the vessel. Those Massetts again, as it was they gave some annoyance. It is now time that this Edenso and his gang were punished." []

The Wreck of the Susan Sturgis

Before the gold-fever had entirely died out, Rose Spit, always a serious hazard to ships passing around it on their way either to or from Massett Inlet, claimed another victim. An American vessel from San Francisco, the "Susan Sturgis," visited Haida Gwaii for the purposes of trade in the fall of 1852. On her way from Skidegate to Massett she grounded on the spit, and her crew were captured by some people from a Massett village who plundered the vessel and finally burnt her. She was report to have on board $1,500 in gold and silver as well as a complete trading outfit, all of which fell into the hand of the Haida people. When the news was brought to Fort Simpson, the Hudson's Bay officers there dispatched a canoe to bring the crew to safety. As the men were all prisoners in the hands of the people of Massett, the Company was forced to ransom them. They were later sent on to Fort Victoria by the steamer "Beaver."

Haida Village of Yan, abandon after 1881

W.H. McNeill, then Chief Trader at Fort Simpson, explained the circumstances of the wreck in a letter to the Company's headquarters at Victoria:--

"For the Captain and his men we have been obliged to pay Indian Goods etc. as per Account now forwarded. They were all completely naked when they came here, we of course had to clothe them from head to foot and rationed them the same as our own men . . . the number of distressed Crews and Interlopers who have come upon us this year for Supplies of every kind will be a considerable item in our expedition. I hope no fault will be found with our doings on these occasions."

This incident reveals how the Company in those days acted as a bulwark against outbreaks of violence before the regular machinery of government was in actual operation in the north. Their policy at all times was to "save face" for the white man and to rescue any and all Europeans who fell into the hands of the Haida people. The Massett people at that time had a bad reputation, for they made slaves of all captives. Thirty years later some of the Haida people still had in their possession iron cables and an American Spread Eagle made of oak. This was presented to a Harvard student then visiting Massett on the understanding that it would be placed in the Harvard Museum. []

Gold Discoveries

Perhaps the earliest mention of minerals being discovered in the Islands is to be found in a letter of Dr. McLoughlin's headed "Fort Vancouver, 7th, Sept. 1833" and addressed to the London office of the Hudson's Bay Company. With the letter Dr. McLoughlin sent a small box containing a piece of mineral found on the Islands with this commentary: "Dr. Gairdner has examined it, as well as the limited means of the place would admit and finds it to contain Lead, Sulphur, Arsenic, Mercury, and a small portion of silver; if found valuable, great quantities might be procured as it is so abundant that the people here melt it into Balls and buy none from us."

James Douglas,
Englefield Bay

The next up-rush of interest in the mineral possibilities of Haida Gwaii was not to come for another eighteen years. By that time the gold-fever was at its height in California.  It was soon to seize the imagination of great numbers of men and carry them to the little known regions of the northern parts of the continent. In that "rush" Haida Gwaii was to share. Twice in his short tenure of office as Governor of Vancouver's Island, Richard Blanshard made reports to Her Majesty's Government telling of the presence of gold in Haida Gwaii. His successor in office, James Douglas, in October 1851, wrote to Early Grey, Secretary of State for the Colonies, to acknowledge the honor of the governorship just bestowed on him, makes mention of the great interest being aroused in the Colony by the discovery of gold on Haida Gwaii.

"I have further to inform your Lordship that the natives here have discovered Gold . . . on the west coast of Q.C.I. One of the Hudson's Bay Company's vessels visited the spot in the month of July last, and succeeded in procuring about sixty ounces of gold, principally by barter from the natives. One lump of nearly pure gold weighing one pound eleven ounces was seen in possession of one native, who demanded a price far beyond its value so that is was not purchased. The gold is associated with white quartz rock, similar to that of the auriferous deposits in California, it is yet found in small quantities, but I am of opinion that it exists abundantly in that and other parts of the Islands."

Ever mindful of the affairs of state and the welfare of both the Colony and his Company, Douglas added:--

"The report of that discovery having become known in this country, I am informed that several American vessels are fitting out in the columbia for Q.C.I. for the purpose of digging gold--a circumstance to which I would request Your Lordship's attention, as it may be the desire of Government to exclude foreign vessels from that part of the coast."

Further stories kept coming in to the rather primitive headquarters of Her Majesty's Government at Fort Victoria. A Haida man from the islands was reported to have brought to Victoria some coarse gold dust which he claimed to have found near his village. Several American vessels had touched at the little port, bound for the new gold-fields. It occurred to Douglas that they might even plunder the Company's isolated posts in the north. In December he again wrote to the Colonial office concerning the feared American inundation requesting immediate measures be taken to restrain the subjects of the United states and other foreign vessels from approaching Haida Gwaii.

In the meantime the Hudson Bay Company officers decided to investigate the reports on their own account. In the spring of 1851 Chief Factor John Work made the trip from Fort Simpson to Haida Gwaii in a native canoe. In July he made a second visit in the brigantine "Una" under the command of William Mitchell. This time he took with him a sufficient number of workmen to make a more thorough investigation of the quartz veins in the vicinity of what is now known as Gold Harbor.

In order not to alarm the Haida people, they went as traders, using as much secrecy as possible to cover their real purpose.

After much searching they found the outcroppings of a quartz ledge which showed free gold. At this point, however, they were forced to leave owing to the menacing attitude of the Haida people. In October of the same year a third attempt was made to ascertain the extent and richness of these gold deposits. This time the Una carried Chief Trader W. H. McNeill and a group of workmen with blasting equipment. Although a quantity of ore was retrieved and placed on board the Una, the continued hostility of the Haida people again forced a withdrawal, and the expedition returned to Fort Simpson. In his report to Governor Douglas, Captain McNeill stated:--

". . . that gold is to be found in [sufficient] quantities at Gold Harbor alone to pay an expedition to go there and work it."

Returning to Victoria with the ore on board, the Una was wrecked and sank in Neah Bay near Cape Flattery. The amount of gold thus lost has been variously stated, some maintaining it was between $20,000 and $75,000 worth. In all probability it was the most that ever was to be taken from the gold mines of Haida Gwaii.

Undaunted by the loss of their ship, the Company, the next year, again sent out an expedition, in their schooner "Recovery", this time with a large force of men to act as sentries and to repel the Haida attacks. In spite of these precautions the Haida people managed to make themselves a great hindrance to the mining operations. They collected in great numbers at the scene of the work and at every blast scrambled with the miners to obtain the best specimens of ore. American adventurers arriving at Gold Harbor and, finding it pre-emptied by the Hudson Bay Company, spread out in all directions over Haida Gwaii in search of other veins, but had little success. The gold-rush to Haida Gwaii was soon on the wane. Its chief influence on the history of that territory lies in the attitude taken to it by the Colonial Office.

In reply to Governor Douglas' first inquiry concerning the possibility of excluding all foreigners from Haida Gwaii, the Colonial Office replied that the Governor would not be justified by law in resorting to such a measure. In the meantime Douglas had appealed for naval protection for Haida Gwaii, and on June 22, 1852, Captain Kuper, in H.M.S. Thetis, arrived at Esquimalt and during the summer spent some time in the vicinity of Gold Harbor making sketches of the area. This was a step toward bringing Haida Gwaii under the jurisdiction of the Crown, and in a letter dated, "Fort Victoria, Aug 2, 1852," Douglas expresses his gratification at this fulfilment of his wishes:--

"I observe with much satisfaction that you have directed the attention of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to the subject of stationing a vessel of war off Q.C.I. for the support of national rights and the protection of Her Majesty's subjects trading to that quarter."

The most important step was soon taken. Later in August, Downing Street addressed a letter to the Governor Douglas which in part, read:--

"I have to inform you that Her Majesty's Government, having taken into their serious consideration the measures which the discovery of gold in Q.C.I. seems to require for the protection of British rights and the preservation of order, have determined on furnishing you with a commission . . . as Lieutenant-Governor of that settlement. You will distinctly understand that Her Majesty's Government have no intention to sanction by this instrument the impression that they may have any design of colonizing the country, or placing any establishment in it. The Commission is issued solely to meet the circumstances of the times. It conveys to you no power to make laws, or constitute a regular government but it gives the party bearing it a position of authority as representing Her Majesty's Government in the district, which is both important and valuable."

In reply to this communication, Douglas wrote from Victoria on March 7th, 1853:--

"I have received Her Majesty's Commission, appointing me Lieutenant Governor of Q.C.I., with certain limited executive powers as therein described and while I return thanks for this high mark of confidence, which I shall endeavour to exercise for the honor and advantage of the Crown, I cannot forbear expressing a feeling of diffidence in my ability to discharge the duties of another Office involving a serious amount of labour and responsibility while I have no assistance whatever in the administration of public affairs."

Douglas' fears regarding the added burden of being Lieutenant-Governor of the new territory were ungrounded. Though he was empowered to grant mining licenses and in March, 1853, proclaimed the Crown's ownership of all the metals in Haida Gwaii, no licenses were ever issued. Very soon the new gold-rush to the Fraser River and Cariboo extinguished the few remaining sparks of interest in the gold-fields of Haida Gwaii.[]