Writing about local history in a place where it is still very much alive...

I'm going to deviate from my normal history columns to say a quick word about my home on Northern Vancouver Island for those of you who may stumble upon this blog because you were searching out some information on a place to go camping or fishing.

When I first moved to the North Island in 2001 I was interested in local history and, apart from a couple of books which referenced Cape Scott (but were out of print), Sointula, or family history stories from Port Hardy, I found there was very little accessible information.

The more I looked into the history, the more fascinated I became.  

The first European settlement was on the North Island's West Coast, at Friendly Cove, and that small settlement almost caused a war between Spain and England.

When trading started in earnest the power and ceremony of North Island First Nations was legendary, and led to federal policies in Canada which banned one of the most prolific cultural practices by local First Nations, the potlatch.

When Europeans arrived on Vancouver Island, they first traded by ship in areas like Shushartie Bay.  Fort Rupert, in the greater Port Hardy area, is the second longest settlement of Europeans on Vancouver Island, behind only Fort Victoria.

Many of the families who live on the North Island today can count local First Nations and early settlers to the area as their relatives.  It has been overwhelming to see how many North Island families alone have descended from the Hunt family, who purchased Fort Rupert when it was divested by the Hudson's Bay Company.

As an amateur historian, cobbling together information from a variety of sources (government records, articles, books, personal interviews, archives, etc,) to tell the history of this area is a humbling experience, when to many of my neighbours the history of the North Island is their story.

Publishing an article in the North Island Gazette, preparing a presentation for the local museum, or chatting with an old timer have always worried me.  I don't want to get something wrong and misrepresent this area and its people. 

I am gratified to say, that after more then ten years of information collecting, muddling through, and voracious reading, I am still gratified every time a local old-timer approaches me in the Post Office and thanks me for a recent article.

I am so pleased to live on the North Island and to have the honour of the trust of local people to help collect information about the truly incredible history of this amazing place.