Pioneers persevered at Strandby

Originally published in the North Island Gazette March 22, 2006.

With the construction of the North Coast Trail many people have been introduced to the beautiful rugged wilderness of the North end of Vancouver Island.

Most will not realize that in the early part of the twentieth century, almost every cove along this part of the coast was inhabited by rugged individuals who lived in near total isolation under trying conditions.

The North Coast of the Island was at one time home to the Nahwetti First Nation, and is today claimed as the traditional territory of both the Quatsino and the Tlatlasikwala First Nations.

A surveyor's report from November 1892 identifies 'Cache Creek' as the watershed to the East of the Cape Scott area.  Apparently fishermen would cache belongings in this cove while they made their way offshore to their fishing grounds. Gold and fool's gold were both found on the banks of an adjacent "Irony Creek," and on the beach.

Soren Christainsen was the first to homestead at the mouth of Cache Creek in the 1890s.  His sister Marie arrived in 1903 and helped him to take care of his home.  Soren Hill is named for this early settler.

In 1905 Harry Shuttleworth homesteaded to the west of Cache Creek.  He married Christiansen's sister in 1908.  The Shuttleworths farmed and raised 30 head of cattle which were pastured under the large old growth trees of the rainforest.

The year 1911 was a busy one in Cache Creek.  James Sim pre-empted a quarter section, and he and his wife Jesse and their twin babies walked all of their belongings along a trail to their homestead.  Harry Shuttleworth's brother Robert, his wife Sarah, and their five children also arrived.  A friend of the Shuttleworths, Tom Lockwood, also arrived with his family.

In December of that year the Sim's home burned down and the family lost everything.  Locals helped them to build another house, but the possessions which the family had brought with them from Scotland were all lost.

In March 1911 a post office was established with Harry Shuttleworth as postmaster, but the community was not allowed to use the name Cache Creek, because there was already a Cache Creek in BC.  Marie (Christiansen) Shuttleworth suggested that the community be named after Strandby, the town of her childhood on the North East shore of Denmark.

In 1912 another three families arrived in the area, and the following year a school opened in the Sim's residence.

A small store also operated in the community.  Strandby had approximately 14 families as permanent residents at the is time, and a trail was constructed from Strandby to Nahwitti.  With no steamer service and no road to connect it to other communities on the North Island, life in Strandby was difficult.  Settlers were stuck in the wilderness for months at a time, and had to rely on their ingenuity to survive.

With the outbreak of the Great War many people left their homesteads to enlist or to join the war effort.  

Strandby existed until 1921, but the population steadily dwindled.  Soren Christiansen died in 1915 and was buried on the hill overlooking the bay.

James Sim lived on "The Stump Ranch" until 1938, and afterward continued to visit the area.

Marie and Henry Shuttleworth lived in Strandby until their deaths in 1938 and 1941. They are buried in the Anglican cemetery in Alert Bay.

In 1947 the Hydrographic Service recommended identifying the location of the now abandoned town site as Stranby, for the old townsite and post office.

The name stuck until local historian Ruth Botel noted the discrepancy in spelling, and in 2005 the name was officially changed back to Strandby.

Allison Harbour

This article originally appeared in the North Island Gazette December 23, 2014.

Allison Harbour lies across Queen Charlotte Straight, near the entrance to Nakwakto Rapids, at the entrance to Seymour Inlet.  It is within the traditional territories of the ’Nakwaxda’xw Nation.

In the early 1900s Seymour Inlet was a busy place for hand-loggers, with small camps dotting the inlet.  Steamships and barges preferred not to negotiate the tidal rapids, one of the highest flows of tidal exchange in the world, and protected Allison Harbour became an important transportation hub.

Originally called False Bay, or False Schooner Passage, Allison Harbour was officially named after a coastal logging entrepreneur, A.P. Allison in 1950.   It had been known by that name since the 1920s.

In 1924 a detailed marine survey was done of Allison Harbour and an official chart released.  This was important due to the reefs which posed a hazard to ships entering the cove.

A post office was established in the Harbour in 1927, and the float community also became a steamship stop, serviced by the Union Steamship Company vessel Chelosin (colloquially known as the “Charlie Olsen”). In the late 1920s Mr. and Mrs. Bellam operated a bunkhouse in Allison Harbour.  A small café also operated in the area. In 1937 Percy Sutherland was appointed the local commissioner for the provincial election.

Vic and Melva Eckstein moved to Allison Harbour in 1947 to take over the post office, store and a marine service station.  They later added a sawmill to the operations.  All of the buildings were on floats.  They, and an old trapper, were the sole occupants of the harbour for many years.  They were always optimistic that a boom was coming for the area, however in 1954 when float plane service made the Allison Harbour steamship stop obsolete, the Ecksteins moved to Gibsons, and the little community of Allison Harbour began its decent into obscurity.

 

EJ Hughes painting, "The Store at Allison Harbour" 1955.

Well known Canadian painter E.J. Hughes (1913 – 2007) painted “The Store at Allison Harbour” in 1955.  In 2007 the painting sold for $245,700.  It is currently owned by collector Jacques Barbeau, and is on display at Micheal Audain’s museum in Whistler.

In 1965 transport companies started delivering freight directly to logging camps in Seymour Inlet, and the last remaining vestiges of the settlement were soon abandoned.

More recently, the provincial government and The Land Conservancy jointly purchased a tract of privately owned land in Allison Harbour, and in 2008 BC approved the ‘Class A’ Allison Harbour Marine Park, which includes 89 hectares of land and 43 hectares of foreshore.  It is a part of the larger Ug^w iwa’/Cape Caution Conservancy.  The management plan states that there are remnants of an old cannery building in Allison Harbour, although I have not been able to find any references stating a cannery was in operation in this location.

Last year the University of British Columbia Collections used Allison Harbour as an example of a place in BC for which is it very hard to find any historic information.  There is an "Allison Harbour Room" in the Barber Building at UBC (room 263).  If your family has any photos or information on Allison Harbour please contact me.

"Old Ned" of Quatsino Sound and the Limestone (Drake) Island Hotel and Saloon

Published in the North Island Gazette November 27, 2014.

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. Pamphlet Cove on its North shore was originally named Quiet Cove.

Edward (Ned) Frigon was born in Maurice or St. Prosper, Quebec, somewhere between 1829 and 1834. As a young man Frigon left a young family to seek riches in the California gold rush. He took a boat to Panama, walked across the isthmus, and then took another boat to San Francisco, where he stayed for three years before travelling on to Fort Victoria.

Frigon appears to have travelled to Germansen Creek in the Quesnel area from 1868-70 with members of his extended family.

At Fort Victoria he amassed enough money to buy a basic stock of trading provisions. He then set up a trading post in Bull Harbour, 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 1902 Frigon was identified as holding a mining claim known as Eureka on the Ingersol River.

Central Hotel on the move - VPL archives 14132A

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.

Central Hotel - Limestone Island, Quiet Cove
VPL Accession Number: 14132

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.

Thanks to Tim Woodland who found this great correspondence from the Central Hotel to one if its suppliers.

A history column in the North Island Gazette in 1974 noted that Frigon a number of wives, one of whom threatened him at knifepoint. His last wife was Lucy Moon, who gained notoriety as "the last of the longheads”, a reference to a local practice of binding the heads of girl babies which at one time was common among the Quatsino First Nation.

Frigon was known as a character in Quatsino Sound who everyone knew as Old Ned. He died near Port Alice in about 1917. Frigon’s estate was probated in Cumberland in 1922, and despite his many entrepreneurial business ventures his net worth was valued at $600, including $100 cash and 34 acres which were bequeathed to his wife.
The Frigon Islands near Port Alice are named after Edward Frigon.

*Photos included were taken by Ben Leeson and were graciously provided by Gwen Hansen from the Quatsino Museum.

Ba'as - A village at Blunden Harbour

Published in the North Island Gazette October 23, 2014
Part of the Kwakwaka’wakw language group, the ‘Nakwaxda’xw traditional territory is located between Cape Caution and Blunden Harbour on the mainland, including Seymour Inlet. The ‘Nakwaxda’xw called themselves “the assembled people” or “ the people from all around.”

The ‘Nakwaxda’xw moved about around their territory seasonally: fishing, hunting, and gathering various materials, but between 1884 and 1964 one of their main villages was at Ba’as (also written as Paas or Pahas), at Blunden Harbour. 

The name Blunden Harbour was bestowed by Captain Pender of the Beaver in 1863, after Edward Raynor Blunden, who was an assistant on the Hecate (1861) and the Beaver (1863) which surveyed the area. Long before the area was surveyed it was home to the ‘Nakwaxda’xw.

Ba’as was an old village site, although during the historical period prior to 1883 the main winter village had been at Kequesta (inside Seymour Inlet near Nakwakto Rapids).  By 1884 a number of families had moved and there were 12 houses at Ba’as.

Due to its isolation, the Nakwaxda’xw at were one of the last First Nations on the coast to retain a traditional way of living, and as a result were of great interest to ethnographers, photographers, and film-makers in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

In 1901 the village was visited by an anthropologist from the Royal BC Museum, Dr. Charles Frederick Newcombe.  He took a number of photos of the village, one of which was loaned to Emily Carr, and became the inspiration for her famous painting “Blunden Harbour,” painted about 1930.

1901 photo by Newcombe

In 1914 Ba’as was one of the locations where the short pseudo-documentary “Land of the War Canoes” was filmed.

In 1914 the McKenna McBride Commission heard testimony from First Nations relating to the allocation of reserve lands.  From the ‘Nakwaxda’xw, Chief Pokleetami told the Commission (through interpreter William Brotchie): “… I will now speak of my land which was always owned by my forefathers and now I come into possession of them myself - This is what I want to say - that the Reserves which are measured out for us - I think they are too small - there is hardly room to turn around in them where we get our livelihood.”  One of the requests made was that Seymour Narrows be closed off to any white men.  The Commissioners refused this request.

Painting "Blunden Harbour" by Emily Carr.

When asked about what income was available to them (in 1914), the people of Ba’as reported working for the canneries and noted that two men fishing one boat would earn $100 in five weeks ($50 each) and a woman working in the cannery would earn about $25 for the same period.

The Commissioners also asked if any of the village children had received schooling.  The response was that two local children had gone to the residential school at Alert Bay for a month, but they didn’t learn anything, so they had taken them back home.

In 1964 the ‘Nakwaxda’xw remaining at Ba’as were pressured into accepting a government relocation to Port Hardy, and much of the remaining village was burned.

This short film (22 min) about Blunden Harbour by Robert Gardner (1951) has some great archival film images of the residents of Ba'as collecting and processing traditional foods. 
https://vimeo.com/92786598

Esperanza - A Place of Hope

Published in the North Island Gazette September 25, 2014.

The community of Esperanza is located on the north side of Hecate Channel, just north of Nootka Island.

Historically the site of a Nuu-chah-nulth village, the traditional name for the site was tlawe muxtsoo, orkle-muq-suu which reportedly was a reference to the liver, or purification of the body.

In the 1920s Dr. Herman McLean completed a medical degree and worked for a time in Bella Coola before searching for a new location where he could minister and provide medical services.  In the 1930s he met Percy Wills, and the two toured around Vancouver Island in the Messenger II, a vessel owned by the Shantymen Christian Association.  

By 1937 the two missionaries met Mr. Peters from Ehattesaht, and decided that the location on the north side of Hecate Channel was the right spot for a mission and hospital.  There was a lot of local industry which put working men at high risk for work-related injuries, families who lived there were isolated, the area had a good source of clean water, and it was in a bay protected from the prevailing winds.

Nootka Mission Hospital - 1939

The settlement, which opened its first buildings in 1937, was originally known as McLean’s Landing, but was soon renamed Esperanza (or Little Esperanza), after nearby Esperanza Inlet. Esperanza means hope in Spanish.

While the Shantymen supported the initiative, they did not want to take on the ownership or liability for the hospital, and so the Nootka Mission Association was formed, and faced the daunting task of raising the funds to support the mission.  Many of the materials used to build the initial settlement were donated by local sawmills and businesses.

Dr. McLean not only worked at the hospital, he also visited local communities in his boat Dieu Donna (later renamed Donna Dene).  

In 1938 a hotel was built adjacent to the mission, and unfortunately became a bit of a focal point for drunkenness and debauchery, much to the chagrin of the mission staff.  A number of prayer meetings were held for those participating in the events taking place at the hotel.  On more than one occasion people died after falling off the dock or getting into boating accidents while intoxicated.  The hotel burned down in 1960.

The Esperanza Hotel - 1946
BC Archives i-27517

In its prime the community had a library, school, and community lounge.  For a number of years the hospital relied on the hotel’s generator for its power.

In 1948, while on a medical and mission trip with his son, Dr. McLean’s boat hit bad weather on the way back from Kyuquot and capsized.  McLean survived the wreck but his son was never found.

After WWII ended, the mission purchased the former military radar station at nearby Ferrier Point.  The location was turned into a summer camp.

In 1955 the local post office was relocated from CeePeeCee to Esperanza, and when the cannery closed the mission purchased all of its residences and bunkhouses for $1000, and transported them to Esperenza.

The hospital started offering a variety of health and addiction services in the 1970s, and today Esperanza still exists as a spiritual retreat and offers a variety of services for youth and community members.

Indian Agent William May Halliday

Article published in the North Island Gazette August 28, 2014.
William May Halliday was born in Wellington County, Ontario in 1866.  He reportedly moved to the Comox area with his family on July 1, 1873.
He worked in Victoria for the publisher R.T. Williams & Co. and is credited as the author of Williams’ British Columbia Directory 1891: Containing general information and directories of the various cities and settlements in the province.
In 1893 William and his brother Ernest Halliday settled a pre-emption and built a homestead in the estuary at Kingcome Inlet, the traditional territory of the Dzawada’enuxw First Nation. 
William lived on the homestead until about 1897, when he moved to Alert Bay and took on a job as assistant principal at St. Michael’s Residential School.
Ernest and his family stayed on the Kingcome farm.  Until recently, the progeny of the long-horned cows reared by the Hallidays roamed wild on the tidal flats. 
In 1906 William took on the job of Indian Agent for the Kwakewlth Agency, serving the North Island and adjacent Mainland Inlets.  He served in this capacity for 26 years.

Halliday presided over the implementation of the potlatch ban in the heart of its territory, including the arrest of many participants, and the confiscation of a significant amount of ceremonial items and regalia.

Although he felt that traditional First Nations customs had some redeeming qualities, Halliday stated that the potlatch: “was a particularly wasteful and destructive custom, and created ill-feeling, jealousy, and in most cases great poverty…”  He sincerely felt that it was destructive to communities.
In 1913 Halliday first made some of the first potlatch arrests, but the courts were not supportive of the arrests and gave very lenient sentences. 
After a change in legislation, in early 1921 a huge potlatch was hosted by Dan Cranmer at Village Island.  Informants reported the event to Halliday, and 34 people were arrested.  Participants were encouraged to plead guilty, and could avoid prison time if they swore that they would stop participating in the potlatch activities and forfeit their paraphernalia.  While some agreed to these terms, others did not, and these men were sentenced to between 2 and 6 months hard jail time in Oakalla Prison in Vancouver.
In 1921 and 1927 artist Mollie Wilson completed paintings on the rocky shore by the mouth of the Kingcome River which depicted First Nations ceremonial coppers in conflict with cows, meant to symbolize the clash of cultures between the First Nations and Halliday.
It has been reported that Halliday and other bureaucrats illegally sold ceremonial items and took others for their personal collections.  This treatment of many sacred items was very offensive to many of the Kwakwaka'wakw, and many items were only discovered when efforts began in earnest to have the items returned to the community in the 1960s.
Halliday is quoted as having reported to his superiors: “The potlatch is killed.”  This has become a well-known quote related to the potlatch ban.
Halliday is now looked back upon as having presided over an unfortunate and misguided government initiative, however in his mind he spent decades working to help advance the interests and cause of local First Nations. In 1935 he published a book about his experiences, called Potlatch and Totem and the Recollections of an Indian Agent.
William May Halliday retired in 1932 to Victoria, where he passed away in 1957.

Hudson's Bay Company "point blankets" were important North Island trade item

This article was published in the North Island Gazette July 24, 2014.

When the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) established Fort Rupert in the mid 1800s their immediate interest was in mining coal for use on the new steamships serving the California gold rush.

It soon became apparent that a reliable supply of coal was going to be difficult to obtain in the area, and the HBC tried to break even on Fort Rupert through trade with First Nations.

There were only about four coastal HBC trading posts at that time, and First Nations from coastal and interior areas travelled great distances to bring furs, fish, and other items to barter.

Fort Rupert faced stiff competition from trading vessels, which would anchor in Quatsino Sound, Shushartie or Nahwitti and intercept First Nations who would barter until they had obtained the best trade for their furs.

Fort Rupert did not trade liquor, and employees lamented to their superiors at Fort Victoria that the best furs often passed them by because First Nations would bypass Fort Rupert and trade at Fort Victoria or in the United States, where it was not uncommon for half the value of a trade to be redeemed in rum.

One of the most popular trading items from the HBC were their iconic ‘point blankets.’  Point blankets originated in the late 1700s, when the HBC purchased large quantities of blankets from mills in England in various widths, ranging from 2’ 8” to 8’ wide.  In order that the size of the blankets could be ascertained when the blanket was folded up, a series of lines were standardized which were woven into the blanket denoting its size.  A 1pt blanket was the smallest, and a 3pt blanket was the largest.

HBC blankets were made of felted wool, which was water resistant, did not unravel, and could be cut to use for various purposes.  The blankets were available in a number of colours. White and blue were the most popular on the North Island, and the smaller blankets (1 to 2 1/2 pt) were preferred.  The Kwakwaka'wakw (possibly chinook?) name for the HBC blankets was 'ul'-hul-as-kum.'

Blankets served as a form of currency, and the value of other items was often measured in terms of the number of blankets for which an item could be traded.  A sea otter pelt, for example, might be worth seven 2 1/2 point blankets.

Some of the most iconic images of the potlatch showed heaps of trade goods amassed prior to a potlatch for distribution. When bartering for a bride or making an important announcement, it was not unusual for hundreds or even thousands of HBC blankets to be piled in front of the First Nations village at ‘Tsakis to be given away by local chiefs as a show of wealth and generosity.

Chiefs at 'Tsakis at Fort Rupert with blankets - circa 1898.

One of the more controversial issues related to HBC blankets had to do with the smallpox outbreak on the Coast in the mid 1800s, when there were reports that unscrupulous traders removed blankets from villages stricken with the disease and re-sold them, in effect transmitting the disease to new populations.

Correspondence from Fort Rupert to Victoria at one point noted that the daughter of a South Island HBC employee had been accidentally kidnapped at San Juan (probably as a part of ongoing raids between various First Nations).  Her captor paddled her all the way to Fort Rupert, but felt that he should probably give her back, and returned her scared but in good condition.  The clerk at Fort Rupert gave him six HBC point blankets to thank him for her safe return.