Slatechuck Mountain, known as Kaagan in the Haida language

Haida language

The Haida language is the language of the Haida people. It contains seven vowels and well over 30 consonants.-History:The first documented contact between the Haida and Europeans was in 1774, on Juan Pérez's exploratory voyage. At this time Haidas inhabited the Queen Charlotte Islands, Dall...

, is a summit on south-central Graham Island

Graham Island

Graham Island is the largest island in the Haida Gwaii archipelago , lying off the coast of British Columbia, Canada. It is separated only by a narrow channel from the other principal island of the group, Moresby Island Graham Island is the largest island in the Haida Gwaii archipelago (formerly...

 in the Queen Charlotte Islands

Queen Charlotte Islands

Haida Gwaii , formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands, is an archipelago on the North Coast of British Columbia, Canada. Haida Gwaii consists of two main islands: Graham Island in the north, and Moresby Island in the south, along with approximately 150 smaller islands with a total landmass of...

 of the North Coast of British Columbia

British Columbia Coast

The British Columbia Coast or BC Coast is Canada's western continental coastline on the Pacific Ocean. The usage is synonymous with the term West Coast of Canada....

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. It is located about 9km west of Queen Charlotte City, on Skidegate Inlet, and just south of Yakoun Lake, the island's largest lake, which is the source of the northward-flowing Yakoun River

Yakoun River

The Yakoun River is the largest river on Haida Gwaii, off the North Coast of British Columbia, Canada. Estimated to be in length, it is located on Graham Island, the northernmost and largest of the archipelago, and runs in a twisting course generally northwards from Yakoun Lake, which lies near...

.

Slatechuck Mountain is highly important in the culture of the Haida people as the source of a rare black form of argillite

Argillite

An argillite is a fine-grained sedimentary rock composed predominantly of indurated clay particles. Argillaceous rocks are basically lithified muds and oozes. They contain variable amounts of silt-sized particles. The argillites grade into shale when the fissile layering typical of shale is...

 used in Haida art. Known also as "black slate", this form of argillite occurs nowhere else in the world and only Haida have the right to quarry it. The black argillite occurs only at certain locations on the mountain's slope, above the basin of Slatechuck Creek

Slatechuck Creek

Slatechuck Creek is a short but culturally important stream on Graham Island in the Queen Charlotte Islands of the North Coast of British Columbia, Canada. Only 6.7 km in length , it is located on the south flank of the small range including Slatechuck Mountain, to the north of which is...

. The name "Slatechuck" is a local Chinook Jargon

Chinook Jargon

Chinook Jargon originated as a pidgin trade language of the Pacific Northwest, and spread during the 19th century from the lower Columbia River, first to other areas in modern Oregon and Washington, then British Columbia and as far as Alaska, sometimes taking on characteristics of a creole language...

usage, combining "slate" with the word for water, river or lake, and is a reference to the creek being where the slate is found.