Texada Island
Encyclopedia
Strait of Georgia
The Strait of Georgia or the Georgia Strait is a strait between Vancouver Island and the mainland coast of British Columbia, Canada. It is approximately long and varies in width from...
of British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, 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...
. Its northern tip is located about 8 kilometres (5 mi) southwest of the city of Powell River
Powell River, British Columbia
Powell River is a city on the northern Sunshine Coast of southwestern British Columbia, Canada. Most of its population lives near the eastern shores of Malaspina Strait, that part of the larger Georgia Strait between Texada Island and the Mainland...
and west of the Sechelt Peninsula
Sechelt Peninsula
The Sechelt Peninsula is located on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, just northwest of Vancouver. It is bounded to the west by Malaspina Strait , to the north by Agamemnon Channel and Jervis Inlet, to the east by Sechelt Inlet , and to the south by the Strait of...
on the Sunshine Coast
Sunshine Coast, British Columbia
The Sunshine Coast is a region of the southern mainland coast of British Columbia, on the eastern shore of the Strait of Georgia, and just northwest of Greater Vancouver...
. A former mining and logging area, the island still has a few quarries and old logging roads. It is the largest of the Northern Gulf Islands
Gulf Islands
The Gulf Islands are the islands in the Strait of Georgia , between Vancouver Island and the mainland of British Columbia, Canada....
at some 50 kilometres (31.1 mi) in length and 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) in width, with its length aligned along a northwest-southeast axis.
Other islands in the archipelago
Archipelago
An archipelago , sometimes called an island group, is a chain or cluster of islands. The word archipelago is derived from the Greek ἄρχι- – arkhi- and πέλαγος – pélagos through the Italian arcipelago...
are Lasqueti
Lasqueti Island
Lasqueti Island is an island off the east coast of Vancouver Island in the Strait of Georgia, Powell River Regional District, British Columbia, Canada. A passenger-only ferry connects the island to the community of French Creek, near Parksville...
, Jedediah, Harwood
Harwood Island (British Columbia)
Harwood Island is a small island that lies off the coast of Powell River, BC. It is an Indian reserve and is part of the traditional territory of the Sliammon First Nation. It is a popular weekend destination during the summer season for tourists and residents of Powell River.An excellent day...
and Nelson Islands
Nelson Island (British Columbia)
Nelson Island is an island in the Sunshine Coast region of the South Coast region of British Columbia. It is surrounded by Hotham Sound, Agamemnon Channel, and Malaspina Strait. The closest communities are Pender Harbour, British Columbia and Egmont, both on the Sechelt Peninsula.The island is...
. Hernando
Hernando Island
Hernando Island is one of the Discovery Islands near Powell River, British Columbia, Canada. Along with the nearby Cortes Island, it was presumably named in 1792 by Valdés and Galiano after Hernán Cortés, the Spanish conqueror of Mexico....
and Savary Island
Savary Island
Savary Island is an island in British Columbia, Canada. Located in the northern part of the Strait of Georgia, it is northwest of Vancouver. It is approximately 0.8-1.5 km wide and long. It has a permanent population of 100...
s. Texada is separated from the mainland and Nelson Island by Malaspina Strait
Malaspina Strait
Malaspina Strait is a strait in the northern Gulf of Georgia-Sunshine Coast region of British Columbia, Canada. It separates Texada Island from the upper Sunshine Coast-Malaspina Peninsula area on the adjacent mainland....
on its northeast and from Lsqueti Island by Sabine Channel along its southwestern flank. Off its northwestern end it is separated from Harwood Island by Algerine Passage and is flanked by the Strait of Georgia
Strait of Georgia
The Strait of Georgia or the Georgia Strait is a strait between Vancouver Island and the mainland coast of British Columbia, Canada. It is approximately long and varies in width from...
on 3/4 of its western side.
History
Texada was named by the Spanish naval explorer José María NarváezJosé María Narváez
José María Narváez was a Spanish naval officer, explorer, and navigator notable for his work in the Pacific Northwest of present-day Canada. In 1791, as commander of the schooner Santa Saturnina, he led the first European exploration of the Strait of Georgia, including a landing on present-day...
for Felix de Tejada, a Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
rear-admiral during the 1791 expedition of Francisco de Eliza
Francisco de Eliza
Francisco de Eliza y Reventa was a Spanish naval officer, navigator, and explorer. He is remembered mainly for his work in the Pacific Northwest...
. Narváez gave the name Isla de Texada to what is now called Lasqueti Island
Lasqueti Island
Lasqueti Island is an island off the east coast of Vancouver Island in the Strait of Georgia, Powell River Regional District, British Columbia, Canada. A passenger-only ferry connects the island to the community of French Creek, near Parksville...
, and Islas de San Felix to Texada Island. The maps made by Eliza and Juan Carrasco
Juan Carrasco (explorer)
Juan Carrasco was a Spanish naval officer, explorer, and navigator. He is remembered mainly for his work in the Pacific Northwest during the late 18th century. He was second in command of the 1791 voyage of José María Narváez, the first European exploration of the Strait of Georgia.Many details...
in late 1791 moved the name "Texada" to the present Texada Island. The pioneer steamer
SS Beaver would often stop at Texada Island to load up on wood and freshwater in its travels up the coast. At the time of Confederation the north end of the island became a fishing outport. For a few years, humpback whales were flensed on the beach, giving the place the epithet of Blubber Bay. Grey Whales migrating from California to Alaska pass by Texada Island. Twelve basking sharks were slaughtered as sport in Blubber Bay in 1947.
In 1876, a whaler called Harry Trim discovered iron ore, and mining began in earnest. Iron mines were explored and floated in 1876, with Premier Amor de Cosmos
Amor De Cosmos
Amor De Cosmos was a Canadian journalist, publisher and politician. He served as the second Premier of British Columbia.-Early life:...
being involved in a land and mine scandal. The iron was used off and on—some going into Seattle built battleships, the USS Oregon
USS Oregon (BB-3)
USS Oregon was a pre-Dreadnought of the United States Navy. Her construction was authorized on 30 June 1890, and the contract to build her was awarded to Union Iron Works of San Francisco, California on 19 November 1890. Her keel was laid exactly one year later...
, for the Great White Fleet
Great White Fleet
The Great White Fleet was the popular nickname for the United States Navy battle fleet that completed a circumnavigation of the globe from 16 December 1907 to 22 February 1909 by order of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. It consisted of 16 battleships divided into two squadrons, along with...
; gold mining was also important.
Copper was discovered at Van Anda about 1898, with the Copper Queen mine and the Cornell mine started. A smelter, tramway and town was constructed. The community was named after Van Anda Blewett, son of American mining capitalist Edward Blewett
Blewett, Washington
Blewett was a town in Chelan County, Washington, United States. The small mining town was established on the west side of Peshastin Creek in the foothills of the Wenatchee Mountains in the mid-1870s. The first mining claims were filed in 1874, and a stamp mill followed by 1878. A wagon road to...
, (who in turn named a town with the surname in Washington State). J. D. Rockefeller invested in the iron mines, though he quickly sold having lost money on a Monte Cristo, Washington
Monte Cristo, Washington
Monte Cristo is a ghost town northwest of Monte Cristo Peak, in eastern Snohomish County in western Washington.Prospecting in the region began in the Skykomish River drainage with the Old Cady Trail used for access. In 1882 Elisha Hubbard improved the trail up the North Fork Skykomish, from Index...
venture near Everett
Everett
- Places :* Everett, Washington, the county seat and largest city in Washington state's Snohomish County*Naval Station Everett* Everett, Massachusetts, in Middlesex County, Massachusetts north of Boston* Everett, Pennsylvania, in Bedford County, Pennsylvania...
. The iron mines were picked up by the famed Union Iron Works
Union Iron Works
Union Iron Works, located in San Francisco, California, on the southeast waterfront, was a central business within the large industrial zone of Potrero Point, for four decades at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries.-History:...
of San Francisco. Canadian investors Sir William Mackenzie
William Mackenzie
William Mackenzie may refer to:* William Mackenzie , Scottish ophthalmologist* William Mackenzie , British civil engineering contractor...
and Donald Mann
Donald Mann
Sir Donald Mann was a Canadian railway contractor and entrepreneur.Born at Acton, Ontario, Mann studied as a Methodist minister but worked in lumber camps in Ontario and Michigan before moving to Winnipeg, Manitoba...
also speculated in the Van Anda mines. Farms, orchards, logging and a sawmill were set up on Texada at this time as well. By the turn of the century, the copper boom was in full swing but the mines only yielded for a few years. Van Anda hosted an opera house and a Chinatown
Chinatown
A Chinatown is an ethnic enclave of overseas Chinese people, although it is often generalized to include various Southeast Asian people. Chinatowns exist throughout the world, including East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Americas, Australasia, and Europe. Binondo's Chinatown located in Manila,...
. A series of fires demolished the Van Anda townsite—the last in 1917. Sail races were also run from Vancouver to Van Anda around this time.
By 1910, Pacific Lime Company and BC Cement had set up limestone quarrying operations at Blubber Bay and Marble Bay. For almost a century, limestone quarrying continued. Much of the product was shipped to Seattle, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
or California. Railways, cableways and concentration plants were built for the mines, as was the arbutus
Arbutus
Arbutus is a genus of at least 14 species of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae, native to warm temperate regions of the Mediterranean, western Europe, and North America.-Description:...
-shaded company town of Blubber Bay. Limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
pits were dug all around the north section of the island. Lime kilns for sintering quicklime were raised around the northern end of the island.
One survives at Marble Bay and gives the name to Lime Kiln Bay. Other mines included an iron ore mine near Gillies Bay run by Kaiser Aluminum
Kaiser Aluminum
Kaiser Aluminum is an American aluminum producer. The company was founded in 1946 by American industrialist Henry J. Kaiser. Kaiser entered the aluminum business by leasing, then purchasing three government-owned aluminum facilities in Washington state. These were the primary reduction plants at...
which shipped ore to Japan and Germany after 1945.
Coastal ferries connected the island with the nearby cities of Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
and Nanaimo. The Union Steamship Company steamship Cheslakee
Cheslakee (steamship)
Cheslakee was a steamship that operated from 1910 to 1913 under the ownership of the Union Steamship Company of British Columbia. In 1913, the ship sank, killing seven people. This was the only accident involving a passenger fatality in the 70 year history of the Union Steamship Company...
capsized off Van Anda with a loss of life in 1913. While the Anglican Church of Canada
Anglican Church of Canada
The Anglican Church of Canada is the Province of the Anglican Communion in Canada. The official French name is l'Église Anglicane du Canada. The ACC is the third largest church in Canada after the Roman Catholic Church and the United Church of Canada, consisting of 800,000 registered members...
maintained a mission boat for the coast based from Van Anda, and the Rev. G. Pringle noted "that for many years his wife kept an oil burning lamp in his window as the only beacon to guide navigators of boats big or small into the rocky bay. I have been through the [Great] War, but some of my experiences afloat, or ashore, in storm or fog, along this coast, tried me as much, so for as a strain on my nerves was concerned, as those wretched days of Lens or Passchendaele." The head of the Mission, John Antle, preached for a while in Roslyn, Washington
Roslyn, Washington
Roslyn is a city in Kittitas County, Washington, United States. The population was 893 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Roslyn is located at...
, very near Blewett, so the connections are many . A floating hospital was built by Columbia Coast Mission Boats and moored at Van Anda, until its need was greater in Knight Inlet
Knight Inlet
Knight Inlet is one of the principal inlets of the British Columbia Coast, and the largest of the major inlets in the southern part of the Coast...
and was moved . On November 6, 2004, the tug Manson, skippered by Dusty Davison, sank off Texada Island.Marine Investigation Report Sinking and Loss of Life Tug Manson Transportation Safety Board of Canada Report Number M04W0235
During U.S. prohibition
Prohibition
Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries during which the...
, the island was a supply point for illegal alcohol into the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, with a famous illegal distillery operating on the east shore. The remains of the hooch
Moonshine
Moonshine is an illegally produced distilled beverage...
boiler can be seen on the beach. Blubber Bay quarries were the scene of a vicious strike in 1938 .
Logging and limestone production continue to this day.
Today
A regular ferryBC Ferries
British Columbia Ferry Services Inc. or BC Ferries is a de facto Crown Corporation that provides all major passenger and vehicle ferry services for coastal and island communities in the Canadian province of British Columbia...
service links Powell River
Powell River, British Columbia
Powell River is a city on the northern Sunshine Coast of southwestern British Columbia, Canada. Most of its population lives near the eastern shores of Malaspina Strait, that part of the larger Georgia Strait between Texada Island and the Mainland...
and the main ferry terminal at Blubber Bay
Blubber Bay, British Columbia
Blubbery Bay is an unincorporated settlement on the northern end of Texada Island at the bay of the same name in the northern Gulf of Georgia on the South Coast of British Columbia, Canada. Texada Island is one of the Northern Gulf Islands, and lies across Malaspina Strait from the town of Powell...
.
The first ferry to the island, after the discontinued Union steamships, was the Atrevida , familiar to readers of October Ferry to Gabriola
October Ferry to Gabriola
October Ferry to Gabriola is a novel by Malcolm Lowry. Edited by his widow Margerie Bonner, it was posthumously published in 1970.It is an existential love story featuring a Lowry-like character, Ethan Lleweyllen, and his wife, in their never-fully-consummated journey to Gabriola, an island near...
.The island also has two stores, a library, Credit Union, gas station, elementary school, hotel, bed and breakfasts, The Ravenous Raven Restaurant, two museums, two firehalls, an R.C.M.P. Detachment, Ambulance station and two post offices. Located near Gillies Bay, Texada Island also has an airport (Call Sign YGB) with a 3000' (900 m) paved runway for private aircraft and scheduled services. There are parks, forests, lakes, beaches and mountains. Parks include South Texada Island Provincial Park and Shelter Point Park.
Texada has a combination of light and soil conditions suitable for market agriculture. Large vegetables have been known to grow on the island . Today, the island caters mainly to weekending tourists and hunting season.
A sandcastle
SandCastle
Sandcastle is a documentation generator from Microsoft that automatically produces MSDN style reference documentation out of reflection information of .NET assemblies and XML documentation comments found in the source code of these assemblies...
contest is held in the summer on the occasion of the lowest tide of the year in Gillies Bay.
A BC Hydro
BC Hydro
The BC Hydro and Power Authority is a Canadian electric utility in the province of British Columbia generally known simply as BC Hydro. It is the main electric distributor, serving 1.8 million customers in most areas, with the exception of the Kootenay region, where FortisBC, a subsidiary of Fortis...
500 kV powerline
Powerline
Powerline or power line may refer to:* Overhead power line, used for electric power transmission* Power line communication, a computer networking technology* Power Line, a political blog* Powerline, a fictional singer in the A Goofy Movie musical...
known as the Cheekye-Dunsmuir Line was built in 1982 running east to west across the middle of the Island, linking two sections of underwater transmission line that deliver power to Vancouver Island. A Terasen Gas
Terasen Gas
FortisBC Energy, Inc., formerly known as Terasen Gas, is the largest distributor of natural gas in British Columbia, Canada, serving approximately 920,000 customers in over 125 communities. The company owns and operates 44,100 kilometres of gas distribution pipelines and 4,300 kilometres of gas...
natural gas pipeline, built in 1989, runs from south to north, where it splits, providing gas to Powell River and Vancouver Island. The island has produced 5 million tons of limestone a year, however economic factors in 2010 have lowered demand. The island is 300.45 km² (116 sq mi) in land area and had a population of 1,129 in the 2001 census
Canada 2001 Census
The Canada 2001 Census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population. Census day was May 15, 2001. On that day, Statistics Canada attempted to count every person in Canada. The total population count of Canada was 30,007,094. This was a 4% increase over 1996 Census of 28,846,761. In...
.
Parks on Texada Island
- South Texada Island Provincial ParkSouth Texada Island Provincial ParkSouth Texada Island Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada, located on the southwest side of Texada Island. Created in 1997, the park is approximately 900 ha. in area....
- Anderson Bay Provincial ParkAnderson Bay Provincial ParkAnderson Bay Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada, located on the southeast end of Texada Island near the community of Gillies Bay. Created in 2000, it is approximately 35 ha. in area.-History and conservation:...
LNG Controversy
In 2007, Westpac LNG announced that it intended to build a liquefied natural gasLiquefied natural gas
Liquefied natural gas or LNG is natural gas that has been converted temporarily to liquid form for ease of storage or transport....
(LNG) receiving terminal, and a gas-fired electricity generation project, at Kiddie Point on the north end of Texada. Controversy surrounding the project ramped up quickly: the year also witnessed the re-introduction of Texada Action Now by Texada residents, and the formation of the Alliance to Stop LNG, comprising a large number of conservation, environmental, community and labour groups around the Georgia Basin. As of summer 2009 the project appears to be shelved for the time being due to the global economic downturn.
Electricity
Two parallel running 500 kV AC lines for the power supply of Vancouver Island crosses Texada Island. While the crossings of the waterways to Texada island are implemented as underwater cable, the crossing of Texada Island is implemented as overhead line. On the middle of Texada island at 49.6156317N, 124.3310094W there is a switchyard, which may be a station for compensating reactive power.Famous residents
- Jennifer TillyJennifer TillyJennifer Tilly is an American actress and poker player. She is an Academy Award nominee, and a World Series of Poker Ladies' Event bracelet winner. She is the older sister of actress Meg Tilly.-Early life:...
, Canadian-American actress and professional poker player. - Meg Tilly, Canadian-American actress
External links
- Brief synopsis on the island
- http://www.gulfislandsguide.com/history/texada.htm
- Texada Iron Mines, British Columbia, Prospectus of Texada Island Iron Mines, J. Lovell, Montreal, 1875