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Prior to the arrival of Europeans the Tla’amin Nation territory was a vast and heavily populated region with a large number of permanent and seasonal occupation sites and settlements. Historically, the Tla’amin, and adjacent First Nations of Klahoose, Homalco and K’omoks were one people without borders. Oral traditions form a collective living memory, which when combined with archaeological data, provide a more complete picture of the past. Between 2016 and 2018 the Powell River Historical Museum & Archives partnered with the Tla'amin Nation after receiving a federal grant to document, map, and develop a database of traditional place names within the region. The results of this project can be experienced in person at the Powell River Historical Museum & Archives, at the Tla’amin Government House, and online on the City of Powell River website.
A copy of the list of traditional names, their contemporary names, and their meaning can also be found in the attached file below.
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In addition to the 474 identified traditional sites and the 409 recorded traditional place names and meanings for identified sites, there are more recent colonial place names or toponyms within the qathet Regional District with their own stories and colourful histories. Meanings and histories have been pulled from a number of useful sources including:
Wherever possible traditional place names and their linguistic pronunciations will be given alongside more contemporary place names.
- British Columbia Coast Names 1592-1906 by Captain John T. Walbran (1971)
- British Columbia Place Names by G.P.V. and Helen B. Akrigg (1997)
- Homesteading and Stump Farming on the West Coast 1880-1930 by Barbara Ann Lambert (2015)
- Powell River News and Town Crier (1927-1999)
Wherever possible traditional place names and their linguistic pronunciations will be given alongside more contemporary place names.
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Bliss Landing / ǰɛǰɛšiʔəm (Jeh Jeh shee um)
Meaning: packing stuff on your back Named for Joe Blissto who arrived around 1900. He was a firewood cutter for tugs and a hand logger. This replaced an older name for the settlement, Bishop Landing or Bishops Landing. The Bishop Landing Post Office opened on June 1, 1917, and was named after Peter W. Bishop, a hand logger who owned a small store and post office and served as its first postmaster. The post office was re-designated as Bliss Landing on April 1, 1923 and operated until April 20, 1960.
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Bliss Landing ca 1955 (ID 1992.66.1)
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Blubber Bay / t̓atlaχʷnač (TatlaXw nach)
Meaning: water swirls around Blubber bay on Texada island was once a rendezvous point for whaling ships. Whalers began visiting the north end of Texada beginning in the 1860s. Records show in 1890 whaler Elijah J. Fader used the bay for processing whales, and set up base in the bay. Once the whales were brought up on shore, their blubber would be peeled off and boiled in big black metal 'try pots'. The processed oil would then be stored in wooden casks for transport.
Whaling was practiced by indigenous coastal peoples for millennia, in a relatively small and much more sustainable way. It was the arrival of European technologies of the late 19th and early 20th centuries that brought the practice to an industrial scale. For many years after Blubber Bay ceased to be used for whale processing the remnants of these activities were found by locals including bleached vertebrae and ribs and even a whaler's winch. |
Northern tip of Texada Island, showing Blubber Bay, 1959 (ID 2007.50.22040)
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Brew Bay / ʔayajuθəm lost
Meaning lost Brew Bay sits at the mouth of the Wolfson River/Wolfson Creek, and was the site for the Mahood Logging Co. Many men and their families lived in houses around the shoreline of Brew Bay. It became the first railroad camp and laid the foundation for more railroad camps to come in successive years.
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Wolfson Logging at Brew Bay c. 1915 (ID 2012.85.7)
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Cranberry / χaʔaji (Xah ah jee)
Meaning: place with cranberries Cranberry was the first suburb of Powell River (i.e., Townsite) as it was within easy walking distance of the mill. The district was named for the lush cranberries that surrounded the lake that was central to the area.
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Cranberry Lake aerial view c. 1950 (ID 1987.30.245)
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Desolation Sound /ʔayajuθəm lost
Meaning unknown Named Desolation Sound by Captain George Vancouver in 1792, on account of the "gloomy appearance" he perceived of the surrounding country. Referring to Desolation Sound Captain Vancouver wrote in his journal, "Our residence here was truly forlorn; an awful silence pervaded the gloomy forests, whilst animated nature seemed to have deserted the neighbouring country, whose soil afforded only a few small onions, some samphire and here and there bushes bearing a scanty crop of indifferent berries. Nor was the sea more favourable to our wants, the steep rocky shores prevented the use of the seine, and not a fish at the bottom could be tempted to take a hook." (Vancouver's Voyage, 8°, Vol. II, p. 226.)
Today Desolation Sound Marine Provincial Park park is a boater’s paradise and yachters have been enjoying the spectacular vistas and calm waters for generations. More recently kayakers have enjoyed exploring the islands and coves that make up the unique shoreline, and the warm waters of the park are ideal for swimming and scuba diving. |
Aerial photo looking north from Savary Island into Desolation Sound, 1959 (ID 2007.50.20830)
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Dinner Rock / Stream / qʷaqʷtɛm (qwaqw tehm)
Meaning: Any little stream No formal record for the name of this iconic local landmark is known. One suggestion has been that Lund residents would go to the rock for picnics. Another suggestion is that people would be at dinner on the passenger boats when they passed the rock. A tragic accident involving the M.V. Gulf Stream, owned and operated by the Gulf Lines Limited, occurred on October 12, 1947, when the ship ran up on Dinner Rock as she was travelling northbound from Westview to Lund. Five lives were lost during the tragic accident.
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The M.V. Gulfstream resting on dinner rock following the October 12, 1947 accident. (ID P01377)
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Emmonds Beach / šɛʔaystən (Sheh ays tun)
Meaning: Steep Bluff Named for the Emmonds family. Len Emmonds trapped from Sarah Point to Powell River in the 1940's.
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Scouts outing to Emmonds Beach, n.d. (ID 1967.1.4795)
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Gibson's Beach / qʷɛqʷɛyqʷɛy (Qweh qwee qwey)
Meaning: Little Sandy Beach Named after Ken Gibson, a Wildwood Alderman (i.e. an elected member of a municipal council) in the 1950's and 1960's. The beach used to be called Sandy Beach.
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Looking towards Harwood Island from Gibsons Beach c. 1960 (ID 1967.1.14759)
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Gillies Bay / ʔi:səm (Ee sum)
Meaning: Clear sandy bottom The first time the name Gillies Bay appears on local area charts was on Captain Richards' 1859-1964 chart. Between 1857-1861 Captain George Henry Richards charted the coast in the HMS Plumper. Staff Commander Daniel Pender on the Beaver completed the charting when Richards returned to Britain in 1863. One or both of these men travelled along the coast of Texada Island and named both the Mouat Islands and Gillies Bay. There is no record for why they called it Gillies Bay.
In British Columbia Place Names, G.P.V. and Helen B. Akrigg write that Gillies Bay was named for a very mean captain whose crew threw him into the bay. However, they give no provenance given for this claim. |
Shoreline around Gillies Bay on Texada island, near Shelter Point Provincial Park, 1960 (ID ND014443)
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Grief Point / χakʷum (Xah Kwoom)
Meaning: Having Indian Rhubarb There is some speculation as to where the name Grief Point comes from. One possibiliity was that it refers to an epidemic within the indigenous population, another is of a wreck in which three men perished, while another is that it refers to the tugs and boats that would shelter behind the point during storms, to get away from the 'grief'.
At one point the area was also referred to as 'Pneumonia Flats' and referred to the flat area by the lighthouse in Grief Point. This area was a farm from the 1880’s and was sold in the middle 1960’s for a sub-division. Possibly this name referred to the barrenness of the landscape before the houses went up. |
Grief Point farm c. 1920 (ID 2011.18.3)
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Harwood Island / ʔagayqsən (Ah gyk sun)
Meaning: Pointed nose Located in the Strait of Georgia, Harwood is a small island that lies off the coast of Powell River and is part of the traditional territory of the Tla'amin Nation. Named Harwood by Captain George Vancouver, and noted in his journal under the date 25 June, 1792: "On the coast of the mainland opposite this island, is a small brook probably of fresh water, from whence we advanced the shores put on a very dreary aspect, chiefly composed of rugged rocks, thinly wooded with small dwarf pine trees."
Believed to be named by Capt. Vancouver for Edward Harwood, eldest son of Edward Harwood senior, a native of Lancashire and a classical scholar and Doctor of Divinity. The younger Harwood was for many years a surgeon in the navy and served under Captain William Bligh on board the H.M.S. Providence, 1791-1794. Harwood was described as 'a benevolent friend and an elegant scholar.' |
Harwood Island aerial, 2001 (ID 2007.28.8)
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Haslam Lake / θaʔyɛɬ (Thah yetl)
Meaning: Lake Named after Andrew Haslam, a pioneer lumberman, who bought the Nanaimo Sawmill in 1892, served as mayor in Nanaimo from 1892 to 1893 and was an MLA and MP. In 1906 he moved to Vancouver and set up the provincial government's log-scaling organiz
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The upper end of Haslam Lake looking east c. 1925 (ID PH004497)
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Hernando Island / kʷupƛač (Koop Klach)
Meaning: Hump on stomach Hernando Island is one of the Discovery Islands near Powell River, sitting northwest of Savary Island. It was presumably named in 1792 by Valdés and Galiano after Hernán/Hernando Cortés, the Spanish conqueror of Mexico.
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Map of Hernando Island and Savary Island, undated. (ID 2013.63.278)
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Kelly Creek / ʔayajuθəm lost
Meaning unknown Named after William James Kelly and his wife Isabelle Kelly who homesteaded 160 acres in the early 1900s. William worked for the Brooks, Scanlon & O'Brien Logging Company. Mrs. Kelly was also well-known, as she would often row to Van Anda on Texada Island for supplies and carried a revolver in her apron pocket for protection.
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Boy Scouts building a monkey bridge over Kelly Creek, 1923 (ID PH005012)
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Lang Bay & Lang Creek / mɛtokomɛn (Metokomen)
Meaning: Unknown Originally known as Wolfson (Wolfshon) Bay/Creek and named for Johann Wulfsohn, a German diplomat and settler. During WWI this name became unpopular and so was changed to Lang Bay after the three Lang boys, Tom, Harry and Fred, who lived in the area and were away fighting overseas in France with the Canadian Expeditionary Force. All three returned home after the war.
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The Simpkins gathering seaweed for garden, at Lang Bay, c. 1920 (ID 2018.7.38)
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Lois Lake and Lois River / ʔayajuθəm lost
Meaning unknown Named for Lois Weaver who was the general manager of the Brooks, Scanlon and O'Brien Logging Co. at Stillwater.
In British Columbia Place Names, G.P.V. and Helen B. Akrigg write that Lois Lake was named for Captain Babbington of the tug Lois. After Babbington had obligingly transported some surveyors from Texada Island to Stillwater, they offered to name some geographic feature after him. Babbington vehemently refused, so they named the lake after his tug boat. Lois Lake was also known as the First Gordon Pasha Lake. The upper Lois Lake was also known as Second Lake. Gordon Pasha was for Charles George Gordon, a British General killed in the 1885 siege of the Sudanese city of Khartoum. He would come to be referred to as the hero of Khartoum, which in turn was the name given to the Third Lake. Lois River is also known locally as Eagle River because of the eagles that came after the spawning salmon. Also named after the registered name of the logging company, Eagle River and Northern Railway. |
Aerial view of Lois Lake showing the dam, no date. (ID 1967.1.3120)
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Lund / ƛaʔamɛn (Klah ah men)
Meaning: A place to head towards. A place of refuge Named by brothers Frederick and Charles Thulin who settled there in 1889, after the city in Sweden from which they had migrated. The Swedish word 'lund' is usually interpreted as meaning a small wood, copse of trees or grove. Additional information and images of Lund can be found here.
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Lund c. 1912 (ID 1967.1.662)
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Malaspina Inlet
Named by Spanish naval officers, Galiano and Valdes on 5 July 1792, and marked as Brazo de Malaspina on their chart, after Captain Alexandro Malaspina, a celebrated Italian seaman in the naval services of Spain.
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Inset of the Malaspina Inlet, Marine Chart of the Sisters Islands to Discovery Passage area of the British Columbia coast, 1925. (ID 1996.11.580)
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Malaspina Strait
Named in 1859 by Captain Richards, of the H.M. surveying vessel Plumper, after Captain Alexandro Malaspina, the Italian seaman in the service of Spain, after whom Malaspina Inlet was named by Galiano and Valdes in 1792.
Captain Vancouver states in his records that the Spanish name of this strait was 'Canal del Nuestra Signora del Rosario', and that it was ten leagues in length from Point Upward to Point Marshall. |
Looking out on the Malaspina Strait, from the shoreline northwest of mill c. 1918 (ID 1967.1.559)
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Michigan Landing, now called Willingdon Beach
ʔahʔǰumɩχʷ (Ah joo miexw) Willingdon Beach was a village site for the Tla'amin people. The creek produced small chum salmon that were a different flavour than other creeks. The last person to have lived there was a man named Maksama (Sandy Timothy). He built a small shack and smoking shed beside the creek and would go there to smoke his fish.
The traditional name ʔahʔǰumɩχʷ (Ah joo miexw) refers to it being a flat clear ground, a beautiful grassy area and it is said that Tla'amin people used to use it as a sports field. The Tla'amin also used the area as a landing for their canoes, often to walk the trail up to Cranberry Lake to harvest the wild cranberries. Willingdon Beach was also formerly known as Michigan Landing, the beach was used as a booming ground for the Michigan Puget Sound Logging Co. The M and PS Logging Co. had a railroad that ran through what is now the Townsite. With the beginning of construction of the Powell River Company mill the railroad was re-routed to Michigan Landing. The Powell River Company leased part of this to individuals for homes. By 1923, 73 people called Michigan Landing home. Unofficially known as Third Beach to the locals, in 1926 the Company wanted the land and the families were moved. In 1928, Lord Willingdon, the Govenor General of Canada visited Powell River and opened the park, subsequently named after him. |
Michigan Landing (Willingdon Beach) shoreline and wharf looking north toward mill site, c. 1919 (ID 1967.1.19)
Labour Day at Willingdon Beach, 1952 (ID 1967.1.3422)
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Mowat Bay / ʔət̓ᶿ (UhTH)
Meaning: A bay, any bay Mowat Bay located on the southeast end of Powell Lake. Named for a Mr. Mowat who owned a shingle bolt mill in the area. In 1915, Mowat and Wasser built a shingle mill. Ed Profit was supervisor until it closed in 1919. A number of people lived on float houses. Some worked in the pulp and paper mill while others were loggers and shingle-bolters (individuals who made the bolts - cubes of knot free wood that were later processed into individual shingles).
Andy and Clara Anderson moved their lumber mill to Mowat Bay in 1958, but the Company cancelled their lease and the Municipality wouldn't let them run a commercial venture. Now Mowat Bay is a popular picnic and swimming area. |
Mowat Bay, a small crowd including Elisabeth Von Holst sitting on log and Kurt Oberlander with pike pole, enjoying the fine weather, 1957. (ID 2009.36.5)
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Myrtle Point or Myrtle Rocks / kʷʊθaysqɛn (Kwoo'thays qen)
Meaning: Island at the head, Island in a bay Myrtle Point, once a very active logging camp. The name is attributed to the McCormacks who had a daughter Myrtle and were there before 1880. Also claimed to have been named after the daughter of a surveyor. Today the wharf pilings from the logging site are still visible.
A small community known as Munsonville named for George Munson existed in the area in the 1950s. Mr. Munson owned a small logging company and brought to Myrtle Point a number of small framed houses for his employees. These homes were brought in by tug. |
Old piles at Myrtle Rocks provide convenient perches for a convention of cormorants 1984 PR NEWS PHOTO (ID ND030657)
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Paradise Valley
Named by Tom Lambert and Mrs. McQuarrie in the 1930’s. After a devastating fire in 1918 swept through the valley burning all the trees, the area was left blackened, charred and desolate. A sarcastic remark by homesteader Tom Lambert to his neighbor Mrs. McQuarrie, "It looks like Hell, let's name it Paradise" stuck, and henceforth the name of Paradise Valley has been
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Lambert's Goat Ranch at Paradise Valley c. 1930 (ID 1987.30.108)
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Pebble Beach
Located between Myrtle Point and Grief Point, named for being an extremely pebbly beach. In the 1950's Miles McLeod and Del Monsell subdivided the beach into seventeen waterfront lots and sold each lot for $1,000.
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Bathers on the bluffs at the north end of Pebble Beach, 1940 (ID ND000192)
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Powell Lake / θaʔyɛɬ (Thah yetl)
Meaning: Fresh water lake Powell River / tiskʷat OR tik̓ʊk̓t (Teeskwat or Teekukt)
Meaning: Big river, Tikʷut-fish are struggling to get up the rivere on the falls. kʷʊk̓t-fish going up the river Powell River is named after Dr. Israel Wood Powell, M.D., Indian Commissioner, British Columbia 1872-1889. Dr. Powell was a native of Eastern Canada, of a United Empire Loyalist Family. He arrived in Victoria in 1862.
Different sources offer up different dates for exactly when this naming occurred. But the story goes that in either 1880 or 1881 Dr. Powell made a tour of the BC coast aboard the gun vessel the HMS Rocket, whose commander was Lieutenant-Commander V.B. Orlebar. Orlebar is said to have named Powell River and Powell Lake in honour of his passenger. Learn more about Israel Powell here. |
Aerial view of the Powell River and Townsite. The dam is clearly visible as is the bridge over Powell River, with Powell Lake in the background, 1953
(ID 1967.1.3703)
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Saltery Bay
Saltery Bay was named after the fish saltery camp operated by Japanese and First Nations fishermen, for salting fish. In 1954, the present ferry system opened the road for travellers.
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The first long line of cars leave the Quillayute and head up the hill as the ferry completes its inaugural run into Saltery Bay. The road link from Vancouver to Powell River is now open, 1954 (ID 1967.1.3875-1)
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Sarah Point / ʔayajuθəm lost
Meaning lost Named by Captain George Vancouver in June 1792, after his elder sister Sarah, and also for his grandmother Sarah. The latter was known as "Dame Vancouver" in the town where she lived - King's Lynn, a seaport and market town in Norfolk England.
Sarah Point today serves as the starting point for the Sunshine Coast Trail when starting from Desolation Sound. |
Section of a Surveys and Mapping Branch,
Ministry of the Environment map of Cortes Island to Malaspina Penninsula showing Sarah Point at the northern end of the Malaspina Peninsula, 1975. (ID 2007.11.1558)
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Savary Island / qayɛ qʷən (Qaye qwun)
Meaning: Fresh Water Spring Named by Captain George Vancouver in June 1792 as his ships, the Discovery and Chatham, were passing westward along the continental shore. They were accompanied by the Spanish Vessels Sutil and Mexicana. When they were experiencing good weather, Vancouver has the two Spanish commanders, Galiano and Valdes, to dinner. Valdes had been informed by the local First Nations, whose language he understood, that the channel they were in lead to the ocean, and he passed this information on to Vancouver. Vancouver did not consider this information to be accurate.
Captain Vancouver notes in his journal that he sailed past "an island lying in an east and west direction, which I named Savary Island." No explanation as to for whom or what Savary was named was given. |
Postcard of the The Bathing Beach, Savary Island, B. C. 1930 (ID PC000253)
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Scuttle Bay / ƛɛkʷanəm (Kleh Kwahn num)
Meaning: Description of water coming in fast A traditional Tla'amin village site ƛɛkʷanəm, a name that describes water coming in fast. The English name comes from when Commander Hodgson's exploratory ships were beached there, i.e., scuttled, to scrape off the barnacles attached to their hulls.
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Tide out at Scuttle Bay, c. 1930 (ID ND000242)
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Shelter Point / kʷʊθaysqɛn (Kwoo thays qen)
Meaning: Small Island Ruth Sulyma provides the following reason for the name Shelter Point in her Texada Narratives printed in the Powell River News in 1946. "Such names as Welcome Bay, Crescent Bay, Long Beach, Shelter Point and Northwest Point explain themselves. It is like a message of warning when one sees the small fishing boats from the adjacent waters making for the quiet waters behind Shelter Point and Shelter Island." (Powell River News and Town Crier Wednesday, September 25, 1946 Page 4)
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Shoreline around Gillies Bay on Texada island, near Shelter Point Provincial Park, 1960. (ID ND014443)
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Stillwater / qʷoqʷnɛs (Qwoqwness)
Meaning: This is a sechelt term, but the same term is used in Sliammon: Little whale Named by Pat O'Brien in 1909, for Stillwater, Minnesota which was the original home of the logging company Brooks, Scanlon and O'Brien. Stillwater Bay is also known as Scow Bay. Given the name Scow Bay for the scows (a wide-beamed sailing dinghy) that brought in supplies for the B.C. Mill, Timber and Trading Company (1890-1
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Aerial looking southeast down towards Stillwater. The surge tower can be seen to the left, 1952 (ID 1967.1.4843)
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Texada Island / sayayɩn (Sah yah yin)
Meaning: End of the island, The end of something Named Texada Island in 1791, by Jose Maria Navaez, in command of the small exploring vessel Santa Saturnina, one of Lieutenant Commander Francisco de Eliza's two vessels. The island was named after Felix de Tejeda (or Tejada), a Spanish rear-admiral. Current spelling from the old Spanish 1791 and 1792 charts of Francisco de Eliza and Dionisio Alcala Galiano, but mentioned in 1792 by Captain Vancouver as Favada.
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View of Texada Island and Cornell Mine (ID ND014015).
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Thunder Bay / yulqɛn (Yulq'en)
Meaning unknown In the early days it was rumored that the HMS Shearwater anchored there during a bad thunderstorm leading to the name. Others have claimed that the name came from the thundering sound that the bay gave off when a storm was brewing and waves crashed on the shore of the bay
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Thunder Bay lookout on Highway 101 looking southwest, c. 1950 (ID 1967.1.0696)
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Van Anda / lɛχʷamɛn (Leh Xwa men)
Meaning unknown Edward Blewitt, a Seattle capitalist interested in copper deposits on Texada Island, named his mining company after his friend Carl Van Anda, a New York journalist in the 1870s. The community took the name of Blewitt's company.
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Van Anda wharf and customs building, Texada Island c. 1914 (ID ND014012)
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Wildwood
Named Wildwood for its general appearance. When a post office was started, an effort was made to change the name to Arbutus Heights but it was unsuccessful. As there were already two Wildwood post offices registered (one in Ontario and another in Alberta) it was named Wildwood Heights. The Wildwood Heights post office was established April 1, 1934 and closed June 3, 1961, with the subsequent post office taking on the name Powell River no. 4. Charles Bell served as the first postmaster for the community.
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Aerial view of Wildwood looking southeast towards Powell Lake in the background, 1953 (ID 1987.30.246)
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