Coal Harbour is a harbour and community on northern Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada located on the north side of Holberg Inlet in the Quatsino Sound region. [1] [2] It is named after a small and unsuccessful local coal mine that was founded in 1883. The village's most successful industry, however, was whaling. It was the last whaling station in British Columbia when it closed in 1967. The station utilized the original buildings of the RCAF.
The townsite and surrounding area was the site of a Royal Canadian Airforce base for seaplane patrols in the Northern Pacific during World War II. Many of the original buildings still remain, such as the general store (the old gymnasium), and the officers' barracks immediately overlooking the harbour. RCAF Stranraers and later Canso-As (the Canadian designation for Consolidated PBY Catalina flying boats built by Canadian Vickers) were based here. Anti-aircraft ordnance, ammunition storage for depth charges and considerable concrete fortifications were built. A Stranraer was lost with all its crew during the war in mysterious circumstances. [3]
There is a small, free museum dedicated to the RCAF station, built and maintained by a private individual in the sole remaining Canso hangar.
After the war the buildings were bought by B.C. Packers [4] and whaling operations began. Whales were harpooned by a fleet of up to five small "chasers" with harpoon guns. Whales were brought up by steam windlass on the main slipway formerly used by planes and then flensed (stripped of their blubber) on the concourse and processed indoors. By-products included protein feed for animals, and fertilizer. [5] The plant was powered by two World War II US destroyer steam engines.
Japanese whalers operated jointly with Canadian partners. The Taiyo group (now Maruha Nichiro) operated the Coal Harbour fisheries from 1962 to 1967. They caught mostly sei (2153), sperm (1108), and fin (837) whales. Some blue and humpback whales were also taken.
Canada Packers took over the facility when Taiyo pulled out in 1967, but it lay idle until they sold it for scrap. It was dismantled between 1972 and 1975 by Argus Salvage of Qualicum, British Columbia.[ citation needed ]
In the 1970s, a copper mine was established near the site and ran until 1996.[ citation needed ]
Today few of the original World War II buildings remain, the general store and the commanding officer's barracks still standing and being used as of 2010. The community is linked with a good paved road to Port Hardy. The local school has been closed and students commute to nearby Port Hardy. Coal Harbour is now a bedroom community for Port Hardy, but local industry remains in the form of seaplane services and connections to major fishing lodges. There is a general store and a local government wharf.
The village is also known for its gigantic jawbone of a blue whale. Nearby is the headquarters and main community of the Quatsino First Nation, the band government of the Gwat'sinux group of the Kwakwaka'wakw.
Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is 456 km (283 mi) in length, 100 km (62 mi) in width at its widest point, and 32,100 km2 (12,400 sq mi) in total area, while 31,285 km2 (12,079 sq mi) are of land. The island is the largest by area and the most populous along the west coasts of the Americas.
Ucluelet is a district municipality on the Ucluelet Peninsula, on the west coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. Ucluelet comes from Yuułuʔił which means "people of the safe harbour" in the indigenous Nuu-chah-nulth language and is the homeland of the Yuułuʔiłʔatḥ. As of 2021, its population was 2,066, a 20.3% increase from 1,717 in 2016.
Quatsino Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada, located on Quatsino Sound on northern Vancouver Island.
Holberg is a former ferry terminal about 35 kilometres (22 mi) from the northwest tip of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. This unincorporated community is at the head of Holberg Inlet, which forms the western arm of Quatsino Sound.
Quatsino is a small hamlet of 91 people located on Quatsino Sound in Northern Vancouver Island, Canada only accessible by boat or float plane. Its nearest neighbour is Coal Harbour, to the east, about 20 minutes away by boat, and Port Alice, to the south, about 40 minutes away by boat. The largest town in the region, Port Hardy, is located about an hour northeast by boat and motor vehicle.
The Quatsino First Nation is the First Nations band government of the Gwat'sinux subgroup of the Kwakwaka'wakw peoples, based in the Quatsino Sound region on the west coast of northern Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada, focused on the community of Coal Harbour in Quatsino Sound. It is a member of the Kwakiutl District Council and, for treaty negotiation purposes, the Winalagalis Treaty Group which includes three other members of the Kwakiutl District Council (the Da'naxda'xw Awaetlatla Nation, Gwa'Sala-Nakwaxda'xw Nation, and the Tlatlasikwala Nation.
The Tlatlasikwala Nation is a First Nations band government based on northern Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada, focused on the community of Port Hardy, British Columbia in the Queen Charlotte Strait region. It is a member of the Kwakiutl District Council and, for treaty negotiation purposes, the Winalagalis Treaty Group which includes three other members of the Kwakiutl District Council (the Quatsino First Nation, the Da'naxda'xw Awaetlatla Nation, and the Gwa'Sala-'Nakwaxda'xw Nation.
The Kwakiutl First Nation is a First Nations government based on northern Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada, focused on the community of Port Hardy, British Columbia in the Queen Charlotte Strait region, and also known as the Fort Rupert Band, known in traditional Kwakwaka'wakw terms as the Kwagu'ł or Kwagyewlth. It is a member of the Kwakiutl District Council. It is currently in stage 4 of the British Columbia Treaty Process, having submitted a statement of intent in 1997.
Blunden Harbour is a small harbour and native Indian reserve in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is located the mainland side of Queen Charlotte Strait about 25 kilometres (16 mi) northeast of Port Hardy. Blunden Harbour was the location of a Kwakwaka'wakw village, whose residents referred to themselves as the 'Nak'waxda'xw and are known historically as the Nakoaktok.
Fort Rupert is the site of a former Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) fort on the east coast near the northern tip of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The unincorporated community on Beaver Harbour is about 11 kilometres (7 mi) by road southeast of Port Hardy.
Quatsino Sound is a complex of coastal inlets, bays and islands on northwestern Vancouver Island in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is the northernmost of the five sounds that pierce the west coast of Vancouver Island, the others being Kyuquot Sound, Nootka Sound, Clayoquot Sound, and Barkley Sound.
Coal Harbor or Coal Harbour or variant, may refer to:
No. 4 Squadron was a Royal Canadian Air Force squadron that was active before and during the Second World War. It was formed on 17 January 1933 at RCAF Station Jericho Beach and flew civil operations until 1939, conducting forestry, customs and fishing patrols as well as aerial photography. On 1 January 1938, it was redesignated a General Reconnaissance squadron but continued with the same aircraft, but began training for war operations.
No. 6 Squadron was a Royal Canadian Air Force squadron that was active during the Second World War.
Western Air Command was the part of the Royal Canadian Air Force's Home War Establishment responsible for air operations on the Pacific coast of Canada during the Second World War.
Kalugwis, or Karlukwees or Qalogwis, is the principal community of the Tlowitsis Nation of the Kwakwaka'wakw peoples of the Johnstone Strait region of the South Coast of British Columbia, Canada. It is located on the south shore of Turnour Island facing Beware Passage and is within Karlukwees Indian Reserve No. 1, a.k.a. Karlukwees 1, 10.8 ha.
Whaling: British Columbia's Least Known and Most Romantic Industry is a silent black-and-white documentary film produced by Vancouver filmmaker A. D. Kean in the years 1916–1919. It is an early example of Canadian documentary filmmaking, and is the most complete of Kean's surviving productions. It is probably the earliest extant film to depict steam whaling on the west coast of North America.
Whaling on the Pacific Northwest Coast encompasses both aboriginal and commercial whaling from Washington State through British Columbia to Alaska. The indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast have whaling traditions dating back millennia, and the hunting of cetaceans continues by Alaska Natives and to a lesser extent by the Makah people.
The Nahwitti River is a 40-kilometre (25 mi) long river in northernmost Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. It flows through Cape Scott Provincial Park into Goletas Channel near Hope Island and Queen Charlotte Sound. Its watershed, 229 km2 (88 sq mi) large, is located west and northwest of Port Hardy, north and northeast of Holberg, and north of Holberg Inlet, part of Quatsino Sound.
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