Texada Island
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Texada Island is the largest island in the Strait of Georgia, British Columbia, Canada. It's northern tip is located about 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) southwest of the city of Powell River in the Powell River Regional District on the Sunshine Coast. 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 at some 50 kilometres (31 mi) in length and 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) in width. It sits beside Lasqueti, Harwood and Nelson Islands. Hernando and Savary Islands complete the mini-archipelago.
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[edit] History
Texada was named by the Spanish naval explorer José María Narváez for Felix de Tejada, a Spanish rear-admiral[1] during the 1791 expedition of Francisco de Eliza. Narváez gave the name Isla de Texada to what is now called Lasqueti Island, and Islas de San Felix to Texada Island. The maps made by Eliza and Juan Carrasco in late 1791 moved the name "Texada" to the present Texada Island.[2] A century later 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 epitaph 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.
According to legend, Native Sliammon people did not inhabit Texada, as they fear the island will sink into the strait. They did use the island to fish and clam.
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 being involved in a land and mine scandal. The iron was used off and on--some going into Seattle built battleships, the USS Oregon, for the Great White Fleet; 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, (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 venture near Everett. The iron mines were picked up by the famed Union Iron Works of San Francisco. Canadian investors of Sir William Mackenzie and Donald Mann 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. A series of fires demolished the Van Anda townsite; the last in 1917. Sail races were run from Vancouver to Van Anda about this time too.
However, by 1910 Pacific Lime Company and BC Cement had set up limestone quarrying operations at Blubber Bay, and Marble Bay. For the next near century, limestone quarrying continued. Much of the product was shipped to Seattle, Oregon or California. Railways, cableways and concentration plants were built for the mines, as was the arbutus shaded company town of Blubber Bay. Limestone pits were dug all around the north section of the island so that it more resembles a slice of Swiss cheese than a land mass. Limekilns for sintering quicklime were raised around the northern end of the island. One survives at Marble Bay, and the name is given to Lime Kiln Bay. Other mines included an iron ore mine near Gillies Bay run by Kaiser Aluminum which shipped ore to Japan and Germany after 1945.
Coastal ferries connected the island with the nearby cities of Vancouver and Nanaimo. The Union Steamship Company Cheslakee capsized off Van Anda with a loss of life in 1913. While the Anglican Church of Canada 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 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 and was moved.
During U.S. prohibition, the island was a supply point for illegal alcohol into the United States, with a famous illegal distillery operating on the east shore. The remains of the hooch boiler can be seen on the beach. Blubber Bay quarries were the scene of a vicious strike in 1938.
Logging and cement production continue to this day. Incidently, the tug Manson Sank off Texada Island with loss of all hands.
[edit] Today
A regular ferry service links Powell River and the main ferry terminal at Blubber Bay. Interestingly, the first ferry to the island, after the discontinued Union steamships run, was the Atrevida, late of October Ferry to Gabriola fame.The island also has two stores, a library, bank, gas station, hotel, bed and breakfasts, newly-built restauarnt, a museum and a post office. Located near Gillies Bay, Texada Island also has a 3000' paved runway CYGB for private aircraft and scheduled services. Texada Island is used in a computer flight simulator program (Link Below). There are many parks, forests, lakes, beaches and mountains to explore. There are rare fossils, abundant plant life and a variety of wildlife. South Texada Island Provincial Park and Shelter Point Park are two wonderful areas. If travelling to the south end, lookout for hillbuggies, or homegrown soapbox cars.
Texada possesses a wonderful combination of light and soil conditions for market agriculture. Large vegetables have been known to grow on the island. Today, the island caters mainly to weekending tourists seeking an escape from the city. A Jazz festival and a sandcastle contest are held in the summer.
A BC Hydro powerline that was built in 1982 runs east-west across the middle of the Island. A Terasen 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 still produces 5 million tons of limestone a year. The island is 300.45 km² (116 sq mi) in land area and had a population of 1,129 in the 2001 census.
[edit] LNG Controversy
In 2007, Westpac LNG announced that it intended to build a liquified natural gas (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, comprised of a large number of conservation, environmental, community and labour groups around the Georgia Basin.
[edit] References
- ^ Texada Island in the BC Geographical Names Information System
- ^ McDowell, Jim (1998). José Narváez: The Forgotten Explorer. Spokane, Washington: The Arthur H. Clark Company, pp. 58-59. ISBN 0-87062-265-X.
- Community Profile: Texada Island: Powell River D Regional District Electoral Area, British Columbia; Statistics Canada
- http://aspector.com/~brf/Texada/Preview/index.html#trip a virtual Van Anda !!!
[edit] External links
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