History

Petroglyph, Fulford Harbour, Salt Spring Island, British Columbia
Petroglyph, Fulford Harbour, Salt Spring Island, British Columbia

Long before the European explorers arrived, the Gulf Islands were home to the Coast Salish, who occupied choice areas in the islands at least 5000 years ago and whose evidence is traced throughout middens, petroglyphs and relics found at multiple Gulf Island sites. The fine white shell beaches the islands are famous for are often all that remains of these First Nations settlements.

St. Mary Magdalene Church, Miners Bay, Mayne Island, British Columbia
St. Mary Magdalene Church, Miners Bay, Mayne Island, British Columbia

Many of the islands, their waterways, bays and harbours now carry the names of the Spanish and English explorers who arrived in the 18th century: Narvaez Bay, Vesuvius Bay and Galiano, Valdes, and Mayne Islands. The ships that brought later explorers in the 19th century also live on in their namesakes: Plumper Sound, the Salt Spring town of Ganges, Satellite and Trincomali Channels, to name a few.

In the mid 1850s, gold fever catapulted Miners Bay on Mayne Island into an active port and one of the first Crown colonies. Gold seekers from Vancouver Island and the United States passed eagerly through Active Pass on their way to seek Fraser River Gold, thus establishing Miners Bay as one of the first Southern Gulf Islands settlements. A few years later, Salt Spring Island was settled by Australians, British and African Americans escaping slavery in the United States. Fruit orchards soon followed, and for many years the produce from Gulf Islands orchards was highly prized and profitable. Abandoned orchards can still be found on many of the islands today.

Schools opened, other islands were settled, and farming and trading began in earnest. With the boundary finally settled between the United States and Canada in 1872, the Gulf Islands were now officially part of Canada and the San Juan Islands part of the United States. The era of smuggling began. But that’s another story. Every Gulf Island, no matter how small, has its own fascinating and varied tales.