Cortes Island History

Cortes (pronounced Cortez) was named after the Spanish conqueror of Mexico.  The Spanish mapmaker, Valdez, who charted these waters in 1793, forged this unlikely link.  The Spanish didn't settle, but Cortes and many other Islands, their waterways, bays and harbours now carry the names of their explorers: Narvaez Bay, Vesuvius Bay, Galiano, Valdes, and Mayne.

Long before the European explorers arrived, the Discovery & Gulf Islands were home to the Klahoose and Coast Salish tribes, who occupied choice areas at least 5000 years ago.  Evidence of their villages can be traced throughout middens, petroglyphs and relics found at multiple sites. The fine white shell beaches the Islands are famous for are often all that remains of these First Nations settlements. 

The Coast Salish made Quadra Island their home until the arrival of Captain George Vancouver in 1800. He writes of visiting their village at Cape Mudge in 1792 and finding a settled community with long houses, boats and approximately 350 residents.  The Coast Salish were also the indigenous residents of Cortes, but they suffered a great loss of life during the smallpox epidemic in 1862. The Klahoose Band from the north helped swell the numbers when their main villages in Toba Inlet were flooded, they selected their traditional winter campgrounds on Cortes Island as a permanent home.

Whaling was the first important industry on Cortes Island as elsewhere in Desolation Sound, and in 1869 at present day Whaletown, a station was established. Business was so brisk that in only two years the whale population had diminished to the point that the industry was no longer profitable, and the station closed down.

Gold seekers from Vancouver Island and the United States passed eagerly through the Inside Passage on their way to Alaska. Michael Manson from the Shetland Islands was the first settler to arrive on Cortes Island in 1886. He soon established a trading post at what is now called Manson's Landing, trading the Salish provisions that he shipped in from Nanaimo for dogfish oil, which he then sold to the Nanaimo coal mines for lubrication. An enterprising entrepreneur, he went on to operate a steam tug that provided freight and passenger services to logging camps in the area.

In 1893, the first post office opened, servicing the Island's 40 residents. A few years later a schoolhouse was built for its first 12 students. Fruit orchards soon followed, and for many years the produce from these orchards was highly prized and profitable. Other Islands were settled, farming and trading began in earnest. Car ferry services came late to isolated Cortes, connecting it to Quadra and hence to Vancouver Island in 1969. One year later, electricity followed and since then the population has grown to over 900 people who still value the peace and tranquility of Island life.

Cedar Moon on Cortes Island 1-604-925-8856
Photos by Philip Wood c 2001

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