Hastings Arm extends 14 miles (23 km) north from Observatory Inlet into the Coast Mountains and terminates at the mouth of the Kshwan River, about 23 miles (37 km) south‐southeast of Stewart and 17 miles (27 km) northwest of Kitsault, British Columbia. Named in 1869 by Captain Daniel Pender for Rear Admiral George Fowler Hastings, commander in chief of the Pacific Station at Victoria (1866–69), the arm is known to the Nisga’a as K’alii Kshwan, meaning ‘up river water teeth.’ The name recalls Tseemsim, the Nisga’a grandfather, who found the river so cold it hurt his teeth when he cupped his hands to drink. The Kshwan River originates at roughly 2,150 feet (655 m) at the terminus of the Kshwan Glacier, which descends from the Cambria Icefield. It flows south for about 9 miles (14.5 km) to the head of Hastings Arm. Observatory Inlet stretches about 31 miles (50 km) south‐southwest from Hastings Arm to Portland Inlet at the mouth of Nass Bay. In 1793, Captain George Vancouver named the inlet after anchoring HMS Discovery and HMS Chatham in Salmon Cove—approximately 10 miles (16 km) south of Hastings Arm—and establishing an astronomical observatory to calibrate navigational chronometers. The Coast Mountains, a major range in the Pacific Coast Ranges, extend from southwestern Yukon through Southeast Alaska and along nearly the entire coast of British Columbia to the Fraser River. They are divided into three subdivisions: the Pacific, Kitimat, and Boundary Ranges. The Kitimat Ranges lie between Portland Canal to the north and the Bella Coola River to the south, bordered on the east by the Intermontane Belt. At the Cambria Icefield, plu­tons of the Coast Plutonic Complex intruded lower and middle Jurassic rocks of the Stikinia terrane. Pleistocene glaciations carved Hastings Inlet, and rising sea levels drowned the deglaciated fjord. The inlet features shallow sills—terminal moraines of ancient glaciers—with a sill at Observatory Inlet 167 feet (51 m) deep, while Hastings Arm reaches a maximum depth of 1,007 feet (307 m).

Nisga’a oral histories recount a great flood that once covered the earth. To avoid being swept away, the people took refuge in rafts, canoes and on the four highest peaks in their territory. The Nisga’a traditionally relied on hunting, fishing and gathering. Traditional foods included crabs, black cod, halibut, salmon, herring eggs, seals, sea lions, clams, pine mushrooms, lowbush cranberries, and mountain blueberries. They traveled by canoe and on foot to hunt, fish and trade with neighboring First Nations. The Nisga’a lived in rectangular houses built from cedar planks. Their homes were elaborately painted, featuring family crests on the exterior and ceremonial objects such as masks inside. Cedar was also used to craft totem poles, canoes, baskets, hats, staffs, masks, rattles, baby cradles, drying racks, bowls and body armor. The Nisga’a first encountered Europeans in 1793 when Vancouver sailed into the Nass River estuary. They soon established a trade relationship by exchanging sea otter pelts for metal objects like pots and knives. By the 1800s the Hudson’s Bay Company had set up trading posts along the Northwest Coast, and the Nass River mouth became a hub for material exchange. European contact introduced new tools and weapons, but also deadly diseases such as smallpox, influenza, tuberculosis and measles—that significantly reduced the Nisga’a population throughout the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries. A mid‑1800s gold rush in British Columbia brought miners, explorers and settlers into Nisga’a territory. Christian missionaries also arrived, converting many Nisga’a and banning traditional ceremonies such as the potlatch. In 1871, when British Columbia joined Canada, most Nisga’a territory was declared Crown land, forcing the Nisga’a to live on reserves around the Nass River.

Early 20th-century prospectors were drawn to the Alice and Hastings Arm region by reports of gold. The first significant ore body was a pyrite–chalcopyrite deposit in Observatory Inlet. It was not developed until 1914, when Granby Consolidated Mining, Smelting and Power Company began mining and established the Anyox Copper Mine—then the largest in the British Empire. No major operations emerged along Hastings Arm or in the Kshwan River valley, as the granitic rocks of the Coast Plutonic Complex rarely yield valuable deposits. The only mine in the upper reaches of Hastings Arm was the Saddle Claim, which produced about three tons of ore in 1929. Prospectors later staked numerous claims in the Kitsault Valley at the head of Alice Arm, yet only the Dolly Varden Mine proved profitable. Between 1919 and 1921, it shipped 36,609 tons of ore concentrate, yielding 1,304,409 ounces (36,979 kg) of silver. The mine’s tailings were dumped into the Kitsault River and carried to Alice Arm. Early prospecting also revealed molybdenite deposits, but these attracted interest only in 1929 when an English manufacturer of special steel took notice. Optioned by Dalhousie Mining Company in 1930, the property remained undeveloped until the mid-1950s, when Kennco Exploration Ltd. began preliminary work. After further examinations until 1960, Kennco formed British Columbia Molybdenum Ltd. to mine the deposit in 1967. The mine operated until April 1972, processing 6,000 tons daily while discharging tailings directly into Alice Arm. Tailings from Anyox and Kitsault also affected Hastings Inlet. Mine tailings can harm subtidal benthic invertebrates through physical disturbance, smothering, chemical contamination and sediment alteration. Submarine tailings disposal is now banned in parts of the world. Studies in Hastings and Alice Arms show that glacier-fed rivers can quickly bury the fjord substrate, allowing the seabed and its invertebrate community to recover once tailings disposal ceases. Read more here and here. Explore more of Hastings Arm and Observatory Inlet here: