Quatsino is a small community located on Quatsino Sound on the northwestern coast of Vancouver Island, about 14 miles (23 km) south-southwest of Port Hardy and 10 miles (16 km) northwest of Port Alice, British Columbia. The sound—a complex of coastal inlets, bays and islands—is the northernmost of the five on the island’s west coast. Northern Vancouver Island’s geology is defined by the Wrangellia terrane, which accreted to North America during the Cretaceous (about 110–85 million years ago). Originally formed near the equator during or before the Jurassic in the Panthalassic Ocean off Laurentia’s west coast, these volcanic island arcs and oceanic plateaus comprise a variety of rock types. Yet Late Triassic flood basalts remain the terrane’s hallmark, having been extruded over a five‑million‑year period around 230 million years ago atop an extinct volcanic island arc. Later, Wrangellia collided with the Alexander terrane, and by the end of the Triassic the Peninsular terrane had merged with the composite. A subduction zone on Wrangellia’s west side compressed lighter seafloor rocks against its edge. Plate tectonics then drove this amalgamation northeastward until it contacted the North American continental margin. In the Quatsino Sound area the oldest rocks are the Late Triassic flood basalts of the Karmutsen Formation. These are overlain by thin- to massive limestone of the Quatsino Formation and by marine shale, siltstone and impure limestone of the Parson Bay Formation. During the Late Pliocene and Pleistocene the Cordilleran ice sheet repeatedly enveloped western Canada’s mountains. At its maximum it covered nearly all of British Columbia and southern Alaska and extended into the northwestern United States. In western British Columbia ice streamed down coastal fjords and valleys, scouring fjords like Quatsino Sound, which later drowned as sea levels rose. Glacial sediment was carried beyond the ice sheet’s periphery, and deglaciation was rapid—triggered by climate warming and calving at its western margin—ending about 11,000 years ago.

The Quatsino First Nation is part of the Gwat’sinux subgroup of the Kwakwaka’wakw, based in the Quatsino Sound region—primarily in Coal Harbor. The Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw creation story recounts how their ancestors arrived as animals via land, sea or underground. Upon arrival, the animal shed its form and became human. Prominent figures include the Thunderbird and his brother Kolas, as well as the seagull, orca and grizzly bear. Some ancestors have human origins and are said to come from distant places. Historically, the Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw economy relied on fishing, with men hunting and women gathering wild fruits and berries. Ornate weaving and woodwork were prized, and wealth—measured in slaves and material goods—featured prominently at potlatches. The first documented European contact was with Captain George Vancouver in 1792. Subsequent encounters with settlers introduced diseases that drastically reduced the Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw population; the 1862 Pacific Northwest smallpox epidemic alone killed more than half the people. In 1894, Norwegian settlers arrived on the steamboat Mischief to homestead 80-acre (32 ha) farms offered through Crown Land Grants, founding the community of Quatsino. Steamboat service to Victoria soon followed, as did a post office, customs office and government wharf. In 1897, Saint Olaf’s Anglican Church was built—now one of the oldest buildings on Vancouver Island. The village also has one of British Columbia’s few public one‑room schoolhouses, a two‑story wooden building constructed in 1935. The community grew with the development of local resources, boasting mines, canneries, general stores, rental cabins, a hotel, a saloon, a telegraph office and an Imperial Oil fuel station. It thrived until the 1940s. Today, the village has only 75, mostly summer, residents and remains accessible only by boat from Coal Harbor or Port Alice. Both the First Nation and the settler community share a complex history that underscores the region’s cultural diversity. Its remoteness has preserved its character and heritage, while its rich indigenous legacy continues to shape its identity despite modern challenges.

The Kwakwaka’wakw, in both prehistoric and historic times, fished for hiqua (dentalium) in Quatsino and Nootka Sounds. Dentalium refers to the tooth or tusk shells produced by scaphopod mollusks; the term derives from a genus encompassing 80 species. The shells are conical, curved and typically whitish, resembling miniature elephant tusks. They are hollow and open at both ends—the larger opening is the anterior aperture, while the smaller is the apical aperture. The mantle remains entirely within the shell, and the foot, emerging from the larger end, burrows into the sediment. The animal positions its head downward, with the apical tip projecting into the water, and lives on the seafloor feeding on microscopic organisms, detritus and foraminiferans. Traditionally, the shells were harvested from the seabed at about 50 feet (15 m) deep using a long, broomlike tool. Dentalium shells—mostly from Dentalia pretiosum—were a widely traded commodity among First Nations and Native Americans along the West Coast, from the Arctic to Southern California , for over 2,500 years. Coastal groups circulated the shells, trading them with western Athapaskan groups in the boreal forests, Arctic coastal groups including the MacKenzie River Inuit, and prairie groups such as the Blackfoot and Hidatsa as far east as the Great Lakes. The shells were strung into units that determined their value, the standard being 40 shells per fathom (1.8 m). They were used for personal adornment, as decorative elements on clothing and utilitarian items, and as a medium of exchange for canoes, houses, ceremonial regalia, tobacco, food, furs and even for doctoring, wives or fines. Among Native American tribes such as the Chinook and Coast Salish, dentalium held value comparable to that of canoes and slaves—symbols of wealth distributed among chosen survivors after a warrior’s death. Read more here and here. Explore more of Quatsino and Quatsino Sound here: