View source for Porcher Island

{{Short description|Island in British Columbia, Canada}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2023}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}
{{more citations needed|date=March 2010}}
{{Infobox islands
| name             = Porcher Island
| image_name       = Oval Bay, Porcher Island.jpg
| image_caption    = Oval Bay, Porcher Island
| image_size       = 250px
| map_image        = Locmap-PorcherIsland.png
| map_caption      = Porcher Island (British Columbia, Canada)
| native_name      = K'paal
| native_name_link = 
| nickname         = 
| location         = [[Hecate Strait]]
| coordinates      = {{coord|53|59|02|N|130|31|29|W|display=inline,title|source:BCNames|name=Porcher Island}}
| archipelago      = 
| total_islands    = 
| major_islands    = 
| area_sqmi        = 200
| length_mi        =
| width_mi         =
| coastline_mi     = 100
| highest_mount    = 
| elevation_ft     =
| country          = Canada
| country_admin_divisions_title     = Province
| country_admin_divisions           = [[British Columbia]]
| country_admin_divisions_title_1   = Land District
| country_admin_divisions_1         = Coast Land District, Range 5
| country_admin_divisions_title_2   = Regional District
| country_admin_divisions_2         = [[Skeena-Queen Charlotte Regional District, British Columbia|Skeena-Queen Charlotte Regional District]]
| country_largest_city              = 
| country_largest_city_population   = 
| population       = 37 
| population_as_of = 2006
| density_km2      = 0.071
| ethnic_groups    = 
| additional_info  =
}}

'''Porcher Island''' is an island in [[Hecate Strait]], [[British Columbia]], Canada, near the mouth of the [[Skeena River]] and southwest of the port city of [[Prince Rupert, British Columbia|Prince Rupert]].<ref>[http://apps.gov.bc.ca/pub/bcgnws/names/30943.html BC Names/GeoBC entry "Porcher Island"]</ref>  The locality of Porcher Island is located near the island's northern tip at '''Humpback Bay''', {{coord|54|05|11|N|130|23|23|W|display=inline|source:BCNames|name=Porcher Island (locality)}}.<ref>[http://apps.gov.bc.ca/pub/bcgnws/names/37003.html BC Names/GeoBC entry "Porcher Island (locality)"]</ref><ref>[http://apps.gov.bc.ca/pub/bcgnws/names/36305.html BC Names/GeoBC entry "Humpback Bay"]</ref>  [[Stephens Island (British Columbia)|Stephens]] and Prescott Islands are located off its northwestern tip.<ref>[http://apps.gov.bc.ca/pub/bcgnws/names/37397.html BC Name/GeoBC entry "Stephens Island"]</ref><ref>[http://apps.gov.bc.ca/pub/bcgnws/names/37017.html BC Names/GeoBC entry "Prescott Island"]</ref>

== Geography ==
With a land area of {{convert|200|sqmi|km2|0|abbr=on}}, Porcher Island is the eighth largest coastal island in [[British Columbia]]. The island's northern tip is 
{{convert|24|km|mi|1|abbr=on}} southwest of the port city of [[Prince Rupert, British Columbia|Prince Rupert]], and 
{{convert|70|km|mi|1|abbr=on}} due south of the southernmost extension of the [[Alaska Panhandle]]. The island is located within the Range 5 Coast Land District<ref>{{BCGNIS|30943|Porcher Island}}</ref> and the [[Skeena-Queen Charlotte Regional District, British Columbia|Skeena-Queen Charlotte Regional District]]. Porcher Island is bounded on the north by Chatham Sound and the [[Skeena River]] estuary, by [[Hecate Strait]] to the west and by [[Ogden channel|Ogden Channel]] to the east. Metlakata Inlet and Kitkatla Channel separate Porcher's southern flank from the Goschen, Dolphin and Spicer Islands, near the entrance to Principe Channel.

Porcher Island is nearly bisected from the south by Porcher Inlet, a long, narrow channel that intrudes {{convert|13.7|km|mi|1|abbr=on}} into the island's interior, before emptying into a salt lagoon at the foot of the Spiller Range. Oval Bay, on the island's western edge, features a {{convert|5|km|mi|1|abbr=on}} sandy beach, which is exposed to the ferocious southeast gales that regularly sweep through Hecate Strait.

The interior of the island is hilly, Egeria Mountain, southeast of Porcher Inlet, is the tallest reaching to 2,915 feet,<ref>{{BCGNIS|28100|Egeria Mountain}}</ref> while the Bell Range dominates to the northwest.<ref>{{BCGNIS|28301|Bell Range}}</ref>

== History ==
Porcher Island, part of the territories of the [[Gitxaala Nation]],<ref>{{cite report
  | first = Susan
  | last = Marsden
  | title = THE GITKXAALA,THEIR HISTORY,AND THEIR TERRITORIES(PORCHER ISLAND,BANKS ISLAND,PITT ISLAND AND ADJACENT ISLANDS)
  | url = https://aeic-iaac.gc.ca/050/documents/54599/54599E.pdf
  | accessdate = 2020-03-11
}}</ref> is named after Edwin Augustus Porcher,<ref>For more on Edwin Augustus Porcher see: {{Cite NBD1849 |wstitle=Porcher, Edwin Augustus}}</ref> [[Royal Navy|RN]] (1821–1878), who served as Commander of HMS ''Sparrowhawk'' at [[CFB Esquimalt|Esquimalt Naval Base]], Vancouver Island, from the spring of 1865 until he returned to England in the fall of 1868. While serving with the [[Pacific Station|North Pacific Squadron]], Commander Porcher made four summertime voyages to the [[British Columbia Coast|North Coast of British Columbia]]; in 1866, 1867 and twice in 1868. The route of the [[Inside Passage]] that the ''Sparrowhawk'' took from Esquimalt to the [[Hudson's Bay Company]] trading post at [[Fort Simpson (Columbia Department)|Fort Simpson]] (the [[Tsimshian]] village of [[Lax Kw'alaams, British Columbia|Lax Kw'alaams]]) would have passed close by the island in Chatham Sound that now bears the Commander's name.

With the exception of a brief influx of homesteaders in the wake of Prince Rupert being chosen as the terminus of the [[Grand Trunk Pacific Railway]] in 1906, Porcher Island has always been sparsely populated. The island's relative isolation, combined with wet, cool summers and severe winters, has discouraged many of those who sought to make Porcher Island their permanent home. Nonetheless, three small settlements that were established during the 20th century still boast a few inhabitants today. These settlements are to be found at Hunts Inlet (formerly Jap Inlet)<ref>{{BCGNIS|36311|Hunts Inlet}}</ref><ref>{{BCGNIS|48655|Jap Inlet}}</ref> and at Humpback Bay,<ref>{{BCGNIS|37003|Porcher Island (locality)}}</ref> both on the island's northernmost tip, and at Oona River, which flows into Ogden Channel at the island's eastern edge.<ref>{{BCGNIS|30298|Oona River (locality)}}</ref><ref>{{BCGNIS|30300|Oona River}}</ref>

Hunts Inlet is a collection of older buildings grouped around a government dock, with the more recent addition of a number of vacation homes built by Prince Rupert residents.

[[File:Porcher Floats.jpg|thumb|Gillnet Floats, Humpback Bay, Porcher Island, 1964]]Humpback Bay is the site of the former [[Porcher Island Cannery]], now derelict. The salmon cannery was originally built by the Chatham Sound Fishing and Packing Company in 1928, but operated for only four years before closing at the end of the 1932 salmon season. The site was later purchased by the [[Canadian Fishing Company]] and used as a summer [[gillnet]] station until 1968, when gillnet operations were transferred to [[List of National Historic Sites of Canada|North Pacific Cannery]]. Humpback Bay continued to serve as a net storage facility until the 1980s, when the Crown lease was sold to private interests.

With 30 or so permanent residents, Oona River currently has the largest population of the three surviving Porcher Island settlements. Situated at the northern end of Ogden Channel, Oona River was originally settled by Scandinavian immigrants in the years before and after the First World War. The village has long been a source of wooden boats for the B.C. salmon fishing industry. Scores of these sturdy, seaworthy vessels were hand-built from red and yellow cedar by early settlers and their descendants, and some can still be seen in use today. The Oona River Salmon Enhancement Project, first established some 25 years ago, continues to rebuild threatened coho salmon stocks in the Porcher Island area.

The island, together with some of its surrounding area, (excluding [[Kitkatla]] (Laxklan), a [[Tsimshian]] village, is situated on [[Dolphin Island (British Columbia)|Dolphin Island]]) had a population of 37 in the [[Canada 2006 Census]], down 26% from the [[Canada 2001 Census|2001 census]].<ref>{{cite web
  | last = Statistics Canada
  | author-link = Statistics Canada
  | title = Canada 2006 Census
  | url = http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census06/data/profiles/community/Details/Page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=CSD&Code1=5927020&Geo2=PR&Code2=59&Data=Count&SearchText=Lasqueti&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=All&Custom=
  | accessdate = 2008-05-03| date = 2007-03-13
 }}</ref>

== Ecology ==
Porcher Island is part of the Hecate Lowland Ecosection, a once heavily glaciated band of narrow lowland rain forest and coastal archipelago that stretches from [[Portland Inlet]] in the north to [[Queen Charlotte Strait]] in the south.<ref name="BCecoregions">{{cite report
 | author      = Dennis A. Demarchi
 | author-link =
  | date        = March 2011
 | title       = An Introduction to the Ecoregions of British Columbia
 | url         = https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/environment/plants-animals-and-ecosystems/ecosystems/broad-ecosystem/an_introduction_to_the_ecoregions_of_british_columbia.pdf
 | publisher   = Ecosystem Information Section, Ministry of Environment, Victoria, British Columbia
 | format      = pdf
 | others      =
 | edition     = Third
 | location    =
 | chapter     =
 | section     =
 | page        =
 | pages       = 29–30
 | docket      =
 | access-date = 2020-03-09
 | quote       =
}}</ref> Hecate Lowland terrain is generally rough and rocky, with wide areas of muskeg wetland and bog forest. Tree species include [[western red cedar]], [[Cupressus nootkatensis|yellow cedar]], [[mountain hemlock]] and [[fir]]. [[Salal]], [[ferns]], and [[Lysichiton americanus|skunk cabbage]] are commonly found undergrowth. Lowland climate in the Porcher Island region is dominated by frontal flows from [[Dixon Entrance]], resulting in frequent wind storms and heavy rainfall. [[File:Front Dock.jpg|thumb|Porcher Island Cannery]]

Waterfowl are found in abundance throughout the protected inlets and estuaries that notch Porcher Island's 100 mile coastline. Species include [[Common merganser|Merganser]], [[Aphriza virgata|Surfbird]], [[Brachyramphus marmoratus|Marbled Murrelet]], [[Larus glaucescens|Glaucous-winged gull]], [[Ardea herodias|Northwest heron]], [[Gavia stellata|Red-Throated Loon]], [[Cerorhinca monocerata|Rhinoceros auklet]], [[Anser albifrons|Greater white-fronted goose]] and [[Haliaeetus leucocephalus|Northern bald eagle]].<ref name="Brooks1923">{{cite journal
 | author = Allan Brooks
 | title = Notes on the Birds of Porcher Island, B. C.
 | journal = The Auk
 | volume = 40
 | number = 2
 | pages = 17–224
 | date = April 1923 }}</ref> Both Chatham Sound and Kitkatla Channel afford a profusion of breeding and nesting habitat for a wide variety of seabirds, and are essential components of the Pacific coast migratory flyway.

{{Commons category}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20081222220115/http://www.porcherislandcannery.ca/ A history of Porcher Island Cannery]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
*Blyth, Gladys Young. ''Salmon Canneries, North Pacific Coast'', Oolichan Books, Lantzville, B.C., 1991.
*''British Columbia Magazine'', Volume 45, Number 2, Summer 2003, pp.&nbsp;11–19.
*Smith, Dwight L. (ed) ''A Tour of Duty of the Pacific Northwest'': E. A. Porcher and H.M.S. Sparrowhawk, 1865–1868, University of Alaska Press, Fairbanks, Alaska, 2000

[[Category:Islands of British Columbia]]
[[Category:North Coast Regional District]]
[[Category:North Coast of British Columbia]]
[[Category:Unincorporated settlements in British Columbia]]
[[Category:Range 5 Coast Land District]]