Haida Adventure

In mid August 2011, Alan Campbell, Robert Dill, Henry Graymen David Maxwell, Ron Painter, Rob Zacharias and I headed up towards Haida Gwaii (formerly known as the Queen Charlotte Islands) for an extended kayak trip. Most of us drove up to Port Hardy at the northern end of Vancouver Island and walked our gear/boats on the ferry to Prince Rupert. 

Another ferry took us over to Skidegate on Graham Island where we boarded yet another ferry to get to Alliford Bay, Moresby Island. From there after traveling down a logging road and a rough windy, cold and wet ride in an open Zodiac, our boats, gear and bodies were dropped off on Ross Island close to southern end of Haida Gwaii in the Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve. It had taken us four days just to get this far and we hadn’t started to paddle.

Haida Gwaii (“Islands of the People”) is an archipelago on BC’s north coast. Haida Gwaii consists of two main islands: Graham Island in the north, and Moresby Island in the south, along with approximately 150 smaller islands with a total landmass of 10,180 km2 (3,931 sq mi). 

The islands are separated from the BC mainland, to the east by Hecate Strait, Vancouver Island to the south and Alaska to the north. The marine border, Dixon Entrance, is disputed by Canada and the USA. Haida territories, continuously occupied before Canadian or USA claims, include lands and waters on both side of this political disagreement. There is no evidence of a free informed prior legal transfer of these territories from the Haida Peoples to either country.

13000 Years Ago

During the end of the last ice age between 13,000 and 11,000 years ago, Hecate Strait, was for the most part dry land. There were lakes and small rivers draining north and south to the Pacific Ocean in that area. Soil samples from Hecate Strait indicate that many areas were habitable in the last ice age. 10,000 years ago, the melting glaciers contributed to a rise in the sea level that resulted in a gradual flooding of Hecate Strait and the northwest coast, creating beach lines above today’s high tide marks.

Archaeological Research

Archeological research identifies Haida Gwaii Aboriginal artifacts that predate 8,000 B.C. It is possible that remnants of the dry plain to the mainland may have still existed at that time as Haida oral history contains stories with matching physical descriptions. Haida traditional territory encompassed Haida Gwaii and a portion of the Alexander Archipelago in the Alaska panhandle.

The Haida tell of a primordial time where no divisions existed between humans, animals and spirits. It was an age when all realms of existence were interconnected and all beings could pass freely between them. A significant event in mythical time occurred when Raven released the first humans from a clamshell in which they were hiding. Since that time the Haida have divided themselves between two families: Ravens and Eagles. Ownership of their family crests, territories, stories and dances have been passed down for centuries through birth and marriage.

Archaeological surveys have located sites in all parts of Haida Gwaii that indicate the population was sizable by 5,000 years ago. At about that time, their economy was expanding from a primary reliance on hunting and fishing to include harvesting shellfish from the huge intertidal areas that surround many of the more protected waterways of the islands. 

The abundance of shellfish provided a virtually inexhaustible supply of food. It also made possible a stability of residence that allowed the establishment of more permanent villages where food, tools and other material objects could be safely stored, as well as the development of craftsmen who could devote more time to art. These changes led to the refinement of woodworking tools and skills, which, in turn, allowed for the construction of bigger and more elaborate canoes as well as larger plank longhouses.

This indicated the beginning of a trading pattern among the Haida and the neighbouring Tsimshian and Tlingit that led to increased sharing of symbols of wealth and materials of exchange, and eventually to closely parallel art styles that were different from those of groups to the south.

Haida Canoes

The Haida canoes were the main means of transporting goods and people up and down the coast although their shape and size varied; the 16.5-metre canoe could take 5 tonnes of cargo and needed a crew of 10 paddlers and a steersman. It was equipped with three masts and sails that helped increase its speed when the wind was blowing. It was made from a single, large red-cedar log that was skillfully dug out, steamed, shaped, carved and painted to produce an elegant, efficient, seaworthy craft.

Permanent Haida villages consisted of one or more rows of houses strung along a beach. Double-row villages were quite common. Their houses were exceptionally well constructed with multiple cedar roof beams projecting several feet beyond the front and rear cedar facades. The centre or ridge beam was broken in the middle for the smoke hole. It was the custom of erecting the carved column in contact with the front of the house and cutting a circular doorway through both. The better houses boasted a centrally excavated pit, often terraced with several tiers leading into the base of pit where a house fire burned which served for cooking, drying and heating. 

Living and sleeping places were apportioned according to rank with the chief in the upper tier in the back of the house and the slaves on the floor in the pit. Longhouses held 50+ people.

Memorial, mortuary, inside and frontal are the 4 types of poles carved by the Haida. When a chief died, his body was stored inside a bentwood mortuary box until a mortuary pole was complete. Memorial poles were erected in memory of a deceased person whose remains were missing or lost at sea. Frontal house poles tells the family’s story and served as the house entrance. The interior of a chief’s house often contained a pole, 9-10 ft high, which depicted one of their crest figures. The village or house chief sat and slept in the front of this pole.

The division of labor was along sex and to some extent class lines. Women gathered roots, berries and seaweed for food and,cedar bark and spruce root for weaving. They processed and preserved all food items, prepared animal skins and made all clothing and basketry. Men fished, hunted sea and land mammals, constructed houses and canoes, and undertook carving and painting. Lineages controlled both real and incorporeal property including fishing and trappings sites. All winter villages were comprised of house owners of both eagle and raven lineages.

The Haida were feared along the coast because of their practice of making lightning raids against which their enemies had little time to mount a defense. The Haida frequently raided each other’s villages in Haida Gwaii as well. Their great skills of seamanship, their superior craft and their relative protection from retaliation in their island fortress added to the aggressive posture of the Haida towards neighbouring tribes. 

The Haida went to war to acquire objects of wealth, such as coppers and Chilkat blankets, but primarily for slaves, who enhanced their productivity or were traded to other tribes. Captives were also the source of ransom such as crest designs, dances and songs. Pre-contact, there were approximately 15,000 Haida.

The archipelago was visited in 1774 by Juan Pérez (at Langara Island) and in 1778 by Captain James Cook. The village name Masset is also the result of earlier contacts and assistance given to Spanish ships perhaps as early as the 16th century. In 1787 the islands were surveyed by Captain Dixon. The islands were named after King George’s wife, Queen Charlotte (also the name of one of his ships) by Captain Dixon. The trading prize were Sea Otter pelts, which made ship owners very wealthy, however the animals were eventually hunted to extinction.

During the first visit of the American trading vessel Lady Washington to the coastal waters off the Queen Charlotte Islands, in June 1789, it encountered the Kunghit Haida residents of Ninstints. Amicable trade resulted. When the ship returned under a different captain, John Kendrick, pilfering of minor items from the ship led to an excessive response from Kendrick, who seized two village chiefs as hostages.

Captain Kendrick returned in 1791, allowed natives to aboard and without warning, his armed officers and crew killed forty to fifty Haida. In return the Haida attacked other trading ships until relations improved.

The Sea Otter trade died out by 1830 but Hudson Bay Company established a trading post in exchange for land fur, dried halibut and herring. The Haida continued to travel; in 1853 five hundred canoed south to the colonial outpost of Victoria. Their arrival frightened the small settlement and Governor Douglas sent them home. 

A smaller flotilla of five canoes quietly returned to Victoria. Trading in 1862 brought a devastating smallpox epidemic that severely reduced the population to a low of 600 by early 1900s. Entire villages were abandoned, most survivors relocated to Masset or Skidegate. Over the years their numbers have increased and today there are some 3,800 Haida citizens living on the islands.

At Athlii Gwaii (Lyell Island) in 1985, Haida elders were arrested for blocking a logging road. After 10 years of land-use planning, negotiations and court cases, the Haida drew a line. Support from across North America helped make this a successful protest, as over 150 organizations were active in the campaign. The Canadian, B.C. Govt’s and Haida Nation created what is today the 1,495 square-kilometer Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve, Marine Conservation Area Reserve and Haida Heritage Site. This area is protected and co-managed by the Federal Govt and Haida Nation. 

We set up our 1st camp on Ross Island, near the southern end of Gwaii Haanas, in the rain. We came prepared for extended periods of rain by bringing two large kitchen tarps plus additional tent tarps to keep gear dry when setting up or taking down camp.