'''Shushartie''' is a ghost town on the east shore of Shushartie Bay near the northeastern extremity of Vancouver Island, British Columbia.<ref>{{BCGNIS|40850| Shushartie (locality)}}</ref>
==Name origin== The settlement adopted the name of the bay, which the Hudson's Bay Company conferred in 1838, while trading with First Nations. The name is an adaptation of a Kwakwaka'wakw word meaning "place possessing cockles". Shellfish abound on the extensive tidal flat at the head of the bay.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://archive.org/details/dailycolonist19590503/page/n55/mode/1up?view=theater&q=shushartie | page=15 | title=Daily Colonist, 3 May 1959 | website=www.archive.org| year=1959 }}</ref> In 1894, Rev. William Washington Bolton led an expedition from near Shushartie, across the northern parts to Quatsino Sound, and then south to Great Central Lake.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.smus.ca/sites/default/files/archive/assets/pdfs/Bolton_Expedition.pdf |title=W.W. Bolton Expeditions |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180122223100/https://www.smus.ca/sites/default/files/archive/assets/pdfs/Bolton_Expedition.pdf |archive-date=22 January 2018 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
==External links== The SS ''Boscowitz'' was calling as early as 1902.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://archive.org/details/dailycolonist19020408uvic/page/n1/mode/2up?view=theater&q=success | page=3 | title=Daily Colonist, 8 Apr 1902 | website=www.archive.org| year=1902 }}</ref> In 1908, a Union Steamship Company of British Columbia (Union SS) vessel arrived weekly.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcnewspapers/norcoa/items/1.0311669#p3z-3r0f:%22Shushartie%22 |page=4 |title=The North Coast, 28 Mar 1908 |website=www.library.ubc.ca}}</ref> By the early 1910s, the Boscowitz Steamship Co (which became part of the Union SS) called weekly on the run up the east coast of Vancouver Island and the west coast of the mainland to Prince Rupert.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://archive.org/details/dailycolonist57310uvic/page/n14/mode/1up?view=theater&q=shushartie | page=15 | title=Daily Colonist, 12 Dec 1912 | website=www.archive.org| year=1912 }}</ref> During this era, cargo was unloaded at Shushartie for points west to Cape Scott. A weekly private launch trip to Fisherman's Bay (Fisherman's Cove) delivered such freight.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://archive.org/details/dailycolonist19791104/page/n84/mode/1up?view=theater&q=shushartie | page=5 | title=Daily Colonist, 4 Nov 1979 | website=www.archive.org| year=1979 }}</ref> The service also catered for passengers along the route.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://archive.org/details/dailycolonist0527uvic_14/page/n13/mode/1up?view=theater&q=shushartie | page=14 | title=Daily Colonist, 17 May 1927 | website=www.archive.org| year=1927 }}</ref>
A trail connected Shushartie and Cape Scott, some of which was of a wagon road standard during the early years.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://archive.org/details/dailycolonist0553uvic_24/page/n20/mode/1up?view=theater&q=shushartie | page=4 | title=Daily Colonist, 31 May 1953 | website=www.archive.org| year=1953 }}</ref> In 1910, a trail linking Shushartie west to Strandby (formerly Cache Creek) was funded.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcnewspapers/princero/items/1.0227459#p2z-3r0f:%22Shushartie%22 |page=3 |title=Prince Rupert Optimist, 25 Jul 1910 |website=www.library.ubc.ca}}</ref> However, residents soon demanded its upgrade to a wagon road.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcnewspapers/xbellacoo/items/1.0169803#p0z-2r0f:%22Shushartie%22 |page=1 |title=Bella Coola Courier, 2 Aug 1913 |website=www.library.ubc.ca}}</ref> The installation of government telephone lines along the trails connecting Holberg to Cape Scott, San Josef Bay, Sea Otter Cove and Shushartie,{{sfn|Paterson|Basque|1999|p=71}} was completed in 1915.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcnewspapers/xbellacoo/items/1.0170094#p0z-2r0f:%22Shushartie%22 |page=1 |title=Bella Coola Courier, 1 May 1915 |website=www.library.ubc.ca}}</ref>
Ships docked at a float<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcnewspapers/cumberlandis/items/1.0342627#p0z-3r0f:%22Shushartie%22 |page=1 |title=Cumberland Islander, 22 Feb 1929 |website=www.library.ubc.ca}}</ref> in the middle of the bay, and craft as small as rowboats ferried passengers and freight to the shore.<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://waves-vagues.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/Library/227012.pdf#page=171 | last=Dubreuil |first=Stephan |page=109 |title=Come Quick, Danger A History of Marine Radio in Canada |publisher=Canadian Government Publishing |year=1998|isbn=0-660-17490-1 | website=www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://archive.org/details/dailycolonist330uvic_8/page/n8/mode/1up?view=theater&q=shushartie | page=9 | title=Daily Colonist, 12 Mar 1930 | website=www.archive.org| year=1930 }}</ref> A later technique involved towing the float to shore for unloading.<ref name=8Oct61>{{Cite web | url=https://archive.org/details/dailycolonist19611008/page/n38/mode/1up?view=theater&q=camp+where | page=2 | title=Daily Colonist, 8 Oct 1961 | website=www.archive.org| year=1961 }}</ref> By the 1960s, the northbound supply boat along the east coast visited monthly.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://archive.org/details/dailycolonist19670419/page/n10/mode/1up?view=theater&q=Calendar | page=11 | title=Daily Colonist, 19 Apr 1967 | website=www.archive.org| year=1967 }}</ref>
==Former community== In late 1894, six pioneers established a settlement known as the Canadian Co-operative Commonwealth. Four men lived in a log cabin, and a couple resided a little farther down the bay. More settlers were expected in the spring. A rockslide pushed the cabin about {{convert|100|ft|m|0|order=flip}} into the bay. Three escaped with severe bruising, but Harry Kipling's leg was trapped beneath logs. To avoid drowning in the rising tide, Kipling consented to the amputation of his leg with an axe. He died the following afternoon. The missionary steamer ''Evangelist'' conveyed the survivors and Kipling's remains to Alert Bay, for passage on the ''Princess Louise'' to Victoria.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SDU18941103.2.2&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1 |page=1 |title=Sacramento Daily Union, 3 Nov 1894 | website=www.cdnc.ucr.edu}}<br />{{Cite web | url=https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcnewspapers/xminer/items/1.0182885#p3z-4r0f:%22Kipling%22 |page=4 |title=Miner (Nelson), 10 Nov 1894 |website=www.library.ubc.ca}}<br />{{Cite web | url=https://www.newspapers.com/search/#lnd=1&query=%22Kipling%27s+remains+to+Alert+Bay%22&ymd=1894-11-02&t=5893 |page=1 |title=Nanaimo Daily News, 2 Nov 1894 | website=www.newspapers.com}}</ref>
In the winter of 1902/03, the ''Boscowitz'' was towing the Methodist steamer ''Glad Tidings'', when a bad leak added to engine troubles. The latter was beached at Shushartie for the storekeeper to pump out and make seaworthy, before collection on the former's next trip. In the interim, a fierce storm drove the ''Glad Tidings'' onto the rocks, where the unsalvageable wreck rested for years.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcbooks/items/1.0385869#p63z-6r0f:%22Shushartie%22 |last=Scott |first=Robert C. |page=64 (40) |title=My Captain Oliver |year=1947|publisher=United Church of Canada |website=www.library.ubc.ca}}</ref>
Jephther J. Skinner, the inaugural postmaster, served 1910–1934,<ref name=Postmasters>{{cite web |url=https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/postal-heritage-philately/post-offices-postmasters/Pages/item.aspx?IdNumber=11379& |title=Postmasters |website=www.bac-lac.gc.ca}}</ref> a role commonly performed by a storeowner in such places.<ref name=BCD18>{{Cite web | url=https://bccd.vpl.ca/index.php/browse/title/1918/Wrigley%27s_British_Columbia_Directory |title=1918 BC Directory |website=www.bccd.vpl.ca}}</ref> Among other enterprises, he ran a hotel, which opened in the early 1910s,<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcnewspapers/xbellacoo/items/1.0169736#p0z-2r0f:%22Shushartie%22 |page=1 |title=Bella Coola Courier, 26 Apr 1913 |website=www.library.ubc.ca}}</ref> and operated at least until 1930.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://bccd.vpl.ca/index.php/browse/title/1930/Wrigley%27s_British_Columbia_Directory |title=1930 BC Directory|website=www.bccd.vpl.ca}}</ref> The facility included longer term boarders.<ref name=24May13>{{Cite web | url=https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcnewspapers/xbellacoo/items/1.0170105#p0z-2r0f:%22Shushartie%22 |page=1 |title=Bella Coola Courier, 24 May 1913 |website=www.library.ubc.ca}}</ref>
In 1914, Skinner took over the Shushartie–Fisherman's Bay mail run,<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcnewspapers/xbellacoo/items/1.0169893#p0z-2r0f:%22Shushartie%22 |page=1 |title=Bella Coola Courier, 14 Feb 1914 |website=www.library.ubc.ca}}</ref> his series of boats manufactured by the local joinery.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcnewspapers/xbellacoo/items/1.0170125#p0z-2r0f:%22Skinner%22 |page=1 |title=Bella Coola Courier, 21 Nov 1914 |website=www.library.ubc.ca}}</ref> Before relocating his shipping route to the west coast, Captain Peterson performed the contract. Skinner named few of his boats, because he was often shipwrecked in the rough seas while completing the monthly route. He once said: "We are on the right Island, but on the wrong end and 50 years too soon." He died ashore in 1934, but had specified a burial at sea, because he had evaded the ocean's attempts to take him many times.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://archive.org/details/dailycolonist19690914/page/n80/mode/1up?view=theater&q=Peterson | page=10 | title=Daily Colonist, 14 Sep 1969 | website=www.archive.org| year=1969 }}</ref>
The community population was 25 in 1918,<ref name="BCD18" /> 50 in 1927,<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://bccd.vpl.ca/index.php/browse/title/1927/Wrigley%27s_British_Columbia_Directory |title=1927 BC Directory |website=www.bccd.vpl.ca}}</ref> 65 in 1930,<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://bccd.vpl.ca/index.php/browse/title/1930/Wrigley%27s_British_Columbia_Directory |title=1930 BC Directory |website=www.bccd.vpl.ca}}</ref> 48 in 1939,<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://bccd.vpl.ca/index.php/browse/title/1939/British_Columbia_and_Yukon_Directory |title=1939 BC Directory |website=www.bccd.vpl.ca}}</ref> 31 in 1940,<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://bccd.vpl.ca/index.php/browse/title/1940/British_Columbia_and_Yukon_Directory |title=1940 BC Directory |website=www.bccd.vpl.ca}}</ref> and 62 in 1943.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://bccd.vpl.ca/index.php/browse/title/1943/British_Columbia_and_Yukon_Directory |title=1943 BC Directory |website=www.bccd.vpl.ca}}</ref>
When the post office closed in 1952,<ref name="Postmasters" /> the general store likely closed at the same time. Over recent decades, the abandoned buildings within the community have collapsed among the tangle of blackberry vines.{{sfn|Paterson|Basque|1999|p=74}}
==Industry== ===Fishing=== the Goletas Fish Co. operated a cannery 1914–1928. In 1923, Western Packers Ltd., then the Canadian Fishing Co., purchased the venture. On closure, the equipment moved to the Bones Bay Cannery.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://tidestotins.ca/cannery/shushartie | title=Shusartie Cannery | website=www.tidestotins.ca| date=11 December 2017 }}</ref>
The facility promoted the local salmon and halibut fishing industry.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcnewspapers/xbellacoo/items/1.0169802#p0z-2r0f:%22Shushartie%22 |page=1 |title=Bella Coola Courier, 1 Aug 1914 |website=www.library.ubc.ca}}</ref> The cannery had its own general store for part of this time.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://bccd.vpl.ca/index.php/browse/title/1919/Wrigley%27s_British_Columbia_Directory |title=1919 BC Directory|website=www.bccd.vpl.ca}}<br />to {{Cite web | url=https://bccd.vpl.ca/index.php/browse/title/1924/Wrigley_Henderson_Amalgamated_BC_Directory |title=1924 BC Directory|website=www.bccd.vpl.ca}}</ref>
The presence of a fish buyer, at least from the mid-1930s to the late 1940s,<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://bccd.vpl.ca/index.php/browse/title/1936/BC_and_Yukon_Directory |title=1936 BC Directory|website=www.bccd.vpl.ca}}<br />to {{Cite web | url=https://bccd.vpl.ca/index.php/browse/title/1948/British_Columbia_and_Yukon_Directory |title=1948 BC Directory|website=www.bccd.vpl.ca}}</ref> indicates that fishing boats sold their coastal catches in the bay.
===Forestry=== Logging commenced as early as 1907.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcnewspapers/pwv/items/1.0344238#p6z-3r0f:%22Shushartie%22 |page=7 |title=Week, 16 Mar 1907 |website=www.library.ubc.ca}}</ref> A sawmill/joinery operated from the early 1910s<ref name="24May13" /> until the early 1950s.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://bccd.vpl.ca/index.php/browse/title/1952/Victoria_City_and_Vancouver_Island_Directory |title=1952 BC Directory |website=www.bccd.vpl.ca}}</ref> Logging continued in the area at least until the early 1960s.<ref name="8Oct61" />
===Tourism=== Nowadays, boat or floatplane provides the only eastern access to the North Coast Trail. During the summertime, a water taxi service operates from Port Hardy to the trailhead on the western side of Shushartie Bay.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://bcparks.ca/explore/parkpgs/cape_scott/hiking.html#northCoastArea |title=North Coast Trail |website=www.bcparks.ca}}</ref> The Cape Scott Provincial Park extends along the northern tip of Vancouver Island from Shushartie Bay in the east, then westward around Cape Scott and south to San Josef Bay.
==Footnotes== {{Reflist}}
==References== *{{cite book|last1=Paterson |first1=T.W. | last2=Basque |first2=G. |title=Ghost Towns & Mining Camps of Vancouver Island |publisher=Sunfire Publications |year=1999|isbn=1-895811-80-5}}
{{coord|50|51|15|N|127|51|15|W|display=title|source:BCNames|name=Shushartie}}
Category:Ghost towns in British Columbia Category:Northern Vancouver Island Category:Seafood canneries