Port Alice is a village of approximately 739 (2021 census) located on
Neroutsos Inlet, southwest of
Port McNeill, on
Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are of land. The island is the largest ...
, originally built by Whalen Pulp and Paper Mills of Vancouver. The community is known for its natural environment, pulp mill, and salt water fishing.
History
Historically, before 1750, the area was home to the Hoyalas, followed by the
Koskimo people in the late 1800s.
It was named after Alice Whalen, the founders' mother. The brothers Whalen began their construction of the mill at its present site in 1917, with first pulp produced in 1918. The mill at
Swanson Bay, on the
Inside Passage
The Inside Passage () is a coastal route for ships and boats along a network of passages which weave through the islands on the Pacific Northwest coast of the North American Fjordland. The route extends from southeastern Alaska in the United St ...
farther north, was also a Whalen operation.
Due to heavy rainfall and the surrounding steep slopes, Port Alice experienced mud and rock slides in 1927 and 1935, which contributed to the decision to relocate the town site away from the mill in 1965. Landslides continued to occur in the area and at the new townsite in 1973, 1975, 1987, and 2010.
[
In 1965, Port Alice became a district municipality and was incorporated as a village on January 1, 1971.]
Geography
Devil’s Bath, a flooded sinkhole near Port Alice, is an example of a cenote
A cenote ( or ; ) is a natural pit, or sinkhole, resulting when a collapse of limestone bedrock exposes groundwater. The term originated on the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico, where the ancient Maya commonly used cenotes for water supplies, and ...
and is the largest in Canada at 359 meters in diameter and 44 meters in depth.
There are a number of hiking destinations in the area. They include Devil’s Bath, Eternal Fountain, Vanishing River & Reappearing River. These are a series of ancient karst and limestone formations. The access is through dirt roads.
Climate
Port Alice has an oceanic climate
An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen climate classification, Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of co ...
(Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer
* Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan
* Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...
''Cfb'') and is one of the mildest and wettest places in Canada, receiving of actual rainfall per year and exceptionally little snow, which amounts to as much as 33 percent more rainfall than infamously wet Prince Rupert
Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Duke of Cumberland, (17 December 1619 ( O.S.) 7 December 1619 (N.S.)– 29 November 1682 (O.S.) December 1682 (N.S) was an English-German army officer, admiral, scientist, and colonial governor. He first rose to ...
and only marginally less than Southeast Alaska
Southeast Alaska, often abbreviated to southeast or southeastern, and sometimes called the Alaska(n) panhandle, is the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Alaska, bordered to the east and north by the northern half of the Canadian provi ...
’s wettest cities of Ketchikan and Yakutat which each average around and receive much more snowfall.
Demographics
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. It is headquartered in ...
, Port Alice had a population of 739 living in 415 of its 538 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 664. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.[
]
Notable people
* Jason Bowen – NHL
The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...
player 1992 - 1998 Philadelphia Flyers and Edmonton Oilers
*Paul Manly
Paul Manly (born April 19, 1964) is a Canadian politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Nanaimo—Ladysmith from 2019 until 2021. A member of the Green Party of Canada, he was elected to the House of Commons in a by-election on ...
– Green
Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a com ...
MP, and the son of the former NDP MP Jim Manly
*Patrick Moore
Sir Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore (; 4 March 1923 – 9 December 2012) was an English amateur astronomer who attained prominence in that field as a writer, researcher, radio commentator and television presenter.
Moore's early interest in astro ...
– founding member of Greenpeace
Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by a group of Environmental movement, environmental activists. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its biod ...
1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games
The 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games were held in Perth, Western Australia, from 22 November to 1 December 1962. Athletic events were held at Perry Lakes Stadium in the suburb of Floreat and swimming events at Beatty Park in North ...
, eights 1963 Pan American Games
The 1963 Pan American Games, officially known as the IV Pan American Games () and commonly known as São Paulo 1963, were held from April 20 to May 5, 1963, in São Paulo, Brazil.
Host city selection
For the first time, two cities submitted b ...
, gold medal in eights, 1964 Tokyo Olympics
The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this honor was subsequ ...
, eights 1966 World Rowing Championships
The 1966 World Rowing Championships was the second time that world championships in rowing were held. The regatta was held from 8 to 11 September at Lake Bled in Bled, Slovenia, Yugoslavia. There were 613 rowers from 32 countries who competed ...
, coxless four 1967 Pan American Games
The 1967 Pan American Games, officially known as the V Pan American Games () and commonly known as Winnipeg 1967, were held in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, from July 23 to August 6, 1967.
Winnipeg was chosen as host of the Pan American Games on ...
,silver medal in pair, Royal Canadian Henley Regatta 1967 gold medal in junior singles, 1968 Mexico Olympics double
See also
* List of francophone communities in British Columbia
References
External links
*
{{authority control
Villages in British Columbia
Quatsino Sound region
Populated places in the Regional District of Mount Waddington