Toba Inlet is one of the lesser, but still principal, inlets of the

British Columbia Coast The British Columbia Coast, popularly referred to as the BC Coast or simply the Coast, is a geographic region of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of British Columbia. As the entire western continental coastline of Canada ...

. It is fourth in the series north from the 49th parallel which begins with

Burrard Inlet Burrard Inlet () is a shallow-sided fjord in the northwestern Lower Mainland, British Columbia, Canada. Formed during the last Ice Age, it separates the City of Vancouver and the rest of the lowland Burrard Peninsula to the south from the coa ...

, which is the harbour for the city of

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

. Between it and

Jervis Inlet Jervis Inlet ( ) (''lekw'emin'' in she shashishalhlem) is one of the principal inlets of the British Columbia Coast, about northwest of Vancouver, and the third of such inlets north of the 49th parallel, the first of which is Burrard Inlet, V ...

to its east, however, there is a freshwater fjord, Powell Lake, which has been augmented by a small hydro project to supply power to the large pulp mill at Powell River, the principal town of the Malaspina Peninsula of the upper Sunshine Coast. Klahoose 1 Reserve, of the

Klahoose First Nation The ƛoʔos Klahoose are one of the three groups comprising the ''ʔayʔaǰuθəm'' Tla'Amin or Mainland Comox. The other two divisions of this once-populous group are the χʷɛmaɬku Homalco and Sliammon (which is a corruption of "Tla A'm ...

is at the mouth of Toba River at the Head of Toba Inlet. Toba Inlet and the Toba Valley is home to many grizzly bears.

Geography

Toba Inlet is relatively short in comparison to the other major coastal inlets, being only about in average width and from the mouth of the powerful (but short) Toba River to the inlet's mouth at the junctions of Pryce Channel and Homfray Channel at the north tip of

East Redonda Island East Redonda Island is a coastal island in British Columbia, Canada, part of the Discovery Islands archipelago. It lies just to the north of Desolation Sound Marine Park, which is located off the north end of the Malaspina Peninsula at the mout ...

History

The first non-indigenous exploration of Toba Inlet occurred in 1792 when British and Spanish expeditions arrived in the area simultaneously. There was cooperation between the British under

George Vancouver Captain (Royal Navy), Captain George Vancouver (; 22 June 1757 – 10 May 1798) was a Royal Navy officer and explorer best known for leading the Vancouver Expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern West Coast of the Uni ...

and the Spanish under

Dionisio Alcalá Galiano Dionisio Alcalá Galiano (8 October 1760 – 21 October 1805) was a Spanish Navy officer, cartographer, and explorer. He mapped various coastlines in Europe and the Americas with unprecedented accuracy using new technology such as chronomete ...

. From a base of operation in

Desolation Sound Desolation Sound () is a deep water sound (geography), sound at the northern end of the Salish Sea and of the Sunshine Coast (British Columbia), Sunshine Coast in British Columbia, Canada. History Desolation Sound has always been inhabited by tri ...

boats were sent out to explore the region. On June 25, 1792, Vancouver proposed sending out three parties in boats. The Spanish offered to take on one of the three, this being the investigation of Toba Inlet. Caytetano Valdés left with a boat party early on June 25, and returned on June 27, having determined that the inlet was closed. He described it as being of great depth, with steep shores and high peaks around. On its east shore Valdés found a plank ("tabla" in Spanish) covered with paintings, which he described as "hieroglyphics of the natives". There were several empty villages. The Spanish encountered no inhabitants. Valdés named the inlet after the plank he found, Canal de la Tabla. The British examined the inlet just after Valdés, confirming for themselves the Spanish report. Vancouver kept the Spanish name, which a Spanish map engraver's mistake had changed to its present form of Toba Inlet. Toba Inlet's Coast Salish name is Yekwamen (phonetic) or yɛkʷamɛn (orthography).

References

External links

Fjords of British Columbia Sunshine Coast (British Columbia) Spanish history in the Pacific Northwest Inlets of British Columbia Salish Sea {{BritishColumbiaSouthCoast-geo-stub

Geography

History

See also

References

External links