25 miles east of Prince Rupert
The Skeena, “river of mists”, makes a major cleft though the Coast Mountains. To Coastal Tsimshian people and Interior groups it was vital to trade and travel. In later years, Port Essington, near the river’s mouth, became the main port on this swift treacherous waterway – a route serving pioneers from the 1860s to 1914 when the railway was built.
The name "Skeena" is derived from the Tsimshian ‘Xsan, meaning "water out of the clouds" or “the river of mists.” The Skeena watershed is the traditional territory of three First Nations groups: Tsimshian (located at the river's mouth), the Gitksan (centered between Kispiox and Kitselas Canyon), and a small group of Dakelh (on Babine Lake) The place of origin for the Gitskan is a sort of Eden called Tam Lax Aamid on the banks of the Skeena just downriver from Hazelton.
The name Skeena first made its appearance on a map in 1867, but British explorers and traders had previously called it Ayton’s River, Simpson’s River and Babine River. The Skeena is 350 miles long and drains an area of 15,000 square miles.
In 1793, Captain Vancouver's first officer unknowingly became the first non-native recorded to have entered the Skeena estuary. In 1812, two North West Company traders, D.W. Harmon and James McDougall from Fort St. James, traveled to Babine Lake and became the first Europeans to explore the Skeena watershed. The first steamboat on the river arrived from the south in 1864, bringing supplies for the Overland Telegraph crews.
Most of the boats on the Skeena between 1907-1914 were brought into service by the construction of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. Although the railway opened up the Skeena valley to settlement, it was also responsible for the decline of steamboats on the Skeena River.
Salmon fishing and canning were major industries along the lower Skeena River. At Port Edward the North Pacific Cannery is the oldest remaining intact fish cannery on the West Coast of North America. It was established in 1889 by the North Pacific Canning Company and in 1891 it was sold to the Anglo-British Columbia Packing Company, who operated it until 1980. In 1984, the site was threatened with demolition but in 1987 the North Coast Maritime Museum Society, (now the Port Edward Historic Society), convinced B.C. Packers to transfer the site to the Municipality of Port Edward. It was designated as a National Historic Site by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada and now operates as a heritage tourism attraction.
Resources:
North Pacific Cannery:
http://web.mac.com/andrewcthamilton/iWeb/NPC/welcome.html
