Texada Island Heritage Society

Texada Island rises up out of The Straits of Georgia some forty miles west of Vancouver between Vancouver Island and the mainland. No doubt that the first to discover the Island were First Nations people evident by the fact that several middens and fish weirs have been found on the west shore of the Island. Arrowheads, spear heads and honed pieces of slate also have been found. The Sliammon First Nations People’s name for Texada Island is Si’ yi yen.

In 1791 Francisco Eliza and Dioniso Alcala Galiano, Spanish explorers, first sighted and charted this island, Jose Maria Navarez later named the Island Texada after his friend Rear-Admiral Felix de Texada.

British Captain, George Vancouver, referred to the island as "Favada," but this may have been the English translation of the Spanish "Texada."

Texada remained silent until 1871 when Harry Trim a fisherman and a homesteader in Blubber Bay, stopped one day to examine the rusty red area on the hillside some three miles West of Gillies Bay. The result of this discovery and the subsequent actions of Trim caused a scandal that rocked the Province and overthrew the Government of Amor de Cosmos. This scandal would draw the interest of many who would bring about the most interesting and historical period of mining on the coast.