Denman Island, or Sla-dai-aich (Taystayic), its Indigenous name, is one of the Northern

Gulf Islands The Gulf Islands are a group of islands in the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the mainland coast of British Columbia. Etymology The name "Gulf Islands" comes from "Gulf of Georgia," the original term used by George Vancouver in his ...

and part of the

Comox Valley Regional District The Comox Valley Regional District is a regional district in British Columbia, Canada. It was created on February 15, 2008, encompassing the southeastern portions of the former Regional District of Comox-Strathcona, and centred about the Como ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Canada. It is a member of the

Islands Trust The Islands Trust is a federation of local governments on the islands in the Strait of Georgia, Howe Sound and Haro Strait in British Columbia. It was established by, and is operated under, the ''Islands Trust Act'', enacted by the Government of ...

group of islands and is home to a small community of 1391 year-round residents.

History

Denman Island was first inhabited by Indigenous peoples including the Pentlatch and

Sliammon The Tla'amin First Nation (Comox language: ɬəʔamɛn), formerly Sliammon Indian Band or Sliammon First Nation, is a First Nations self governing nation whose lands and traditional territories are located on the upper Sunshine Coast in southwes ...

as evidenced by middens, gravesites, and oral history. The site most recently occupied by Pentlatch people was previously named Village Point but is now called Denman Point. That village was occupied until the 1862 smallpox epidemic severely reduced its population and the survivors moved to join the K'ómoks people in nearby Comox. The Island was seen and mapped by Europeans during the 1791 voyage of the Spanish ship '' Santa Saturnina'', under Juan Carrasco and

José María Narváez José María Narváez (1768 – August 4, 1840) was a Spanish naval officer, explorer, and navigator notable for his work in the Gulf Islands and Lower Mainland of present-day British Columbia. In 1791, as commander of the schooner '' Santa ...

. It was named by Captain Richards in 1860 for Rear Admiral

Joseph Denman Vice Admiral Joseph Denman (23 June 1810 – 26 November 1874) was a British naval officer, most noted for his actions against the slave trade as a commander of HMS ''Wanderer'' of the West Africa Squadron. Early life Denman was born on 23 Ju ...

who was commander of the Pacific station from 1864 to 1866. The earliest colonial settlers of Denman Island arrived during the 1870’s. Some were attracted by the establishment of the Baynes Sound Coal Mine on the Tsable River, across

Baynes Sound Baynes Sound is the channel between Denman Island and Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The sound is a narrow western offshoot of the Strait of Georgia that separates Vancouver Island from the mainland of British Columbia. The area is act ...

from Denman Island. Mine construction started in 1873 and coal was shipped in 1876. Several large families migrated to Denman Island from Eastern Canada in1876 including the McFarlane, Piercy and Graham families. After being briefly in production the Baynes Sound mine closed in 1877 and mine surveyer David Pickles moved to Denman Island, preempting a large wetland in the middle of the island.

Denman Island life

Regular ferry service links Denman Island to both

Hornby Island Hornby Island of British Columbia, Canada, is one of the two northernmost Gulf Islands, located near Vancouver Island's Comox Valley, the other being Denman Island. A small community of 1,016 residents (as of the 2016 census), Hornby is home to ...

from Gravelly Bay on the east side of Denman and across

via the

MV Baynes Sound Connector The ''Baynes Sound Connector'' is a car ferry owned and operated by B.C. Ferries that runs between Buckley Bay on Vancouver Island and Denman Island. It is the first and only cable ferry in the BC Ferries fleet and replaced the self-propelled MV ...

cable ferry to Buckley Bay 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 by ...

on the west side. "Downtown" Denman consists of one general store and Post Office, two community halls and a museum, the Dora Drinkwater Volunteer Library, a community school, an Anglican church and the Arts Centre. There is also a hardware store, craft store and a books and coffee shop. Around the corner on Piercy Road is the Denman Island Health Centre. A number of potters, weavers and painters have made Denman Island their home for decades. The island has a land area of . The author Emily St. John Mandel spent most of her childhood on Denman Island, and modeled much of the fictional Delano Island in her novel '' Station Eleven'' after it.

Vegetation and soils

The western part of Denman Island is covered by a dense forest dominated by Douglas fir,

western hemlock ''Tsuga heterophylla'', the western hemlock or western hemlock-spruce, is a species of hemlock native to the west coast of North America, with its northwestern limit on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, and its southeastern limit in northern Sonoma ...

, and

western red cedar ''Thuja plicata'' is an evergreen coniferous tree in the cypress family Cupressaceae, native to western North America. Its common name is western redcedar (western red cedar in the UK), and it is also called Pacific redcedar, giant arborvitae ...

on deep loamy glacial till or marine deposits mapped as Royston gravelly loam or Tolmie-Merville complex. Some areas have shallow soils over

sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...

and are mapped as Haslam shaly loam or Rough Stony-Haslam complex. The eastern part has a loamy sand (Kye-Qualicum complex or Bowser series) on which

arbutus ''Arbutus'' is a genus of 12 accepted speciesAct. Bot. Mex no.99 Pátzcuaro abr. 2012.''Arbutus bicolor''/ref> of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae, native to warm temperate regions of the Mediterranean, western Europe, the Canary Islan ...

is frequently present near the shore. Poorly drained depressions are mapped as Tolmie loam, Parksville sandy loam, or Arrowsmith peat.

Denman Island Disease

An infectious disease among Pacific oysters was identified in 1960 off Denman Island. The disease causes visible yellow/green pustules on the body and adductor muscles of the oysters therefore reducing marketability of the oysters. It was found that the causative agent of these lesions are associated with microcells, which were later identified as '' Mikrocytos mackini.''

Provincial Parks located on Denman Island

* Sandy Island Marine Provincial Park (off northern tip, accessible on foot at low tide).
Fillongley Provincial Park – B.C. Ministry of Environment SiteBoyle Point Provincial Park – B.C. Ministry of Environment SiteDenman Island Park and Protected Area – B.C. Ministry of Environment Site

Local media

Denman Island has a monthly news and artistic journal called the Flagstone, a weekly news and advertising circular called the Grapevine, a community radio station, CKLR-FM, and several active online groups, including the ''Denman Open Bulletin Board''.

References

External links

Association of Denman Island Marine StewardsDenman Conservancy AssociationHornby& Denman Community Health Care Society
*https://denmanmuseum.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Names.pdf {{authority control Islands of the Gulf Islands Populated places in the Comox Valley Regional District Unincorporated settlements in British Columbia