Western Forest Products harbor in Muchalat Inlet 3

Gold River is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

municipality located close to the geographic centre of

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 ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, Canada. In terms of the Island's human geography it is considered to be part of the "North Island", even though it technically is on the Island's west coast.

History

Taking advantage of its deep water and abundant forests, Gold River developed in 1967 as a prototypical

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidder, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or trunk (botany), logs onto logging truck, truckspulp and paper industry The pulp and paper industry comprises companies that use wood, specifically pulpwood, as raw material and produce pulp, paper, paperboard, and other cellulose-based products. Manufacturing process In the manufacturing process, pulp is intr ...

community. Gold River quickly sprang into prosperity and established excellent community facilities. When shifting world markets brought the mill closure in 1998, many of Gold River's inhabitants were forced to relocate. Since then, the village has attempted to capitalize on its idyllic setting among picturesque

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

ocean The ocean is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of Earth. The ocean is conventionally divided into large bodies of water, which are also referred to as ''oceans'' (the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Indian, Southern Ocean ...

, and

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

s to develop

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

and

sport fishing Recreational fishing, also called sport fishing or game fishing, is fishing for leisure, exercise or competition. It can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is occupational fishing activities done for profit; or subsistence fishing, ...

as its main economic supports. Currently, Gold River serves as a base for such famous activities as the

Nootka Island Nootka Island (; ) is the largest island off the west coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. It is in area. It is separated from Vancouver Island by Nootka Sound and its side-inlets, and is located within Electoral Area A of t ...

trek, hiking the Elk Lake trail and mountain climbing

Golden Hinde ''Golden Hind'' was a galleon captained by Francis Drake in his circumnavigation of the world between 1577 and 1580. She was originally known as ''Pelican,'' but Drake renamed her mid-voyage in 1578, in honour of his patron, Sir Christopher Ha ...

(Vancouver Island's highest peak), Crest Creek climbing crags, MV Uchuck III, and the Great Walk. Gold River also serves as a historic point, being the closest village to the famous Yuquot, or "Friendly Cove", where British explorer

Captain James Cook Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 1768 and 1779. He complet ...

first set ashore. There Cook met the Mowachaht native band's chief, Chief Maquinna.

Demographics

In the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

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 ...

, Gold River had a population of 1,246 living in 610 of its 692 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 1,212. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Luna, the orca

In 2001, a two-year-old male

orca The orca (''Orcinus orca''), or killer whale, is a toothed whale and the largest member of the oceanic dolphin family. The only extant species in the genus '' Orcinus'', it is recognizable by its black-and-white-patterned body. A cosmopol ...

, later named ''Luna'', was seen in Nootka Sound alone as far inland as the

marina A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : "related to the sea") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships or cargo ...

at Gold River. Presumed to be an

orphan An orphan is a child whose parents have died, are unknown, or have permanently abandoned them. It can also refer to a child who has lost only one parent, as the Hebrew language, Hebrew translation, for example, is "fatherless". In some languages ...

separated from his pod, Luna became a local and international celebrity by his playful and curious behavior with lumber

tugboat A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, suc ...

s and recreational watercraft on Nootka Sound, and with people, including young children, on the Gold River dock. The popularity of Luna made Gold River an international attraction from early 2002 through March 2006 when Luna was killed in an accidental collision with a tugboat propeller.

Climate

Gold River has a

Marine west coast climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring co ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

''Cfb''). With warm dry summers and mild rainy winters, during the winter constant Low Pressure Systems moving off of the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

causes winter to be the wettest season. Most precipitation falls as rain year round but snow is not uncommon in the winter months averaging but does not usually stay long. Summers are warm with an average summer temperate of in July, although afternoon shade temperatures exceeding are not uncommon in summer. This is due to the community being located inland surrounded by mountains, causing

Adiabatic heating An adiabatic process (''adiabatic'' ) is a type of thermodynamic process that occurs without transferring heat between the thermodynamic system and its environment. Unlike an isothermal process, an adiabatic process transfers energy to the surr ...

to occur giving Gold River its own microclimate. The summer months are also the driest of the year with only of rain in July compared to in November. The average rainfall all year is making the west coast of

the wettest place in Canada. The record high recorded for the village was recorded on July 28, 2009. That record high, however, was eclipsed during the

2021 Western North America heat wave The 2021 Western North America heat wave was an extreme heat wave that affected much of Western North America from late June through mid-July 2021. The heat wave affected Northern California, Idaho, Western Nevada, Oregon, and Washington in ...

. A weather station at Ray Watkins Elementary school recorded a new record high of on June 27, which was again eclipsed the next day when the temperature reached on June 28 which is the current record as it stands for the village. Gold River also currently holds the hottest known temperature on the island for the month of August when the same station at Ray Watkins recorded a temperature of on August 12 that same year. The record low was recorded on January 28, 1980.

References

External links

* {{authority control Villages in British Columbia Northern Vancouver Island Populated places in the Strathcona Regional District Nootka Sound region Logging communities in Canada