Hotspring Island, originally named in English as Volcanic Island and known in the

Haida language Haida (', ', ', ') is the language of the Haida people, spoken in the Haida Gwaii archipelago off the coast of Canada and on Prince of Wales Island in Alaska. An endangered language, Haida currently has 24 native speakers, though revitalizatio ...

as G̱andll K'in Gwaayaay ("Hot-Water-Island"), is a small

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

near the southeast coast of

Lyell Island Lyell Island, known also in the Haida language as Athlii Gwaii,Pacofi Bay Lodge Tour 2
is a lar ...

in the

Haida Gwaii Haida Gwaii (; hai, X̱aaydag̱a Gwaay.yaay / , literally "Islands of the Haida people") is an archipelago located between off the northern Pacific coast of Canada. The islands are separated from the mainland to the east by the shallow Hecat ...

archipelago of the

North Coast of British Columbia North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

, Canada. The island's names derive from a

hot spring A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...

located on its southwestern end, the temperature of which has been measured at . The island is part of

Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve, National Marine Conservation Area, and Haida Heritage Site, usually referred to simply as Gwaii Haanas (), is located in southernmost Haida Gwaii (formerly known as Queen Charlotte Islands), off the mainland of ...

and is supervised by the Haida Gwaii Watchmen.

History

There had once been a Haida village on the island, but little is known of it.

Fur trade The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the mos ...

captain

Joseph Ingraham Joseph Ingraham (1762–1800) was an American sailor and maritime fur trader who discovered several islands of the Marquesas Islands while on his way to trade along the west coast of North America. He was also a prisoner in the American Revolutio ...

noted steam from the springs when he sailed in the area in 1791 and named it "Smokey Bay". Chief Klue of

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escorted a James Poole to the site in 1863 and extolled the value of the "miracle waters" in spite of fears by other Haida of "the Island of Fire". The name "Hotspring Island" was conferred by George M. Dawson when he went ashore there in 1878. Due to a 7.8 magnitude earthquake on October 27, 2012, the hot spring has stopped flowing and is dry as of November 2012. Some experts, including

UBC The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks among the top three ...

seismologist Seismology (; from Ancient Greek σεισμός (''seismós'') meaning "earthquake" and -λογία (''-logía'') meaning "study of") is the scientific study of earthquakes and the propagation of elastic waves through the Earth or through other ...

Michael Bostock, suggested in 2012 that the hot spring may resume flowing sometime in the future, which it did in 2015.

Facilities

Access to the site is by permit only, usually as part of a tour. Haida Watchmen are posted at the site, as at other locations in the archipelago. There is a bathhouse with a metal tub, fed by the springs, in which visitors are asked to clean themselves before entering the pools proper.

References

* Islands of Haida Gwaii Hot springs of British Columbia Haida {{BritishColumbiaCoast-geo-stub