McMillan Island is an island in the

Fraser River The Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Blackrock Mountain in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia just south of the City of Vancouver. The river's annual d ...

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, also known as McMillan Slough..

Geography

Overview

McMillan Island is located in the lower

, north of

Fort Langley Fort Langley is a village community in Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada. It has a population of approximately 3,400 people. It is the home of Fort Langley National Historic Site, a former fur trade post of the Hudson's Bay Company. ...

and south of Maple Ridge, and separated from the former by Bedford Channel. It has a total land area of 1.78 square kilometres.

Geology

It is composed primarily of settled

silt Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension with water. Silt usually has a floury feel when ...

and debris from the Fraser River and shaped by the erosive power of the river. Geologically it was (10000 years ago) a

peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on all ...

on the shore of what is now Maple Ridge.

Erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distin ...

wore down the peninsula until it became an island, although one much larger than the current McMillan Island. Once there was a channel worn between this large island and the mainland, the water flow slowed and silt and debris settled on the south side of the island, eventually connecting it to what is now Fort Langley. The water eventually broke a small section of the original island off, resulting in the current McMillan Island. McMillan Island was, as late as the 1920s, two islands separated by a very narrow channel. The north-western island was called Brae Island, while the south-eastern was McMillan. Following the construction of Jacob Haldi Bridge across the larger Bedford channel, the upstream portion of the narrow separating channel slowly became filled by this sediment, thus combining the two islands.

Human geography

There is a bridge across the Bedford Channel to the island along Glover Road, the main road through both Fort Langley and McMillan Island. There are several docks on the island, including the docks from the former

Albion Ferry The Albion Ferry was a passenger and vehicle ferry service that sailed on the Fraser River between Albion and Fort Langley in the Lower Fraser Valley region of British Columbia, Canada from June 2, 1957, until July 31, 2009. Originally opera ...

. About of McMillan Island that was previously Brae Island was acquired by the

Greater Vancouver Regional District The Metro Vancouver Regional District (MVRD), or simply Metro Vancouver, is a Canadian political subdivision and corporate entity representing the metropolitan area of Greater Vancouver, designated by provincial legislation as one of the 28 ...

in 1995 and much of it was designated Brae Island Regional Park. Some of this land has been leased for the creation a private

campground A campsite, also known as a campground or camping pitch, is a place used for camping, overnight stay in an outdoor area. In British English, a ''campsite'' is an area, usually divided into a number of pitches, where people can camp overnight u ...

. The remaining of former Brae Island is owned by the

Township of Langley The Township of Langley is a district municipality immediately east of the City of Surrey in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. It extends south from the Fraser River to the Canada–United States border, and west of the City of Abbotsford. ...

. The area that was McMillan Island prior to its joining with Brae Island is the reserve land of

Kwantlen First Nation Kwantlen First Nation ( hur, qʼʷa:n̓ƛʼən̓) is a First Nations band government in British Columbia, Canada, located primarily on McMillan Island near Fort Langley. The Kwantlen people traditionally speak hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓, the Downrive ...

. This reserve, "McMillan Island 6", is in size and the largest and most populated of the First Nation's seven reserves. In 2016, the reserve was home to approximately 94 people, and there are 22 private dwellings and the Kwantlen Nation's Band Office.

History

Kwantlen territory

The island is a part of the

's traditional territory. This reserve is the location of their main village which relocated here once Fort Langley was built, partly to dominate trade with the fort and also for protection from attack under the shelter of the fort's guns. Their former main village was at Qayqyat, or Kikait, opposite

New Westminster New Westminster (colloquially known as New West) is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It was founded by Major-General Richard Moody as the capita ...

on the Fraser's southeast bank there, at a location also known as Brownsville in today's Bridgeview neighbourhood of the City of Surrey. Their territory overlaps with that of the

Kwikwetlem The Kwikwetlem ( hur, kʷikʷəƛ̓əm), whose name is on the modern map as that of the City of Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada, are a Coast Salish Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Coast, indigenous people whose traditional territories and ...

, Tsawwwasen and

Katzie Katzie First Nation ( hur, q̓ic̓əy̓) is an Indigenous band located in the Lower Fraser Valley in British Columbia, Canada. They are part of the Sto:lo Coast Salish group of peoples, historically referred to by European settlers as Fraser Riv ...

nations, and extends up the Fraser as far as the

Stave River The Stave River is a tributary of the Fraser, joining it at the boundary between the municipalities of Maple Ridge and Mission, about east of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, in the Central Fraser Valley region. Blocked since the 1920s by t ...

; beyond that is the territory of the

Matsqui Matsqui is a former district municipality in British Columbia, Canada. It was incorporated in 1892 and merged with the district municipality of Abbotsford in 1995 to create the new City of Abbotsford. Matsqui used to be the western part of what is ...

nation. Most of the band's reserves are on the north bank of the Fraser. The island was named after

James McMillan James (or Jim or Jimmy) McMillan or MacMillan may refer to: Sportspeople * James McMillan (footballer, born c. 1866) (c. 1866–?), played for Sunderland * James McMillan (footballer, born 1869) (1869–1937), played for Scotland,Everton and St ...

of the HBC who founded

. He visited the area in 1824 and again in 1827.

Albion Ferry

A dock on the north side of the island was formerly the southern-bank terminus of the

. However, with the opening of the

Golden Ears Bridge The Golden Ears Bridge is a six-lane extradosed bridge in Metro Vancouver, British Columbia. It spans the Fraser River, connecting Langley on the south side with Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge on the north side. The bridge opened to traffic on Ju ...

, ferry service has ceased.

References

{{coord, name=McMillan Island, 49, 10, 35, N, 122, 34, 12, W, display=title, type:isle_region:CA Islands of British Columbia Islands of the Fraser River Landforms of Lower Mainland