West Thurlow Island is an island in

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 Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. It is part of the

Discovery Islands The Discovery Islands are a group of islands located at the northern end of the Salish Sea and the eastern end of Johnstone Strait, between Vancouver Island and the mainland coast of British Columbia, Canada. Most of these islands have very few ...

, an archipelago between

Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are o ...

and the mainland, whose waters connect the

Strait of Georgia The Strait of Georgia (french: Détroit de Géorgie) or the Georgia Strait is an arm of the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the extreme southwestern mainland coast of British Columbia, Canada and the extreme northwestern mainland coast ...

with

Johnstone Strait , image = Pacific Ranges over Johnstone Strait.jpg , image_size = 250px , alt = , caption = Johnstone Strait backdropped by the Vancouver Island Ranges , image_bathymetry = Carte baie Knight ...

and

Queen Charlotte Strait , image = Canadian pilot, near Port Hardy BC.jpg , alt = , caption = A pilot boat plies Queen Charlotte Strait near Port Hardy , image_bathymetry = Locmap-QCS-Hecate-Dixon.png , alt_bathymetry = ...

. West Thurlow lies in the traditional territory of the Kwakwaka'wakw first nations.

Etymology

The island was named for

Edward Thurlow, 1st Baron Thurlow Edward Thurlow, 1st Baron Thurlow, PC, KC (9 December 1731 – 12 September 1806), was a British lawyer and Tory politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1765 to 1778 when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Thurlow. He served as Lo ...

, Lord Chancellor of England, by Captain

George Vancouver Captain George Vancouver (22 June 1757 – 10 May 1798) was a British Royal Navy officer best known for his 1791–1795 expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern Pacific Coast regions, including the coasts of what a ...

during his voyage through the Johnstone Strait in July 1792.Blind Channel - History
/ref>

Geography

West Thurlow Island is located north of Vancouver Island, south of the mainland, southeast of

Hardwicke Island Hardwicke Island is an island in British Columbia, Canada, measuring approximately . Geography Hardwicke Island lies directly off the coast of the village of Sayward and to the west of its neighbour West Thurlow Island. Hardwicke Island is loca ...

, and west of

East Thurlow Island East Thurlow Island is an island in British Columbia, Canada. It is part of the Discovery Islands, an archipelago between Vancouver Island and the mainland, whose waters connect the Strait of Georgia with Johnstone Strait and Queen Charlotte Strai ...

, separated from the latter by Blind Channel. It is located within Electoral Area C of the

Strathcona Regional District The Strathcona Regional District is a regional district in British Columbia, Canada. It was created on February 15, 2008, encompassing the northern and western portions of the former Regional District of Comox-Strathcona. The partition left th ...

. Just north of West Thurlow Island

Loughborough Inlet Loughborough Inlet is one of the lesser principal inlets of the British Columbia Coast. It penetrates the Coast Mountains on the north side of the Discovery Islands archipelago, running about from its head at the mouth of the Stafford River to ...

extends into the mainland. The strait that separates the island from the mainland is called

Cordero Channel , image = Dent Rapids.jpg , image_size = 260px , alt = , caption = Dent Rapids, which flows east to west between the mainland coast and Sonora Island , image_bathymetry = Locmap-CorderoChannel ...

to the east of the mouth of Loughborough Inlet, and Chancellor Channel to the west. Chancellor Channel also separates. Beauty Cat Strait separates West Thurlow Island from Vancouver Island. There are a handful of private landholdings on the eastern shore of the island. The majority are located adjacent to Blind Channel Resort, which includes a marina, marine refueling station, general store, post office and seasonal restaurant and accommodations.

Forestry

Logging operations first began on the island with the establishment of the Thurlow Island Lumber Company sawmill in 1918 in the location of what is now the Blind Channel Resort. Settlements around the mill eventually peaked at a population of several hundred in the 1940s, though no permanent forestry camps now remain on the island. West Thurlow currently includes sections of two tree farm licenses, 45 and 47, held by International Forest Products Ltd. (Interfor) and Timberwest respectively. The areas are accessible by two dry-land timber sorts at Knox Bay and Butterfly Bay, both on the southern shore of the island. West Thurlow Island lies within the Coastal Western Hemlock biogeoclimatic zone, and its forests consists mostly of western hemlock, Douglas fir and western red cedar.

References

External links

Thurlow Islands
BCGNIS

Blind Channel Marina on West Thurlow Island] {{DiscoveryIslands Islands of the Discovery Islands