, image = Bute Inlet.jpg , image_size = 260px , alt = , caption = , image_bathymetry = , alt_bathymetry = , caption_bathymetry = , location = Strathcona RD,

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, ...

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Homathko River The Homathko River is one of the major rivers of the southern Coast Mountains of the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is one of the few rivers that penetrates the range from the interior Chilcotin Country to the coastal inlets of the P ...

, Southgate River , rivers = , outflow =

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 ...

(west)
Calm Channel (south) , oceans = , catchment = , basin_countries = , agency = , designation = , date-built = , engineer = , date-flooded = , length = , width = , area = , depth = , max-depth = , volume = , residence_time = , salinity = , shore = , elevation = , temperature_high = , temperature_low = , frozen = , islands = , islands_category = , sections = , trenches = , benches = , cities = , pushpin_map = British Columbia , pushpin_label_position = , pushpin_map_alt = , pushpin_map_caption = , map_size = 260px , website = , reference = Bute Inlet is one of the principal inlets of the British Columbia Coast. It is long from the estuaries of the Homathko and Southgate Rivers at the head of the inlet, to the mouth, where it is nearly blocked by Stuart Island, and it averages about in width. Bute Inlet is in a spectacular wilderness setting and is one of the most scenic waterways in the world. In the upper reaches of the inlet mountains rise feet above sea level. Bute Inlet is a spectacular wilderness that is visited by very few people. In more recent years tourists are travelling from around the world to view grizzly bears in a natural setting and explore the wilderness of Bute Inlet.

Name origin

Bute Inlet took its name from

John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, (; 25 May 1713 – 10 March 1792), styled Lord Mount Stuart between 1713 and 1723, was a British nobleman who served as the 7th Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1762 to 1763 under George III. He was arguabl ...

who was Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1762 to 1763. His grandson Charles Stuart was a

master's mate Master's mate is an obsolete rating which was used by the Royal Navy, United States Navy and merchant services in both countries for a senior petty officer who assisted the master. Master's mates evolved into the modern rank of Sub-Lieutenant in t ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

's ''Discovery''.

History

Waddington's Road and the Chilcotin War of 1864

Bute Inlet had an interesting role in the early history of the

Colony of British Columbia The Colony of British Columbia refers to one of two colonies of British North America, located on the Pacific coast of modern-day Canada: *Colony of British Columbia (1858–1866) *Colony of British Columbia (1866–1871) See also *History of Br ...

. Entrepreneur

Alfred Waddington Alfred Penderell Waddington (October 2, 1801 – February 26, 1872), during his later years, was actively involved in the Colony of Vancouver Island in what later became the province of British Columbia, Canada. From 1860 to 1861 he was a re ...

sought to build a route to the Cariboo goldfields that was shorter and easier than the existing routes via the

Fraser Canyon The Fraser Canyon is a major landform of the Fraser River where it descends rapidly through narrow rock gorges in the Coast Mountains en route from the Interior Plateau of British Columbia to the Fraser Valley. Colloquially, the term "Fraser ...

and the

Douglas Road The Douglas Road, a.k.a. the Lillooet Trail, Harrison Trail or Lakes Route, was a goldrush-era transportation route from the British Columbia Coast to the Interior (NB another route known as the Lillooet Trail was the Lillooet Cattle Trail, which ...

. In competition with the projected Cariboo Road, still under construction at that time, Waddington got a license from the colonial government to undertake the construction of a wagon road from the head of Bute Inlet via the Homathko River to the Chilcotin Plateau, thence east across the Fraser to the Cariboo goldfields. The plan was that steamers from

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

would voyage to the head of the inlet, and travellers would take what was to be a

toll road A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road (almost always a controlled-access highway in the present day) for which a fee (or ''Toll (fee), toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically ...

overland from there. He was granted a townsite at the head of the inlet (still on maps as

Port Waddington A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...

but as nothing more than a land survey) and commenced construction up the Grand Canyon of the Homathko from there. Conflict with warriors of the Tsilhqot'in Nation quickly ensued when Waddington's foreman threatened smallpox on the warriors, who had been working as labourers due to famine in their country, which is over the mountains on the inland side of the range. Discussing his threats that night, the warriors, led by

Klattasine Lhatŝ’aŝʔin (also known as Klatsassan or Klattasine; died 1864), a chief of the Chilcotin ( Tsilhqot'in) people, led a small group of warriors in attacks on road-building crews near Bute Inlet, British Columbia, in April and May 1864. The road ...

of the

Xeni Gwet'in The Xeni Gwet'in, also known as the Stone Chilcotin, are a First Nations people whose traditional territory is located in the southern Chilcotin District of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the inland flank of the Coast Mountains west ...

Nemaia Valley Nemaiah Valley, also spelled Nemiah Valley and Nemaia Valley, is an unincorporated locality and First Nations reserve and ranching community between Chilko Lake and the Taseko Lakes in the Chilcotin District of the Central Interior of British C ...

near

Chilko Lake Chilko may refer to: *Chilko River The Chilko River is a river in the Chilcotin District of the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada, flowing northeast from Chilko Lake to the Chilcotin River. Its main tributary is the Taseko River. Th ...

, rose up and slaughtered Waddington's work party. Three men escaped despite severe injuries. As a result of their reports, expeditions were launched by troops from

and a posse of volunteers from the Cariboo and a long bait-and-wait game ensued known to history as the

Chilcotin War The Chilcotin War, the Chilcotin Uprising or the Bute Inlet Massacre was a confrontation in 1864 between members of the Tsilhqot'in (Chilcotin) people in British Columbia and white road construction workers. Fourteen men employed by Alfred Wadd ...

of 1864. It ended with the surrender on terms of amnesty by

, who was betrayed and hanged at Quesnellemouthe (near modern-day Quesnel).

Proposed Canadian Pacific Railway route

The Bute Inlet route was later considered for the mainline of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), which would have seen extensive blasting down the west shore of the inlet and a series of bridges to reach

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 ...

near Campbell River via

Seymour Narrows Seymour Narrows is a section of the Discovery Passage in British Columbia known for strong tidal currents. Discovery Passage lies between Vancouver Island at Menzies Bay, British Columbia and Quadra Island except at its northern end where the ea ...

. This route was passed over in favour of the

route to a new port-city at

Burrard Inlet french: Baie Burrard , image = Burrard Inlet 201807.jpg , image_size = 250px , alt = , caption = Aerial view of Burrard Inlet , image_bathymetry = Burrard-Inlet-map-en.svg , alt_bathymetry ...

, which was to become the city of

Port Moody Port Moody is a city in British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It envelops the east end of Burrard Inlet and is the smallest of the Tri-Cities, bordered by Coquitlam on the east and south an ...

. The residual political impact of the

was one factor dissuading the CPR from using Bute Inlet; the other was the severe grades required in the canyon of the Homathko River in order to reach the elevation of the

Chilcotin Plateau The Chilcotin Plateau is part of the Fraser Plateau, a major subdivision of the Interior Plateau of British Columbia. The Chilcotin Plateau is physically near-identical with the region of the same name, i.e. "the Chilcotin", which lies between t ...

on the inland side of the Coast Range, as well as the cost of blasting along the inlet and the deep water bridges needed below it.

2020 Elliot Creek megatsunami

On 28 November 2020, unseasonably heavy rainfall triggered an landslide into a glacial lake at the head of Elliot Creek, generating a

magnitude Magnitude may refer to: Mathematics *Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction *Magnitude (mathematics), the relative size of an object *Norm (mathematics), a term for the size or length of a vector *Order of ...

5.0 earthquake and a high

megatsunami A megatsunami is a very large wave created by a large, sudden displacement of material into a body of water. Megatsunamis have quite different features from ordinary tsunamis. Ordinary tsunamis are caused by underwater tectonic activity (movemen ...

that rushed down Elliot Creek and the Southgate River to the head of Bute Inlet, covering a total distance of over and destroying over of

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus ''Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus '' Oncorhy ...

habitat along Elliot Creek.

Political geography

Bute Inlet is located in the Coast Land District, Range 1 and is part of the Sunshine Coast Forest District of the Coast Forest Region, which is headquartered in Powell River, and the Lower Mainland Ministry of Environment Region, headquartered in Surrey. It is also within the mainland portion 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 ...

, which has only municipal powers such as sewage and building permits on non-

Indian reserve In Canada, an Indian reserve (french: réserve indienne) is specified by the '' Indian Act'' as a "tract of land, the legal title to which is vested in Her Majesty, that has been set apart by Her Majesty for the use and benefit of a band." In ...

lands in rural areas. The inlet lies in the overlapping traditional territories and land claims of the

Homalco The Homalco First Nation (Comox language: χʷɛmaɬku, also spelled Xwémalhkwu) is a First Nations government located in Bute Inlet near the upper Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, Canada. The Homalco are also known, with their neighbours th ...

Klahoose The ƛoʔos Klahoose are one of the three groups comprising the ''ʔayʔaǰuθəm'' Tla'Amin or Mainland Comox. The other two divisions of this once-populous group are the χʷɛmaɬku Homalco and Sliammon (which is a corruption of "Tla A'min" ...

, Kwiakah and We Wai Kai First Nations.

Geology

Bute Inlet in British Columbia is a classic

fjord In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Förden and East Jutland Fjorde, Germany, ...

formation formed during the

Holocene The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togeth ...

by glacial erosion. Bute Inlet is one of the deepest fjords in British Columbia with its depth of , with a sill of . The majority of freshwater entering the inlet, ~95%, is supplied by the

and the Southgate River at the head of the fjord. An underwater channel system is incised in the fjord basin sediments which carries sediment to the fjord.David B. Prior, Brian D. Bornhold, and Mark W. Johns; Active sand transport along a fjord-bottom channel, Bute Inlet, British Columbia' Geology, July, 1986, v. 14, p. 581-584, doi:10.1130/00917613(1986)14<581:ASTAAF>2.0.CO;2

References

External links

Bute Inlet
Long Term Trends in Deep Water Properties of BC Inlets, Fisheries and Oceans Canada - Pacific Region
Map
(PDF, 3,5 MB)
hydropower project in Bute Inlet
{{British Columbia hydrography Fjords of British Columbia History of British Columbia South Coast of British Columbia Central Coast of British Columbia Inlets of British Columbia