Regional District of Mount Waddington Regional District
The Regional District of Mount Waddington (RDMW) is a regional district in British Columbia, Canada. It is located in the northern third of Vancouver Island and part of the mainland coast. The RDMW was established in 1966 and is governed by a board of directors. The local history of the RDMW is rich and diverse. The area was originally inhabited by First Nations peoples, including the Kwakwaka'wakw, Nuu-chah-nulth, and Heiltsuk. European contact began in the early 1800s, and the area was later settled by fur traders, missionaries, and loggers. The RDMW is home to a number of important historical sites, including Fort Rupert, Alert Bay, and Cape Scott Provincial Park. The area is also known for its natural beauty, including Mount Waddington, the highest mountain in British Columbia.
Mapped Location
Regional District of Mount Waddington: The mapped location is an approximation and should not be used for navigation or wayfinding.
Information
General information on Regional District of Mount Waddington
- Feature Type: Regional District
- Regional District Administrative Centre: Town of Port McNeill
- Established: Monday, June 13, 1966
Official, historical, colloquial and alternative toponyms for Regional District of Mount Waddington
A brief list of names that this geographic feature has been named
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Regional District of Mount Waddington | Official |
A Selected Bibliography of Regional District of Mount Waddington, Regional District
A compilation of essential readings detailing the history, geography, and culture of the region.
Fried eggs & fish scales tales from a Sointula troller by Jon David Taylor
"Longtime fisherman and Sointula resident Jon Taylor dishes up hilarious yarns from his life off northern Vancouver Island. Capturing the "rough but reasonable" freedom of Malcolm Island, situated off the northeast shore of Vancouver Island, Jon Taylor recounts the bizarre but enticing lifestyle of a fisherman and his remote community--"haywire tightwads" for skippers, rotten fish in the hold that become "three thousand humpies in a warm, pink soup," and the kind of integrity you don't often see. Jon Taylor's family history on Malcolm Island extends back to 1917, when Taylor's Finnish grandparents planned to move to the community of Sointula, to live among fellow expats who shared a language and a dream. However, Taylor recounts, upon seeing the island they promptly changed their minds and moved to Cuba. Taylor himself moved to Malcolm Island in 1976 and became a steadfast resident, embracing the fishboat life, for better or worse, aboard seiners, gillnetters and his own troller. Taylor captures a classic but now-disappearing way of life in its heyday with his vibrant and amusing vignettes."-- Provided by publisher
224 pages ; 22 cm
Desiderata
North Coast odyssey the Inside Passage from Port Hardy to Prince Rupert by Kenneth Campbell
Published by Kenneth Campbell, North Coast Odyssey: The Inside Passage from Port Hardy to Prince Rupert captures the dramatic geography and rich maritime heritage of British Columbia's isolated northern marine highway. The book chronicles a coastal voyage through labyrinthine fjords, treacherous narrows, and wind-swept archipelagos, blending nautical adventure with local history, Indigenous lore, and observations of the region's abundant marine wildlife. Through vivid descriptive prose, the author details the weathered cannery towns, lighthouses, and remote settlements that cling to a magnificent yet unforgiving coastline. A keen insight drawn from the work is how the Inside Passage functions as a liquid highway that simultaneously isolates and connects; by relying entirely on maritime transit through a maze of stone and water, coastal inhabitants experience a profound sense of remoteness that can only be bridged by a deep, respectful attunement to the fickle rhythms of the Pacific tides.
202 pages : illustrations, maps, portrait ; 23 cm
Non-circulating [ 1 ]
Yesterday's promises a history of the district of Port Hardy by David Lewis
Yesterday's promises: a history of the district of Port Hardy chronicles the challenging pioneer settlement and resource-driven evolution of a remote outpost situated near the rugged northeastern tip of British Columbia’s Vancouver Island. Lewis details how the area's profound physical isolation—bounded by dense, impenetrable coastal rainforests to the south and the turbulent marine waters of Queen Charlotte Strait to the north—dictated an economy and lifestyle entirely reliant on the sea. The narrative highlights how the steep, heavily timbered shorelines and naturally protected bays served as vital staging grounds for the region's intense extractive industries, particularly commercial salmon fishing, copper mining, and large-scale logging operations. Because overland travel to the island's southern population centers was virtually impossible for decades, the community depended absolutely on coastal steamers and precarious maritime supply chains to navigate the perilous shoreline. Ultimately, the book serves as a localized spatial history, demonstrating how the unforgiving, storm-battered topography of this extreme Pacific Northwest coastal frontier inherently shaped the resilient, heavily industrialized character of its early inhabitants.
41 pages : illustrations ; 28 cm
Non-circulating [ 1 ]
History of Alert Bay and district by Elizabeth Healey
Elizabeth Healey’s History of Alert Bay and district chronicles the pioneer settlement and industrial expansion of a remote insular outpost entirely severed from the continental mainland by the treacherous waters of the Queen Charlotte Strait. The narrative maps how the severe geographic isolation of Cormorant Island and the impenetrable biological mass of the surrounding coastal rainforests forced both indigenous populations and European pioneers to rely exclusively on these volatile marine channels for basic survival and regional transit. By detailing the transformation of an ancestral maritime hub into a booming epicenter for commercial salmon canning and coastal logging operations, the text illustrates how the settlement's economic viability was strictly dictated by the necessity of engineering robust port infrastructure and mechanized fishing fleets. Ultimately, the account demonstrates that conquering the extreme oceanographic challenges of this rugged archipelago and extracting its immense biological wealth were the absolute prerequisites for sustaining a vital, export-driven community on the profoundly isolated northern Pacific edge.
101 pages illustrations, map
Non-circulating [ 1 ]
Regional District of Mount Waddington
- Village of Alert Bay
- Atluck
- Beaver Cove
- Benson Lake
- Bull Harbour
- Coal Harbour
- Cracroft
- Echo Bay
- Elephant Crossing
- Fort Rupert
- Health Bay
- Holberg
- Hopetown
- Hyde Creek
- Jeune Landing
- Karlukwees
- Kingcome
- Kingcome Inlet
- Kokish
- Mahatta River
- Meem Quam Leese
- Minstrel Island
- Mitchell Bay
- Nimpkish
- Nimpkish Heights
- Village of Port Alice
- District of Port Hardy
- Town of Port McNeill
- Quatsino
- Rumble Beach
- San Josef
- Scott Cove
- Shawl Bay
- Shushartie
- Simoom Sound
- Sointula
- Sullivan Bay
- Suquash
- Telegraph Cove
- Thompson Sound
- Warner Bay
- Winter Harbour
- Woss
- Yreka
Political Boundaries
Last updated: 2025-09-23