Moresby Camp North Coast Regional District, British Columbia

Landing (1) - A coastal or shore location where boats may put in to load or unload. Head of Gillatt Arm Cumshewa Inlet, NE side Moresby Island, Queen Charlotte Land District

Mapped Location

Moresby Camp: The mapped location is an approximation and should not be used for navigation or wayfinding.

 

Information

General information on Moresby Camp

  • Feature Type: Place

 

Official, historical, colloquial and alternative toponyms for Moresby Camp

A brief list of names that this geographic feature has been named

Name Description
Moresby Camp Official

 

Origin Notes and History of Moresby Camp

References to Moresby Camp that document the origin of its place name

Adopted 2 Deccember 1954, on BC Land's Map #2F, 1954, "Queen Charlotte Islands" as a settlement; as identified in Union Steamship's timetable, 1954, in file Q.1.54, and in Ottawa File OBF #3986.

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office, Q.1.54.  |  Province of British Columbia

Incorrectly identified as "Morgans Camp" in USS timetables October 1952 & April 1953. Correctly identified as Moresby Camp from June 1954 onward; route since taken over by Northland Navigation Company.

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office  |  Province of British Columbia

Highest rank in the RN, adm of the fleet, in 1870. The northern Moresby – BC’s third largest island (2,787 sq km) after Vancouver I and Graham I – was named in 1853 by Cdr James Prevost of the HMS Virago, who happened to be Moresby’s son-in-law. This island became the focal point of the bitter conversation battle from the 1974 until 1987, when it was largely protected as Gwaii Hanas National Park Reserve, co-managed by the Haida people. The other two features named in 1858, when Moresby was a vice adm, by surveyor Capt George Richards. The southern Moresby I (6.5 sq km) settled since 1863, supported a dairy farm in the 1910s; the owners have included a German nobleman, BC It gov Thomas Paterson, and a retired merchant from China named Horatio Robertson. The eccentric built a fancy home on Moresby and was known for mistreating his Chinese employees, who were sometimes seen pulling him through the streets of Victoria in a rickshaw. Mt Moresby, the highest point on the larger Moresby I (1,148m), is also named for the adm, as is Point Fairfax in the Gulf Is, which may, in addition, be named after his eldest son, Lt Fairfax Moresby (see Fairfax I). A campsite and boat launch at the head of Gillatt Arm, Cumshewa Inlet-once the site of a Rayonier logging camp, since moved S to Sewell Inlet –is known as Moresby Camp. From entry for Moresby Island, pages 400-401.

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
Scott, Andrew; "The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Place Names"; Harbour Publishing, Madeira Park, 2009.  |  Province of British Columbia

There are extensive mud flats off the mouth of Pallant Creek which entirely fill the small cove in which it empties. The Rayonier Camp, now at the head of the Sewell Inlet, formerly stood on a spit on the north side of the mouth of Pallant Creek. A causeway has been built to connect the spit with a rock ledge at the edge of deep water, to provide adequate moorage facilities for the camp. During the 1940s this was the site of the J.R. Morgan Logging Company camp. The Morgan logging operation necessitated the installation of a sawmill to cut lumber for the plank road they built to Mosquito Lake. The plank road followed Pallant Creek for the most part and was used in connection with the logging from the lake to the inlet. From entry for Pallant Creek, page 260.

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
Dalzell, Kathleen E; "Queen Charlotte Islands - Book 2: of places and names"; Prince Rupert: Cove Press, 1973  |  Province of British Columbia

Note on name card lists "Tanu Island" as an old name (date and reference not cited).

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
BC place name cards & correspondence, and/or research by BC Chief Geographer & Geographical Names Office staff.  |  Province of British Columbia

 

North Coast Regional District

Political Boundaries

Last updated: 2023-09-27