Ten thousand years ago when the glaciers retreated, Texada Island rose out of the ocean and exposed a wealth of minerals for its future inhabitants. Discovered and named in 1791 by Spanish explorers, Texada Island was soon used by the whaling industry. In 1876, a whaler named Harry Trim discovered iron ore which precipitated the boom of exploration on Texada. In 1886, the first iron mine was opened, in 1890 copper was found, and in 1898 copper and gold were mined at Marble Bay. Captain Sturt purchased the first lot in Van Anda in 1878 and by 1898 Van Anda had become a boom town. In 1900 real estate advertisements promoted the town saying it had "the only smelter on the BC coast" and was "the mining center of western North America."

The town boasted the only opera house north of San Francisco, had three hotels with saloons, a hospital, several stores and businesses, and an illegal distillery flourished in Pocahontas Bay supplying booze to the United States during prohibition. Powell River's growth was just beginning at this time and residents from the Myrtle Point area on the mainland used to row for an hour across Malaspina Strait to Deighton's store in Van Anda for supplies or to catch the Union steamships to Vancouver.

Courtesy of Pat Good ©

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