Yekwamen (yɛkʷamɛn) or Toba Inlet, just north of the resort, has been the home of the Klahoose people since time before memory. This is one of the principle inlets on the BC coast. Toba Inlet is relatively short in comparison to other major coastal inlets with an average with 2.5 km and length only about 35 km.  The inlet is flanked by tower glacier peaks with cascading waterfalls and is home to many grizzly bears. We have been operating grizzly viewing bears viewing tours here since 2016. 

​

Toba Inlet was historically significant location for hunting deer, catching salmon and ooligan and foraging for berries. The rivers geography enable a unique deer hunting techniques. It was the traditional winter location for the Klahoose peoples prior to movement of the village site to Squirrel Cove. Although there are current Klahoose members who where raised in Toba Inlet, there are currently no full-time residents.

 

Toba Inlet is not an English name, or Coast Salish. The first Europeans this remote inlet of British Columbia were Spanish. During the 1792 expeditions, the Spanish crew mapping Toba Inlet recorded finding a large wooden tabla with depictions of of man, goats and moons (see image below).  On June 24, 1792, Captain Dionisio Alcalá Galiano made the following log entry.

​

“At sunset [Captain Cayetano] Valdés returned. He had followed the Canal de la Tabla and inspected the vicinity. [The inlet], which appeared [of] considerable [width] at its beginning, came to an end in a few leagues; its shores were very high, with sharp peaks, its depth great, and the inlets he saw were full of small islands. On its east shore Valdés found a plank [tabla], for which he named the inlet and of which he made a drawing. It was covered with paintings, which were apparently hieroglyphics of the natives. He found some abandoned villages, but not one inhabitant.” 

​

This mysterious markings on a wooden plank (tabla or plancha) found in Toba Inlet (shown below), was drawn by Jose Cardero, who was part of the 1792 Spanish crew of the Mexicana commanded by Valdes. That June 24, 1792 they explored Homfray Channel and travelled the 32 kilometres up to the head of Toba Inlet. The drawing of the wooden plank made such an impression is was reproduced in the atlas of the 1792 expedition and has been included in many articles and books about Spanish explorations of the BC coast and the original drawing is in the Museo de America in Madrid.

​

t̓əgəm - moon    xʷɛɬay - goat     tumɩš - man

​

The plank was obviously of significance to the Klahoose and an interpretation of the “hieroglyphics" with lunar moons representing lunar months, goats and a man at the centre of the calendar was done by researcher Nick Doe and also matches Klahoose oral history of tides and moons with  man who lived in the middle of Toba Inlet and pulled a plug in the earth draining the water. If you would like to hear more about how Toba Inlet got its name you can listen to Cortes Radio Society interview with Michelle Robinson and Ken Hanuse from the Klahoose Frist Nation and local historian Judith Williams.