People uprooted from Cortes Island (3)

Cortes Island, part of the Discovery Islands and on the traditional territories of the Klahoose, Tla’amin, and Homalco Peoples, was established by non-Indigenous settlers in the late nineteenth century. Prior to settlement, whalers and miners frequented the island but did not establish a permanent townsite. Around 1900, the island’s population increased as loggers, including Japanese horse-loggers, began to arrive, and the industry grew. By the 1920s, most loggers had left.

In 1925, horse-logger Yaichi Nakatsui purchased 111 acres of farmland; he grew fruit trees, strawberries, potatoes, other vegetables, and flowers. The St. James Church at Mansonʼs Landing was also built in part by Nakatsui. His nephew, Masaharu Matsumura, worked as a farmhand while attending Cortes Public School.