Colonial Despatches

Kitimat is located at the mouth of the Kitimat River on the northern coast of British Columbia.1 The name Kitimat comes from the Tsimshian word, of the Haisla First Nation, “Kitamaat”, which means people of the snow.2 Kitimat falls in the vaguely defined Stikine territory between the Stikine and Finlay Rivers.3

People have settled in the area since the 1860s.4 The Haisla First Nation (previously the Kitamaat and Henaaksiala groups) settled on the northeast side of area and named the village Kitamaat Mission.5 The Aluminum Company of Canada put a smelter site at the mouth of the Kitimat River in 1950.5 The city was officially incorporated on 31 March 1953.6

According to the despatches, a trader named Morris was hiding a large store of liquor in his home in Kitimat.8 Commander Pike, who surveyed the British Columbia coast for illegal liquor trade, discovered Morris's hidden stash of spirits and confiscated them immediately.9

• 1. Andrew Scott, Kitimat, Encyclopedia of BC.
• 2. Ibid.
• 3. Andrew Scott, Stikine Territory, Encyclopedia of BC.
• 4. Scott, Kitimat, Encyclopedia of BC.
• 5. Andrew Scott, Kitimat, Encyclopedia of Raincoast Place Names.
• 6. Scott, Kitimat, Encyclopedia of BC.
• 7. Ibid.
• 8. Paget to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary), 29 June 1863, 6387, CO 60/17, 33.
• 9. Ibid.