| Bute Inlet | |
|---|---|
| French:Baie Bute | |
 | |
  Bute Inlet | |
| Location | Strathcona RD,British Columbia |
| Coordinates | 50°39′09″N124°53′10″W / 50.65250°N 124.88611°W /50.65250; -124.88611 (Bute Inlet) |
| Primary inflows | Homathko River,Southgate River |
| Primary outflows | Cordero Channel (west) Calm Channel (south) |
| Max. length | 80 kilometres (50 mi) |
Bute Inlet[1] is one of the principalinlets of theBritish Columbia Coast. It is 80 km (50 mi) long from the estuaries of theHomathko andSouthgate Rivers at the head of the inlet, to the mouth, where it is nearly blocked byStuart Island, and it averages about 4 km (2.5 mi) in width. Bute Inlet is in a spectacular wilderness setting and is one of the most scenic waterways in the world. In the upper reaches of the inlet mountains rise 2,700 m (9,000 ft) feet above sea level. Bute Inlet is a spectacular wilderness that is visited by very few people. In more recent years tourists are travelling from around the world to viewgrizzly bears in a natural setting and explore the wilderness of Bute Inlet.
Bute Inlet took its name fromJohn Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute who was Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1762 to 1763. His grandsonCharles Stuart was amaster's mate onVancouver'sDiscovery.[2]
Bute Inlet had an interesting role in the early history of theColony of British Columbia. EntrepreneurAlfred Waddington sought to build a route to theCariboo goldfields that was shorter and easier than the existing routes via theFraser Canyon and theDouglas Road. In competition with the projectedCariboo Road, still under construction at that time, Waddington got a license from the colonial government to undertake the construction of a wagon road from the head of Bute Inlet via the Homathko River to the Chilcotin Plateau, thence east across the Fraser to the Cariboo goldfields. The plan was that steamers fromVictoria would voyage to the head of the inlet, and travellers would take what was to be atoll road overland from there. He was granted a townsite at the head of the inlet (still on maps asPort Waddington but as nothing more than a land survey) and commenced construction up the Grand Canyon of theHomathko from there.
Conflict with warriors of theTsilhqot'in Nation quickly ensued when Waddington's foreman threatened smallpox on the warriors, who had been working as labourers due to famine in their country, which is over the mountains on the inland side of the range. Discussing his threats that night, the warriors, led byKlattasine of theXeni Gwet'in ofNemaia Valley nearChilko Lake, rose up and slaughtered Waddington's work party. Three men escaped despite severe injuries. As a result of their reports, expeditions were launched by troops fromVictoria and a posse of volunteers from theCariboo and a long bait-and-wait game ensued known to history as theChilcotin War of 1864. It ended with the surrender on terms of amnesty byKlattasine, who was betrayed and hanged at Quesnellemouthe (near modern-dayQuesnel).
The Bute Inlet route was later considered for the mainline of theCanadian Pacific Railway (CPR), which would have seen extensive blasting down the west shore of the inlet and a series of bridges to reachVancouver Island nearCampbell River viaSeymour Narrows. This route was passed over in favour of theFraser Canyon route to a new port-city atBurrard Inlet, which was to become the city ofPort Moody. The residual political impact of theChilcotin War was one factor dissuading the CPR from using Bute Inlet; the other was the severe grades required in the canyon of the Homathko River in order to reach the elevation of theChilcotin Plateau on the inland side of theCoast Range, as well as the cost of blasting along the inlet and the deep water bridges needed below it.
On 28 November 2020, unseasonably heavy rainfall triggered an 18,000,000 m3 (24,000,000 cu yd)landslide into aglacial lake at the head of Elliot Creek, generating amagnitude 5.0 earthquake and a 100 m (330 ft) highmegatsunami that rushed down Elliot Creek and theSouthgate River to the head of Bute Inlet, covering a total distance of over 60 km (37 mi) and destroying over 8.5 km (5.3 mi) ofsalmon habitat along Elliot Creek.[3]
Bute Inlet is located in the Coast Land District, Range 1[4] and is part of the Sunshine Coast Forest District of the Coast Forest Region, which is headquartered inPowell River,[5] and the Lower Mainland Ministry of Environment Region, headquartered inSurrey.[6] It is also within the mainland portion of theStrathcona Regional District, which has only municipal powers such as sewage and building permits on non-Indian reserve lands in rural areas. The inlet lies in the overlapping traditional territories and land claims of theHomalco,Klahoose,Kwiakah[7] andWe Wai Kai First Nations.
Bute Inlet in British Columbia is a classicfjord formation formed during theHolocene by glacial erosion. Bute Inlet is one of the deepest fjords in BritishColumbia with its depth of 660 m (2,170 ft), with a sill of 220 m (720 ft). The majority of freshwater entering the inlet, ~95%, is supplied by theHomathko River and the Southgate River at the head of the fjord. An underwater channel system is incised in the fjord basin sediments which carries sediment to the fjord.[8]
