Old Massett (Haida:Gaw Tlagée) is areserve onGraham Island inHaida Gwaii,British Columbia. It lies on the east side ofMasset Sound close to the town ofMasset; the area of land it is on is legally designatedMasset Indian Reserve No. 1, orMasset 1. The original name of the settlement wasUttewas, meaning "white-slope village" in theHaida language. It is populated byHaida people of both Ḵuustak, the Eaglematrilineage, and Ḵayx̱al, the Raven matrilineage. The town is administered by theOld Massett Village Council. Its population has fluctuated over the last one hundred and fifty years; smallpox, especially the1862 Pacific Northwest smallpox epidemic, drastically reduced its numbers in the late 1800s, but in 1968, it had over 1,000 people and was the largest village in Haida Gwaii.[3] In 2009, the Village Council counted 2,698 band members in the area;[4] the 2021 census counted 475 living at the Old Massett townsite.[5]
Indian Reserve Masset 1 was allotted by reserve commissionerPeter O'Reilly in July 1882, in his visit toHaida Gwaii. He chose to create a single reserve from the two villages, Uttewas and Kayung, the latter of which he describes as being nearly abandoned. This reserve would measure about 770 acres, not including the land owned by theHudson's Bay Company and theChurch Mission Society.[6]
Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, England, includes atotem pole that originally stood in front of the Star House in Old Massett. The house belonged to Chief Anetlas (c.1816–1893); it is thought that the house was constructed in 1882. The pole was purchased by Edward Burnett Tylor and transported to the museum in 1901.[9][10][11]
Canada
British Columbia
Highway 16 (TCH)
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