Colonial Despatches

The community of Masset is located in northeastern Haida Gwaii, on Graham Island. Masset draws its name from the nearby Maast Island, whose etymology is traced to a Haida account in which a European officer named Masseta died during a visit to the area.1 His body was buried on a little island near his ship's anchorage, which the Haida of the day called “mah-sh-t”, likely, a Haida pronunciation of Masseta.2

Masset, along with Skidegate, served as congregation points for the Haida during the devastating smallpox epidemics that swept through Haida Gwaii villages in the early-to-mid 1800s.3 The HBC maintained a trading post at Masset for some time, and the Anglican Church established a mission there in 1876.4

• 1. Origin of European Settled Masset, Village of Masset.
• 2. Ibid.
• 3. Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009), 366.
• 4. Ibid.