Port McNeill is located on the northeastern shore of Vancouver Island, on the south side of Broughton Strait. Starting in the mid-1800s, this area became of interest to the HBC for its coal
deposits; in fact, it draws its name from Captain William McNeill, who established Fort Rupert, near Port Hardy, on behalf of HBC interests.1
In this 1846 document, Ogden and Douglas consider a coal-extraction establishment at McNeil's Harbour an object of importance; their coordinates for this apparently coal-rich area [≈ 50.65 -127.16] appear just
northwest of present-day Port McNeill, on the western shores of Malcolm Island.
1. Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009), 473.
The Colonial Despatches Team.
Port McNeill.The Colonial Despatches of Vancouver Island and British Columbia 1846-1871, Edition 2.0, ed. The Colonial Despatches Team. Victoria, B.C.: University of Victoria.
https://bcgenesis.uvic.ca/port_mc_neill.html.
Last modified: 2020-03-30 13:22:16 -0700 (Mon, 30 Mar 2020) (SVN revision: 4193)