Skidegate is located on the southeast side of
Graham Island, in
Haida Gwaii. Skidegate is, in one meaning, named after a head chief of the area. Along with the community, there is Skidegate Channel, Inlet, and Landing.
Fur trader Charles Duncan visited the Skidegate region in 1788, and since his arrival,
both European and US explorers and traders have named the surrounding features dozens
of English names; variants on the now-standard Skidegate, adopted on British Admiralty
charts in 1866, include Sge'dagits, Skitekat, Skit-ei-get, Skittagets, Skettegats,
and others.
One 1853 despatch refers to
specimens of Coal at Skiddegate's harbour,
while
another letter, in the same year, pushes for the
Port of Skidigate
to be
declared a Free Port,
and to encourage
British Subjects
to settle there by offering land for
Six pence an Acre.