Savary Island

Savary Island is located in the northern part of the Strait of Georgia and lies 144 kilometers (90 miles) northwest of Vancouver, Canada. It is approximately 0.8 kilometers (0.5 miles) wide and 8 kilometers (5 miles) long. It has a permanent population of 90. In summer the population sometimes exceeds 2,000.

Geology and Soils

This island is composed mostly of unconsolidated material such as glacial till, marine clay, and sand. This comes primarily from the Pleistocene era as material deposited by meltwater streams from glaciers which advanced southward through the Strait of Georgia over 20,000 years ago. The Ice Age materials are overlain by Holocene (Recent) era deposits; their features include sand dunes. Bedrock is exposed only at the eastern end around Mace Point. Most of Savary's soils are sandy, with brown podzolic and podzol profile development.

Climate and its Effects

In the rainshadow of Vancouver Island, Savary receives between 950 and 1,300 mm of precipitation annually, with maximum amounts in late fall through mid-winter. No permanent streams exist on the island, but at least one spring may be found at Indian Springs. The dry warm summers and erodible soils condition distinctive ecologic settings and surface processes (including wind erosion and deposition). In addition, storm waves, which are predominantly from the southeast, have important erosion and sediment transport effects along the south shore of Savary. It is this unique combination of "ecologic settings", "surface processes" and "transport effects" which give rise to the wonderful beaches of Savary.

Flora

Common trees are Douglas-fir, western hemlock, western red cedar, lodgepole pine, grand fir, red alder, bigleaf maple and arbutus. It is claimed that the one of the largest arbutus trees in the world is on the island. A few western white pine are present. A tiny population of Garry oak occurs at the eastern end -- the northernmost natural occurrence of this species along the coast. It has splendid beaches, arbutus groves, meadows, and sand cliffs. Salal is the most plentiful shrub in the forest understorey. Red huckleberry, evergreen huckleberry and red flowering currant are among the other shrubs present. Many of the open areas have been conquered by alien species such as Scotch broom, gorse and Himalayan blackberry.

Fauna

The animal population includes birds (bald eagles, owls, belted kingfishers, cliff and northern rough-winged swallows, seagulls, sandpipers, and herons), mammals (black-tailed deer, harbour seals, bats), reptiles (garter snakes and possibly northern alligator lizard), and numerous invertebtrates. Surprisingly, the raccoon is absent; its failure to become established on the island has allowed ground-nesting birds to maintain their populations.

History

Sometime after the end of the glaciers, first nations peoples arrived in the region. Archaeological evidence documents the occupation by Tla'amin for 4,000 years. People of the Sliammon first nation gave the island the name "Áyhus", meaning 'double-headed serpent'. Shell middens (including a midden near Indian Springs) and other sites (including a village site at Duck Bay) remain from this era.

In June 1792, as he sailed up the coast, Captain Vancouver re-named the place "Savary's Island". However, it was many decades before permanent European settlement on the island. In the 1870s the government subdivided the island into lots for homesteading.

Jack Green, the first non-aboriginal permanent resident, was an early settler who built a cabin and store in or about 1896. Green Point (now known as Mace Point) was named for him. Green was eventually murdered on Savary, in an early convenience store holdup. Strangely, the events of the robbery and murder mirror the robbery by the Flying Dutchman in Union Bay. Green's murderer, Lynn of the Lynn Valley clan, was eventually captured in a muli-thousand mile, multinational chase and sent to the gallows.

By the turn of the century, CPR coastal ships and Union Steamships called in popularizing the place. Savary has always been a popular island for clamming and swimming owing to the sandy beaches.

A government wharf was built at near Green Point, close to Dinner Rock and Lund. In 1910 Savary Island was subdivided into over 1400 lots. Savary subsequently became a favourite summer cabin location. Further subdivision resulted in a total of over 1700 (mostly 50 foot) lots on Savary.

The Ashworth family built the Royal Savary Hotel at Indian Point. Roads were built and more cabins established.

Gradually, water taxis from Lund and air travel provided the route to the island. The steamship services ended in the 1940s (Union Steamships) and 1950s (Gulf Steamship Line).

For a brief time an airstrip was operating on the island, however it was later closed due to safety concerns. Over the years there have been several shipwrecks (including the Union Steamship Steamer Capilano in 1915) and aircraft crashes (including a small single engine crash in Seaweed Bay in the 1960s). The incidents include: A RCAF Hurricane fighter that crashed off Savary in 1943, survivors of the PowRivCo Tug Teeshoe sinking swam to Savary in the 1950s, a Cessna on the airstrip, two fishboats-one in the Gulf and one in Malaspina Straight -each with a loss of life, and a Gulf ship that sank on Dinner Rock in 1947. There have also been swimming and pleasure boating incidents over the years.

In 1982 the Royal Savary Hotel was demolished and, for many, this was the end of an era. Since then several "B&B"'s have opened on the island.

Art and Artists

Savary Island has inspired a great deal of creativity; artists whose work features Savary include Helen Griffin, Charles Hepburn Scott, Anne-Marie Harvey, David Burns, Sheldon Heppner, E.J. Hughes, and Michael Kluckner.

Relevant Link

• Savary Island Land Trust Society