The Golden Spruce, White Raven of Port Clements and some great local museums

Seeking Out The Golden Spruce.

I have heard of the Golden Spruce anecdotally from friends and my mother read the book by John Vaillant and remarked on how good the book was, I also noticed the book was available in just about every gift shop on Haida Gwaii. But for some reason I was under the impression that the Golden Spruce was an obscure myth. It was not till I picked up the Guide to Haida Gwaii that is readily available at many Visitor Information Centres, and read the part about Port Clements and its reference to the Golden Spruce. I then realized this thing was real and had a tragic story.

I would have to admit at this point my curiosity was considerably peaked when I found out that I could go and see the spot of the famed Golden Spruce. The next day I made my way to Port Clements to seek out the spot of the legendary Golden Spruce and maybe learn a little more about it.

Following maps, road signs and a bit of instinct I found myself on a gravel road heading out of Port Clements and heading toward the village of Juskatla. It was not long till I found the parking lot and a faded sign marking the starting point of the Golden Spruce trail. There is a warning sign at the beginning of the trail asking you not to go onto the Golden Spruce trail if it is windy. Since part of the trail is old growth forest, and when the wind blows, it can force a greater number of dead trees and branches to fall to the forest floor, and you can see evidence of this as you walk along the trail. Walking in an old growth forest can be dangerous on windy/stormy days.

Golden Spruce trail sign

The walk down to the viewpoint can take under 10 minutes to easily trek to. This is a very lush forest that has towering trees with a high green canopy and the forest floor is covered with a soft green moss. The forest floor used to be covered with ferns and vegetation until the deer was introduced to Haida Gwaii, the deer has effectively chomped their way across the islands and leaving a barren forest floor where the moss then moves in. There have been studies done on some of the smaller islands where they do a cull of the all the deer annually, they find the vegetation does grow back, but other deer always end up swimming over to the islands.

When you reach the viewpoint of the Golden Spruce there is a sign that gives a brief description of what the Golden Spruce was and how it came to its demise. This quote from the green sign reeds as follows; “The Golden Spruce once stood across the Yakoun River from this viewpoint. A genetic deficiency gave the tree a golden colour and featured prominently in Haida lore. The tree was felled in 1997 in a misdirected attempt to protest logging practises in the Province...”. The sign then advises that you visit the Port Clements museum for more information.

Sign marking the spot of the Golden Spruce

The fallen Golden Spruce

When you look across the Yakoun River all that remains of the Golden Spruce is a dead tree hanging across the bank. It is hard to believe this tree once stood proud and was a testament to mother natures natural beauty. It is sad to think that this one of a kind tree now no longer exists on this planet... or does it?

The mighty Golden Spruce has been saved. A cutting of fallen tree was taken and nurtured into a sapling. It is now on display in Memorial Park in Port Clements where it is protected by a chain linked fence and barbed wire. I am happy to report that the once little sapling is slowly but steadily growing into another mighty Golden Spruce tree. But wait, there's more!

Young Golden Spruce

Golden Spruce Plaque

Golden Spruce fortified Compound

It seems the Golden Spruce on the Yakoun River just outside of Port Clements was not the only one in existence. I was shown another one (not as majestic though) standing proud in an abandoned logging camp at Mathers Creek. It also seems there was more than one cutting taken from the Golden Spruce and this tree is now alive and well in many different incarnations. In the village of Sandspit there is a large private home on the main drag with not one, but two 6 foot high young Golden Spruce trees on either side of the driveway. The legend is true, if the light hits the tree just right it does have a golden glow.

Sandspit Golden Spruce

Golden spruce needles close up

For those looking for a little more exercise there is a path that carries on from the Golden Spruce's viewpoint and winds its way beside the Yakoun River. I'm not sure exactly how far the trail goes but I walked it for another hour before deciding to turn around and come back. After grabbing a quick bite to eat at the car I decided to take the green signs advice and visit the Port Clements Museum.

Golden Spruce trail

Me walking along the golden spruce trail

White Raven & Port Clements Settlers Museum.

Long warf in Port Clements

Port Clements Settlers Museum

What luck! It seems the Port Clement Museum is only open from 2:00 to 4:00 on the weekends in the off season (11:00 to 4:00 every day during the summer). I got there right at 2:00 on Sunday, paid the $2.00 admission fee and was looking at a big room full off interesting items.

It was well organized though, and just about everything was labelled with its name, who donated it and what it was used for. Being that Port Clements was a pioneer and logging town there was a need for large variety of tools that had a very specific job. Rudimentary specialized tools and and highly specialized machines are a testament of Port Clements rich history. On the outside of the museum are large relics of the forest industry including a larger steam donkey and a huge claw for grabbing logs.

Chain saw

Steam Donkey

There is a section in the Port Clements museum that has pictures and more information about the Golden Spruce. But what really caught my attention was a stuffed white raven in a glass case that had a TV beside it showing the bird in action. This was the famed white (albino) raven of Port Clements.

The white raven was known by many names, but none was settled on. They figure it was the only chick in the nest, thus did not have to compete with other fledglings for food. The bird was very friendly with humans and won the hearts of the entire community of Port Clements.

“It was a sad sight”, according to witnesses outside the Gas Plus station that saw the white raven that day. Apparently the albino raven was commiserating with local crows, when distracted, flew into an electrical transformer and some how completing a connection thus electrocuting itself. It was 1997 and the white raven was not yet 2 years old, 1997 was also the year Port Clements lost the Golden Spruce as well. That year Port Clements lost two of its great treasures.

White raven of port clements

It was good to know that both the Golden Spruce and the White Raven of Port Clements is being honoured and appreciated through the Port Clements Museum. I personally found the museum interesting and educational I would highly recommend a visit to this local attraction. It also seems to be the only place I have found where I could buy, for $2.00, a Golden Spruce post card.

Post card of the original Golden Spruce

Dixon Entrance Maritime Museum.

Dixon Entrance Maritime Museum

This day was a day for visiting museums, so after visiting the Port Clements Museum I high tailed it to Masset to visit the Dixon Entrance Maritime Museum. The museum in Masset keeps the same lean hours as the museum in Port Clements so by the time I got there I only had about 20 minutes to explore it.

It was clear upon entrance that some time and care was taken the arrangement of the displays. There are some period displays, photographs and relics depicting the early life of the pioneers, first nations interactions and, of course, the maritime history of Massett.

Some of the more interesting items on display is a 17th century olive jar from a ship of one of the earliest European explorers that was caught in a fisherman's net, a bag that frozen crab would be put into for shipping and subsequently is seen in the back of the fisherman's market on Pier 1 in San Fransisco (it was common for them to advertise “fresh crab”, though it was really from Haida Gwaii) and a beautifully painted killer whale statue featuring the Queen Charlotte Islands and other cultural symbols.

Sailboat model

Period display masset bc

whale sculpture

!700's olive jar

As a side note, there were two young ladies that were touring the islands at the same time as I was and we would bump into each other at all the various attractions. Well today was no different, as I was going into the Masset museum they were exiting. It turns out that one of the ladies great grandfather is in one of the pictures displayed in the museum, apparently he was Masset's first doctor. Its always interesting to find some old roots in a community that you and your family are not part of any more.

Next Page - The Pesuta Shipwreck & Sandspit...

All Content ©2017 Copyright www.queen-charlotte-islands-bc.com, All Rights Reserved.
Reproduction and or duplication whether it be in whole or in part of www.queen-charlotte-islands-bc.com's website in any form is not permitted without written consent and authorization from www.queen-charlotte-islands-bc.com. Disclaimer and Privacy Policy