The Gold River Harbour is located on the west coast of the island, there was logging going on at the estuary since the 40s and by the 1960s, Tahsis company was logging the area. Then in 1964, they built a pulp and paper mill in the harbour. This created a need for a town and one was laid out, not just a normal town though, this was modern, and all power, phone, and cable TV lines were put underground, this was the first town in BC to do this.
The town was booming during the mill years, but then prices for newsprint took a dive, newsprint prices collapsed amid a glut of new supply, and the cost of wood chips was increasing, no longer able to compete and still make a profit, the paper production stopped in 1993 and in 1998 the whole mill quit operations.
For a while, things were pretty bleak for the people in town, businesses closed, and houses were selling dirt cheap. Then the eco-tourist learned about what could be accessed from the Gold River Port.
It’s a perfect spot to put in a kayak for finding adventures up the Muchalat inlet or for stepping onto the Uchuck lll and heading up to Nootka Island and friendly cove, there are floatplane tours that will put you into some of the best, remote rivers and lakes for some extreme fishing, or you could head out to view bears on salmon streams or take a whale-watching trip. Now the town is seeing some life, and it’s only going to get better.
The Muchalat Inlet abounds with salmon in summer, halibut are plentiful year-round. Fishermen head out from the harbour year-round, searching for an adventure.
The Gold River harbour is one of those places that will be the envy of the island after all the industries have been replaced by tourist-related operations.