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Page last updated November 26, 2003
© Michael Kluckner
| The beach at Old Masset, the wrecked fishboat a bit of a cliché perhaps. Oh well. The house in the distance, with strong corner posts and wide horizontal siding, is a modern interpretation of the traditional Haida plank houses. The body of water on the right is Masset Sound, the narrow channel that widens into Masset Inlet and almost bisects Graham Island. |
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Looking in the opposite direction from the sketch above, same afternoon, clouds and a rainstorm moving in from the northwest. Distinctive and very evocative new totem poles rise near a number of the houses in Old Masset, home to many of the famous carving families of the Haida. Bought some raven earrings made by a Davidson family carver . . . . |
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The village of Old Masset is often now referred to as Haida or Haida Village, an attempt to distinguish it from the adjoining, largely non-native town of Masset. Old Masset was originally a Raven Crest site called Ut-te-was, and post-contact became one of two villages (Skidegate the other) to which Haidas migrated from the "outport" villages. About 700 people live in Old Masset, about 1300 in Masset and the same in Queen Charlotte City. The Canadian Museum of Civilization site is a good link. Adjoining Masset on the south side is Delkatla Slough (below), which opens onto Masset Sound. To my eye it is one of the most picturesque fishing harbours on the coast. The small townsite of Delkatla was a 1911 promotion by Charles Wilson on the site of an old Haida settlement [Dalzell, vol. 2, p. 384]. |
