These islands can rely on constant change. One thing that has changed here many times is the local newspaper.
The Queen Charlotte News started it all, running weekly from 1908 to 1913. The Masset Review was published for an unknown period around 1910. Copies of both are available to read in person at the Legislative Library of British Columbia in Victoria.
Closer to home, at the Haida Gwaii Museum at Ḵay Llnagaay you can find copies of two other antique papers from 1911 and 1912.
The Queen Charlotte Islander was a weekly “published in the interest of settlers to promote the development of the Queen Charlotte Islands.” Among the headlines are “Tragedy at Queen Charlotte” and “Island whalers had a good season.”
The Queen Charlotte Islander ran from 1911 to 1914. The Haida Gwaii Museum has a memo noting that the newspaper’s language does not reflect the museum’s own views—the Islander is riddled with what are now deemed racist and derogatory terms.
Around the same time, the Masset Leader was published in the north end. Both sold for a whopping five cents per issue, or two dollars for an annual subscription. They had ads from businesses on and off the islands. Some offered 25-cent hotel rooms, and a smooth 5-year-old whiskey.
The Islander doesn’t have many stories that relate to the world today, but one brief reads, “Chicken stealing has existed here for some time and it’s high time that something should be done in the matter in bringing culprits to justice.”
While it’s hard to imagine chicken thieves in 2024, many poultry owners know the pain of having a chicken stolen by a non-human predator and would likely feel the same injustice this unknown author did in 1912.
A second newspaper called the Queen Charlotte News ran from 1955 to 1967. This mostly woman-run publication was up to 30 cents a copy, or $3.50 for an annual subscription. Hand-drawn ads for the Richardson Ranch Auto Shop advertised gas at 45 cents a gallon.
Doug and Mabel Leach decided to start a newspaper in the living room of their Tlell home in 1969. A later publication, Cottage Industry of Tlell—1985, acknowledged the success of their family front-room operation had grown to employ many “Tlellephones.” They asked for 25 cents a copy and 10 dollars per year for the Queen Charlotte Islands Observer.
The Leachs ran the paper out of Clayhill/Tlell for the next 16 years. In 1985, they sold the Observer to Jeff and Dianne King. For the next 29 years, the Kings ran the successful, islands-wide publication. Now called the Haida Gwaii Observer, it was sold to Black Press in 2014.
The Observer ran every week for more than half a century, with three different owners reigning over the Haida Gwaii news game. Famous for its lively letters, the Observer will always be remembered by longtime locals.
Haida Laas has been going strong since 1975 when it started under the name Haaada ‘Las. Now the newsletter of the Council of the Haida Nation, it has been an important information source for Haida citizens and supporters of Haida Gwaii long before everyone called it Haida Gwaii.
Also starting in 1975 was All Alone Stone, which featured news-length articles, poetry, photos, and sketches of the islands’ environment. It was published occasionally by the Islands Protection Committee, which is described as being traced to “the banks of the Tlell River in October last year” in the first edition, About Time for an Island.
Renamed All Alone Stone for the next three volumes, which ran in 1975, 1976, and 1980, its success can be seen in changes to forestry management, and it has been cited in several doctoral theses at UBC.
On the other end of the environmental spectrum, there was The Redneck News. Published by R.L. Smith out of Sandspit in the 1980s, it highlighted another side of island life with logger-focused stories.
The one copy available in the Haida Gwaii Museum archives includes a lengthy plea by the publisher for the community to support a woman recently widowed by a logging accident. This plea exhibits the community spirit many locals know and love about small island life.
For a decade, the Gowgaia Institute printed a local magazine called Spruce Roots. The last edition, in 2005, had submissions protesting its closure. The stated goal of Spruce Roots was to provide perspectives and promote discussion of the issues affecting Haida Gwaii.
The Masset Morning Star was run by Margo Hearne, who has been featured several times in the publications already mentioned. The Morning Star ran from 2002 to October 2003.
This two-page broadsheet newsletter proudly broke the 2002 Starbucks vs Haidabucks litigation story. Hearne fondly remembers that publication, explaining that it was a very local and informative paper.
From its beginnings as a buy-and-sell in 2010, the Haida Gwaii Trader has since grown into a bimonthly magazine that recently celebrated 125 editions.
Just this week, the paper you are holding now joined the long history of print periodicals on Haida Gwaii. The price has come down a bit since 1911—it’s free.