Texada Island, BC, Canada was first discovered in 1791 by a European named Don Jose Navarez from Spain. Legends say, the First Nations people had no permanent settlement on the island at the time. But, the First Nation shell middens and fish traps indicate temporary camps existed on Texada. Still, many years passed with no permanent settlement being established, until the west coast fur trading, whaling, forestry and and mining industries starting to see potential on Texada.

Fur trading and whaling started on Texada Island in the mid 1800s and continued until the early 1900s. Blubber Bay on the island was... well... the area used for processing whales. Now it is the bay housing the BC Ferry terminal. The miners arrived at the same time with large geological yields of gold, copper, limestone and iron assisting them in developing many businesses.

Logging was also prevalent at this time in history, Even one of today's villages, Van Anda, was a wild forestry town in its day. All this activity brought more people and more commercial businesses like an opera house, three hotels, saloons and several stores. During prohibition liquor was in demand in the Unites States so a distillery in Pocahontas Bay was built.

All was well until 1910 when fires wiped the buildings off Texada Island. And again in 1912 and fire again 1917. Today Texada Island, is still the largest Gulf Island and one of the few islands that is an industry based economy with three working limestone quarries, some forestry companies and agricultural businesses.