Princess Louisa Inlet is one of the most spectacular fjords in North America. It is minutes north of Vancouver by floatplane or an easy one or two days north by boat. But few living in Vancouver have ever seen it, or even heard of it, and fewer still know that parts of this pristine wilderness area are still at risk from development or logging.

Although much of Princess Louisa is currently a Provincial Marine Park, waterfront lots in the inlet are up for sale. Luckily, a society of concerned volunteers, private business, high-minded dreamers and sportsmen is committed to spreading the word about this natural treasure and preserving it one parcel of land at a time.

Princess Louisa Inlet’s walls rise a mile straight up out of the water, and with a depth of 600 feet, anchoring in the inlet can be a challenge. The inlet is 3.7 miles long and a half-mile wide. It is hidden from the world by a winding shaped entrance that is safely

negotiated at slack water, but then at low or high tide it becomes a reversing waterfall of daunting power, best observed from the shore.

During the months of May through September the inlet is one of the most idyllic places on earth; the clear air and crystalline water is unusually still. As you enter you suddenly find yourself deep within unspoiled forestland with waterfalls dropping hundreds of feet from above.

At the head of the inlet is Chatterbox Falls, a dramatic river of glacial water that winds down through the forest. The steep walls of the inlet make it difficult to truly capture in a photograph — you just have to be there to see it.

An Overlooked Treasure

It is often called the Yosemite of the North, yet Half Dome, the commanding feature in Yosemite, is only 4,700 feet high, thousands of feet short of the peaks that surround Princess Louisa Inlet. Yosemite was made a state park in 1860, Yellowstone National Park in 1892 and Banff, Canada’s first National Park, was established in 1885. Even the exacting navigator, Captain Vancouver, missed finding Princess Louisa. In June of 1792 he wrote, “About two leagues from the head of the (Jervis) inlet we observed as we passed upwards, a small creek with some rocky islands before it, where I intended to take up our abode for the night. It was found to be full of salt water, just deep enough to admit our boats against a very rapid stream where at low tide they would have been grounded.” Yet Princess Louisa Inlet was overlooked as a Canadian treasure until the 1960s, when much of it was donated to the province of B.C. to become a protected Provincial Marine Park, but there are still areas that are privately owned or at risk for development.

A Pioneering Spirit

Among wilderness areas, Princess Louisa’s unique look and ambiance is immediately felt and stimulates the imagination. The first dreamer to be entranced by the inlet was James F. “Mac” Macdonald. In 1919, as a young man, he first saw the inlet on his uncle’s schooner, Rambler. Although Mac lived off the modest earnings of his family’s grocery business, he sought his fortune for 10 years mining near Reno, Nevada, with the vivid beauty of Princess Louisa always etched in his mind. Then, with a few thousand dollars in his pocket, Mac filed for a crown grant on a property at the head of Princess Lou- isa Inlet. The government advised Macdonald that he could buy the property for $420 and he did.

Having acquired his dream, Mac built an impressive lodge in 1930. He used 60-foot pealed cedar logs 15 to 20 inches in diameter. He bought them for $5 each, delivered. He welcomed yachtsmen, lumbermen, fishermen and adventurers at his docks and in his home, and built some trails so they might better enjoy the beauty.

Mac was kind and engaging, loved chess, and was easy to be around. He liked to tell vivid, romanticized stories about the First Nations. He was a flamboyant entertainer much loved for his fire dance using alcohol on parts of his body. In his last public performance at the inlet’s Malibu Club resort he caused the drapery to catch fire.

Visitors returned year after year to stay in the inlet and spend time with Mac who was as much an attraction as the inlet itself. As he liked to spend his winters in Mexico or travelling to exotic locations, he found himself a travelling companion and guest of many of his inlet friends. He was accepted as unofficial laird and host in the inlet. They called him Princess Louisa Mac.

In 1941 Mac fell in love and married. While ferrying in his bride to his cabin at Chatterbox Falls he found his home engulfed in flames. The marriage did not last. He could not afford to rebuild but Mac persisted with his dream, found a house on a barge and had it towed into the inlet where he continued to welcome and entertain visitors.

Hamilton’s Dream

Mac was soon joined by another dreamer, Tom Hamilton, a shrewd, enthusiastic and successful aircraft entrepreneur who claimed to have invented (though he had not) the variable pitch propeller. He had been told by Bill Boeing in 1938 when their yachts, Taconite and Malibu, were moored in Campbell River, “You can’t leave until you have seen Princess Louisa Inlet.” The next day both yachts went to check it out.

Ethyl Hamilton, Tom’s wife, immediately fell in love with the place, particularly the island halfway down the inlet. Tom told her, “It’s yours.” In 1940 Hamilton decided to build a resort in the inlet that he would call a “Mecca for Millionaires.” Hamilton persuaded Mac to sell him the islands for $18,000. He immediately named it Hamilton Island.

He then bought essentially the remainder of the inlet, 9,381 acres of the Sechelt Reserve, from the Canadian Government for $6,000. He soon renamed One Eye, the most dramatic mountain in the inlet, Mount Hamilton.

In a decade Hamilton had spent almost a million dollars on the project. That’s $22 million in today’s dollars. Not included were uncounted thousands in advertising and promotion. He built the first phase of his resort—a camp that was a secession of log lodges—at the entrance of the inlet.

Although the art of the Sechelt Nation was readily available, he decorated the buildings with Indian themes and art of the Southwest United States. He com- missioned a 60-foot totem pole that depicts faces of his family under a thunderbird, and includes an image of the standard Hamilton three-bladed propel- ler at its base. It can still be seen today.

He named the resort Camp Malibu after his yacht, and in 1947 he added a golf course, barging in soil and turf to cover the granite.

He bought flying boats and a succession of yachts to ferry in celebrities of the 1940s. John Wayne, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Fred MacMurry, William Holden, Ann Miller, Alexis Smith, Robert Taylor, Robert Cummings and Conrad Hilton all stayed at Malibu Club. Hamilton photographed himself with all of them. Barbara Stanwick came, but flew out two days later as she tired of Hamilton’s attention.

A Dream Abandoned

The next phase of the resort was to be a Swiss Village behind Hamilton Island. This was to be followed by a tram on cables to convey guests to the glacier above for skiing. The resort ceased operations for the Second World War, but vigorously relaunched in July 1947.

Still it was never impressively profitable. Though the reasons are not fully under- stood, Hamilton lost interest and abruptly abandoned the resort taking his staff with him. Food was left in cooking pots and on the dining tables. Rooms filled with spider webs. A large yacht, Chief Malibu, was left tied to the dock with hatches open. It filled with rainwater and sank. For years its mast was exposed at low tide.

Young Life

In March 1953, Jim Reyburn, who had built Christian camps for young people. Flew in to look at the abandoned Malibu Club. Before Reyburn got off the plane he declared that Malibu Club would be Young Life’s next camp. Jim’s advisers did not support the plan thinking the ultimate investment too large.

Hamilton and Reyburn, both men of big dreams, got on well. Hamilton sold the abandoned resort to the Young Life organization for $300,000, taking $50,000 in cash, the rest covered by a note.

Threat of Commercial Development

Hamilton sold the remaining land to lumber giant Macmillan Bloedel in 1958. Five years earlier, Mac had been offered $400,000 for his property by a hotel chain. He rejected the offer but recognized that protecting the inlet from commercial exploitation was exceedingly difficult. He talked openly about the challenge with yachters who visited the inlet.

A plan evolved for an international, non-profit organization to be the owner and protector of the inlet. Its goal would be the acquisition of additional acreage until all of Princess Louisa Inlet was protected from commercial development.

A Society to the Rescue

In October 1953, Mac deeded his land to the Princess Louisa International Society. Volunteer directors were elected to actively seek donations and memberships, to purchase land and maintain the inlet and its facilities. The gift transfer contained a clause indicating the intention to eventually turn the land over to the province as a park.

There was an unsuccessful attempt by the society to purchase the surrounding land owned by the province, but this offer was declined as they wished to hold it for anticipated lumber sales. An uneasy relationship developed between Princess Lou- isa International Society and the province.

In 1964, the society deeded Mac’s land to B.C. through the Ministry of Parks, with the stipulation that it be maintained as a “Class A” Marine Park.

In 1972, following the death of Tom Hamilton, his estate sold his beloved island to the society. It was also deeded to B.C. Parks who renamed it Macdonald Island after its original owner.

Still most of the land around the inlet was MacMillan Bloedel tree farm #19. The company planned to harvest the commercial grade timber in the area. With logging imminent, B.C. Parks, with the society’s encouragement, began a campaign to make the inlet a National Park in 1973. The initiative was turned down by the Canada National Parks Board.

Another proposal was made within B.C. Parks to offer timber from Garibaldi Park to MacMillan Bloedel in exchange for the timber in Princess Louisa Inlet, but this was rejected in 1979 by G.F. MacNab, a ministry manager.

Progress

In 2000, the society negotiated an option to purchase four district lots with approximately 2,221 acres surrounding Mac’s original acreage from the Weyehauser Company, who now owned MacMillan Blodoel’s holdings. Fundraising began in earnest.

The society’s leader, Bill Botham, brought in the Nature Conservancy of Canada who then brought in a family foundation with strong interest in the environment, the Tula Foundation.

The society contributed $400,000 and the Nature Conservancy contributed approximately $1,600,000 (of which $1,500,000 came from the Tula Foundation). Weyerhaeuser donated one of the lots having a value of $350,000. Without the donation from the Tula Foundation, the purchase absolutely would not have happened. The land was donated to the province in March of 2003.

The Current State of the Inlet

Mac, whose desire was to keep the inlet just as it was, could not have imagined the way this would unfold. There are currently 10 committed directors of the Princess Lou- isa International Society actively seeking contributions to buy additional land in the inlet and help maintain the park.

Today, Young Life continues successfully as a summer camp for young people, accommodating 300 campers at a time.

Bob Goff, a lover of the inlet and best selling author recently entered the picture as well. Bob has rescued young people from human slavery in Uganda and India and built an academy for them called Restore International. He advocates thinking big and acting accordingly. He simply bought several large tracts himself and put a conservation covenant on the parcels to do his part to help save the inlet.

An organization called Global Conservation Mountain Biking Club, whose actual owners have not been revealed, has bought a waterfront parcel. When the society learned that the mountain bikers would come into the inlet by helicopter there was some concern. Yet in the last year the club along with a team of New Zealand trail builders has sensitively constructed trails that can’t be seen from the inlet. They have one wooden float on the water that blends into the scenery. Their land is, for the most part, conserved in its natural state.

The remainder of the inlet—three large waterfront lots—is currently being offered for sale for logging or commercial development by Timberland Trust. With the help of volunteers and contributors, the Princess Louisa International Society hopes to purchase the land from Timberland Trust and donate it to the province for its continued preservation as a Provincial Marine Park. [Update: We have since succeeded in this goal, however more work is yet to be done. More info here.]

Note: This article was originally featured in the August 2013 issue of Pacific Yachting Magazine.