| Feature Type: | Village (1) - A populated place with legally defined boundaries, incorporated as a village municipality under the provincial Municipal Act. |
| Status: | Official |
| Name Authority: | BC Geographical Names Office |
| Relative Location: | Head of Tahsis Inlet, Nootka Sound, W side of Vancouver Island, Nootka Land District |
| Latitude-Longitude: | 49°54'58"N, 126°39'52"W at the approximate location of the Municipal Hall. |
| Datum: | WGS84 |
| NTS Map: | 92E/15 |
|
|
Origin Notes and History:
|
Tahsis (Post Office) adopted 1 February 1938 on C345, at 49° 50' 45" x 126° 43' 00". Form of name changed to Tahsis (Post Office & Landing) and position altered 27 July 1946 on C.3662, to 49° 55' x126° 40'. Incorporated as a Village Municipality 17 June 1970. Tahsis (Village) confirmed 30 November 1981 on 92E/15. Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |
|
Tahsis Post Office was opened 15 January 1938, situated on Lot 396 facing Hecate Channel. Name changed to Port Tahsis Post Office 30 June 1938; post office closed 15 June 1940. Tahsis Post Office re-established 15 August 1945, located at Gibson Bros Logging Camp at the head of Tahsis Inlet. See also the municipality's own website. Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |
|
The name Tahsis is a modification on a Nuu-chah-nulth First Nation word meaning “way” or “passage,” and refers to an ancient but important trade route across Vancouver Island that led up the Tahsis River to Woss Lake and Nimpkish Lake. Another trail across the island (one that Ly Philip Hankin and Dr Charles Wood of HMS Hecate took in 1862) led from Tahsis Inlet to Kyuquot Sound up the Tahsis River and overland to Nimpkish Lake. Several versions of the name are recorded, including Tah-cease and Tashees. In the late 18th century, the head of Tahsis Inlet was the site on an important Mowachaht First Nation winter village. Chief Maquinna entertained Captain George Vancouver and Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra in lavish fashion there in 1792. Today’s village of Tahsis was founded in 1945, when the Gibson brothers built a sawmill. It has been a sawmill community ever since and was not connected by the road to rest of Vancouver Island until 1972. Tahsis Inlet was originally name Tasis Canal in 1938 and to it current form in 1947. Tahsish Inlet formerly known as Tahsish Arm. Tahsish Lake and Tahsis Mountain are also named after the respective rivers. Source: Scott, Andrew; "The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Place Names"; Harbour Publishing, Madeira Park, 2009, page 581. |