Adopted 1 October 1953 on Hydrographic Services Chart #3812.

Source: BC place name cards & correspondence, and/or research by BC Chief Geographer & Geographical Names Office staff, file Q.2.45.

Steilta (also Stilta, Stelta, or Stultah) was famous Haida Eagle crest chief at Masset. He converted to Christianity just before his death in 1876 and was supposedly the first Haida chief to be interred rather than placed in a mortuary box and then lodged in a mortuary house or cave. Steilta may have been involved in the pillage and burning of the US schooner ‘Susan Sturgis’ in 1852; his Masset house had an unusually carved eagle over the doorway, said to have been taken from the sternboard of that plundered vessel.

Source: Scott, Andrew; "The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Place Names"; Harbour Publishing, Madeira Park, 2009, page 565.

West of the largest Harrison Islands. Named in 1953 by the Hydrographic Office after the Eagle Chief Steilta of Masset, a tall, well-built man, who blamed his premature death on “too much hootchum.” He was first husband of Mrs. Agnes Russ. Converted to Christianity shortly before he died, he was the first Haida chief to be interred – at his own request. There is a stained glass window in the Old Masset church to his memory.

Source: Dalzell, Kathleen E; "Queen Charlotte Islands - Book 2: of places and names"; Prince Rupert: Cove Press, 1973, page 410.