The Remarkable Diary of Thomas Russell while at Skidegate Inlet, Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii) September 1870 – May 1871.
A transcribed and annotated edition of the diary of Thomas Russell documenting coal mining operations and interactions with the Haida First Nation in the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii) during the late nineteenth century.
About This Book
The authors received no specific funding for this work and it is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.
What’s in this Book
This book contains a transcription of a daily diary written between September 1870 – May 1871 by Thomas Russell (1836 – 1912) while acting as Superintendent of the Queen Charlotte Coal Company’s Cowgitz Coal Mine in the Skidegate Inlet area of what was then known as the Queen Charlotte Islands (now Haida Gwaii). This transcription is accompanied by background information on the coal deposit, mining operations, the people he interacted with (white and First Nation), places he visited, and other general observations.
Importance of the Diary
Thomas Russell’s diary provides a remarkable window into the social and commercial environment of a time in British Columbia’s history when rapid colonial expansion was occurring against a backdrop of extensive First Nations depopulation and cultural erosion. As such, the diary is an important historical document worthy of provincial, if not national, recognition.
Contents of the Diary
Thomas Russell’s diary contains material reflecting the socio-cultural norms and prejudices of its time. It is recognized that readers may encounter material which they deem discriminatory and offensive and that harms may occur as a result. The Ladysmith & District Historical Society is committed to, and actively engaged in, ongoing and iterative work to reconcile our responsibility to support scholarly inquiry with our commitment to the safety, inclusion, equity and dignity of all persons engaging with its spaces, services and collections.
Thomas Russell wrote the diary for his wife Sarah so that she would be able to understand what he had been experiencing during the six months he spent in the Queen Charlottes, away from his family which remained in Victoria.
The diary reads almost like an adventure novel with near shipwreck, horrendous accidents and injuries, bush medicine, interactions with the Haida First Nation, whites and orientals, character sketches of scurrilous and honorable individuals, shoddy and dishonest work by previous company employees, a complex and thin coal deposit, a disgruntled workforce, and food shortages which prompted perilous dugout canoe journeys in search of victuals.
References to the numerous whales, whaling activities, abundant salmon and dogfish populations seen on the trip up from Victoria to the Queen Charlottes on the sloop ‘Thornton’ provide insight into the natural abundance of the Gulf of Georgia (called the Salish Sea now) prior to late 19th century devastation through colonial overharvesting.
Despite his perhaps inevitable colonial attitude toward First Nations, Thomas shows himself to be devout, respectful of honesty and very critical (almost to the point of despair) of dishonesty and immorality.
It is obvious from his writing that the Russell family was very close, made closer perhaps by their grief over losing their son, Robert Henry, at age 4 in 1869. The diary is replete with poignant references to his little boy and with Thomas’ longing to be with his family.
Thomas never states why he took the job of Superintendent of the coal mine in Skidegate Inlet: his wife would have known this. The work was not familiar to him and he may not have known that the mining company was in financial difficulties before he left Victoria. It is apparent that he was driven to take the job through desperation after his grocery store in Victoria burned down on July 15th 1870 with significant loss.
After a difficult journey up from Victoria, what Thomas encountered when he got to the mine appalled him. Previous workers had operated in a sloppy manner, not bothering to separate coal from slack, with the mine and tramway bringing the coal to the shipping wharf in poor and dangerous condition. The struggle to put together a load of 500 tons of coal before a ship arrived fills much of the narrative. Beset by accidents, horrendous injuries, a thin and complex coal deposit, disgruntled employees and theft of key supplies, the ship arrived but had to be sent away with a short cargo. Thomas was glad to see it go, however, due to the scurrilous nature of the captain whose actions threatened his relationship with the Haida people.
As if troubles at the mine weren’t enough, the ship coming to relieve them at the end of their six month contract was late, causing the group to run out of basic staples such as flour. This caused much grumbling amongst the men. This lack of victuals prompted two largely unsuccessful canoe trips to seek out food – one to the Hudson’s Bay store near the village of Cumshewa, the other an epic journey up the east coast of Graham Island to the Hudson‘s Bay Company depot at what is now known as Old Massett.
As reported in an article on page 3 of the May 15th 1871 edition of the Victoria Daily Standard, Thomas and seven other miners and 50 tons of very fine quality coal were picked up on May 8th 1871 by the Hudson’s Bay Company steamship ‘Otter’ on its return leg during one of its regular trips up the British Columbia coast. At the time of Thomas’ return to Victoria, the Queen Charlotte Coal Mining Company Ltd. was in liquidation. One final disaster upon Thomas was averted by the Supreme Court of British Columbia (which was ruling on the liquidation of the company) approving a special application made in June 1871 by a Mr. Johnson to ensure that Thomas’ wages be paid out of the first funds coming into the hands of the liquidators. A similar order was made for his co-worker Laiken’s wages. What happened to the others who worked at the mine during Thomas’ stay is not recorded.
Provenance of the Diary
In September 2024 Michael Gould, a Ladysmith, Vancouver Island resident called in to the Ladysmith Archives with two plastic bags full of family papers he wanted to find a home for. Amongst the documents and family photographs was a bundle of notebooks held together with twine. On inspection, these were a daily diary written by Thomas Russell, great great grandfather of Michael Gould, chronicling his seven and a half month sojourn superintending a coal mine in Skidegate Inlet, Queen Charlotte islands (now called Haida Gwaii) in 1870/1.
The diary, consisting of four notebook volumes, had been handed down through the generations within the Michael family via Thomas’ daughter Alice, who had moved to Cedar to teach school and who subsequently married Edward Duncan Michael, a settler farmer, in May 1884.
Volume 1 to 3 of the diary are of identical type, notebooks with dark maroon soft covers. The text inside is written in ink and chronicles Thomas’ journey up to the Queen Charlotte Islands from Victoria aboard the sloop ‘Thornton’ and the bulk of his stay in Skidegate Inlet.
Volume 4 is a notebook of different make and size with a light brown faux leather cover. The text inside is written in pencil. In addition to containing the daily work records of the mine employees, this volume chronicles a harrowing return canoe trip Thomas took from Skidegate Inlet to Old Massett in search of provisions toward the end of their stay. It appears that Thomas did not wish to risk getting the ink-written Volume 3 of his diary wet while making this trip – as numerous blank pages remain in that notebook.
Where the Diary is now
The diary volumes have been scanned and deposited in the Saanich Archives as an addition to significant Russell Family Fonds already there.
Previous publications about the Diary
The Michael family, to which the diary had been passed, must have loaned them to a reporter in early 1914 as a précis of the diary was published as a substantial article in the Victoria Daily Times Saturday July 25th 1914 page 11 under the heading ‘Mining Coal in the Queen Charlottes Forty Years Ago; An unusual Record: Interesting Reminiscences Gleaned from Diaries of late Thos. Russell, former City Assessor, Victoria.’
This article was republished that same year (1914) as a three part series August 8th (see Figure 5), 15th (see Figure 6) and 22nd (see Figure 7) on page 7 in The Queen Charlotte Islander which styled itself as ‘A Weekly Newspaper Published in the interests of the Settlers, and to promote the development of the Queen Charlotte Islands’.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank a number of people and institutions that assisted during this work.
Above all, Michael Gould for bringing his great great grandfather’s diary to the attention of the Ladysmith Archives and for having confidence that the Ladysmith & District Historical Society would ensure preservation of this cherished family document. Both he and his cousin Kerry Parker were unwaveringly generous with their time and knowledge of family history.
Kimberley Head and Kaetlen Bursey of the Saanich Archives were welcoming and graciously agreed to accept the diary into their collections where it is now appropriately housed in the Russell Family Fonds.
Jillan Valpy gave an informative tour of the Craigflower Manor House National Historic Site and discussed the Russell and Mackenzie family histories related to the site. Karie McEvoy (BC Heritage Stewardship Officer) assisted with intake of Russell Family artifacts that were in the possession of Michael Gould that are of relevance to the site’s collection.
The City of Victoria staff at the Ross Bay Cemetery Office graciously took time to show the location of the Russell Family graves and also to work through the onsite cemetery records (massive handwritten tomes guarded within a forbidding safe) to track their burial history.
Staff at the BC Archives assisted with review of, and access to, Queen Charlotte Coal Company records.
Dr. Jan Boxall kindly provided explanations of the medicines employed by Thomas Russell.
Finally, my son Tristan Goodbody for suggesting incorporating the diary and associated background research into a website. His wizardry with RStudio and GitHub has permitted the cost-effective ‘publishing’ of this material to a potentially wide audience, and easy cross-referencing of material.
Quentin Goodbody Ladysmith February 2026