COURTENAY

COURTENAY

Is a medium-sized city, located on the east coast of Vancouver Island and in the heart of the Comox Valley, 108 kilometers north of Nanaimo.

Courtenay is named after the Courtenay River, which in turn is named after George William Courtenay, who captained HMS Constance, a shop that was stationed here between 1846 and 1849. Courtenay has long been inhabited by the Coast Salish First Nations people even before the first white settlers arrived. The Hudson’s Bay Company established a store and in the 1860s, a permanent community was put in place. A road from Victoria was put in place in 1910, and Courtenay became the main terminus of the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway in 1914.

In 1992, North Island College was opened and has since become one of northern Vancouver Island’s biggest, largest and most popular post-secondary education institutions. Courtenay relies on tourism (including a couple of tourist attractions like a museum, and a fish hatchery that is open 365 days year from 8 am to 4 in the afternoon), commercial fishing, logging and mining as its main economic benefactors.

Courtenay was incorporated as a city in 1953, after been a town before that since 1915. Mount Washington Alpine Ski Resort is also found nearby and has become a major winter destination for skiers and snowboarders, in addition to several summer activities that include mountain biking, as well as hiking.

Courtenay and the Comox Valley experiences a climate similar to the rest of Vancouver Island. The summer months are normally dry with low- accumulations of precipitation, this is because of the nearby mountains pocessing a rain-shadow effect. During the winter months this area experiences mild winters with the moisture falling mostly as rain because of its close location to the ocean and its sea-level elevation. Having said that, it is common for arctic air to linger over the surrounding area, resulting in suddently-dropping temeperatures and freezing levels and as a consequence, a high snowfall can be an expected everyday occurrence from November to February. Annual high temperatures here average 13 degrees Celcius while annual  lows average around +5 to +6 degrees Celcius mark.

Courtenay, the Comox Valley, and the surrounding area made news headlines in 1946, when a magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck just west of here with the epicenter near the Forbidden Plateau. One of Canada’s most destructive and largest onshore earthquakes, the extent of damage was surprisingly minimal given the fact that it was classified as VIII-Destructive on the Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale. This happened because the area around the epicenter was remote and not heavy-populated at the time. The damage it did in this area was demolishing Courtenay’s chimneys on buildings and there were 2 fatalities. Shaking was felt as far north as Prince Rupert and far south as Portland, Oregon as well as on most of Vancouver Island, Victoria and even Vancouver and the Lower Mainland.  

Courtenay’s population: 21,940