Slatechuck Mountain

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Slatechuck Mountain
Slatechuck Mountain is located in British Columbia
Slatechuck Mountain
Slatechuck Mountain
Location in British Columbia
Highest point
Coordinates53°15′42″N 132°14′15″W / 53.261666°N 132.2375°W / 53.261666; -132.2375
Geography
LocationNorth Coast of British Columbia, Canada
DistrictQueen Charlotte Land District
Topo mapNTS 103F8 Yakoun Lake
Dark argillite from the area

Slatechuck Mountain, known as Kaagan in the Haida language, is a summit on south-central Graham Island in Haida Gwaii, formerly known as the Queen Charlotte Islands of the North Coast of British Columbia, Canada. It is located about 9 km west of Daajing Giids (formerly Queen Charlotte City), on Skidegate Inlet, and just south of Yakoun Lake, the island's largest lake, which is the source of the northward-flowing Yakoun River.

Slatechuck Mountain is important in the culture of the Haida people as the source of a rare black form of argillite used in Haida art. Known also as "black slate", this form of argillite occurs nowhere else in the world and only Haida have the right to quarry it. The black argillite occurs only at certain locations on the mountain's slope, above the basin of Slatechuck Creek. The name "Slatechuck" is a local Chinook Jargon usage, combining "slate" with the word for water, river or lake, and is a reference to the creek being where the slate is found.

References[edit]

  • Canadian Mountain Encyclopedia entry "Slatechuck Mountain"
  • BC Govt MINFILE Record Summary "Slatechuck Creek
  • "Slatechuck Mountain". BC Geographical Names.