Campbell River Hotels

Campbell River is a coastal city in British Columbia on the east coast of Vancouver Island at the south end of Discovery Passage, which lies along the important coastal Inside Passage shipping route. Campbell River claims a population of 32,000 and has long been touted as "the Salmon Capital of the World".The town is served by an airport (YBL), a seaplane base called YHH at Campbell River Harbour, a BC Ferries route to Quadra Island, and highways which connect it to neighbouring towns such as Courtenay, The Village of Sayward, Gold River, Port McNeill and PorHardy.The 1948 construction of the BC Power Corporation's Elk Falls hydroelectric dam and the John Hart Generating Station allowed Crown Zellerbach to establish the Elk Falls Pulp and Paper Mill in 1952, which greatly improved the town's economy. The mill is currently owned by Catalyst Paper and is still the city's single largest employer.NVI Mining operates the Myra Falls zinc, gold and silver mine in nearby StrathconaProvincial Park. Quinsam Coal operates an underground coal mine southwest of town. The mines employ hundreds of people, many of whom live in Campbell River.The city is also a growing market for retirees.The first settlers known in the area were members of the Island Comox and related Coast Salish peoples. During the 18th Century a migration of Kwakwaka'wakw people of the Wakashan cultural and linguistic group migrated south from the area of Fort Rupert and established themselves in the Campbell River area, at first enslaving and then absorbing the Comox, and became infamous as raiders of the Coast Salish peoples farther south, known to history as the Euclataws, which is also spelled Yucultas and is a variant on their name for themselves, the Laich-kwil-tach, Lekwiltok or Legwildok. Of this group, also known as the Southern Kwakiutl, there are two subdivisions, the Wekayi or Weiwakai of the Cape Mudge Indian Band on Quadra Island and the Weywakum of the Campbell River Band located in and around the city of Campbell River.