The Arrival of European Settlers Settlers came to the southern areas of what is now British Columbia in the 1840s, only a few non-natives lived in the Bella Coola valley. Some had received land in return for military service. Others were here to supply the fur trade and gold-seekers en-route to the interior. Major non-native settlement of the valley occurred after B.F. Jacobsen, a Norwegian, visited the area in 1884. Jacobsen visited the area several times while collecting native art for European musuems. Believing Bella Coola was ideal for settlement, he mapped the valley for potential farmland and, in 1893, convinced the government to survey the valley for settlement. He promted the area in Norwegian-language newspapers. A clergyman in Minnesota responded and in October, 1894, Reverand Saugstad arrived with a boatload of settlers to the valley. The 84 original settlers were carried in dug-out canoes from their ship to a camp on the north shore of the Bella Coola River, across from the Clayton's former Hudson Bay post. For several months, they were hampered by autumn floods and winter snows, but with the help of Nuxalk canoemen, the new settlers reached their homesteads upriver. Each settler received a grant of 160 acres of land and the colonial government provided funds for a settlement road to be built up the valley. A store, school and church were built at what became the community of Hagensborg. Several years later, a government dock was built on the north shore of the fiord. A road was built to it and, in 1904, a new townsite was built on the north shore near the Necleetsconnay River. The town grew to include two stores, a bakery, bank, newspaper, church, school and hospital. After a fire destroyed the village of Q'UMK'UTS, most of the Nuxalk community moved to the north shore as well.

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