Old Bella Bella

Old Bella Bella, also known as Old Towns or Qlts, was the name for the Heiltsuk village that grew up around the Hudson's Bay Company's historic Fort McLoughlin, at McLoughlin Bay on Campbell Island. The village relocated to the present site of Bella Bella, British Columbia by 1903. Today the Heiltsuk control the site, which houses a BC Ferries terminal, fish plant, and two houses, as well as archaeological remains of the old village.

Located on Campbell Island opposite the modern town now carrying the name Shearwater,^[1] the village grew and the Hudson's Bay Company closed the fort and replaced their operations with steam-ships. William Fraser Tolmie a Scottish doctor and fur trader employed by the Hudson's Bay Company left a record of some of his time at the fort and observed the development of the Heiltsuk village there.^[2]