Coal Harbour
Coal Harbour is the name for a section of Burrard Inlet lying between Vancouver, Canada's downtown peninsula and the Brockton Peninsula of Stanley Park. It has also now become the name of the neighbourhood adjacent to its southern shoreline, which was redeveloped as an upscale high-rise condominium district in the 1990s.
The harbour is bounded by the Financial District to the south and Stanley Park to the north. To the east is Deadman's Island, the site of the naval station and museum HMCS Discovery, where the harbour opens up to the Burrard Inlet. The discovery of coal in the harbour in 1862 inspired the name. Within the harbour is a floating gas station for marine vessels.
Coal Harbour is home to Vancouver Harbour Water Aerodrome, located a few blocks from Canada Place.
History
Notable inhabitants and developments in Coal Harbour's past include:
Squamish settlements, notably on Deadman Island, Brockton Point and Lumberman's Arch.
In 1862 minor exploration began of the visible coal seams on the flank of the bluff overlooking the harbour, first noted by Captain Vancouver. This bluff was approximately where most of West Hastings Street is today. The coal was low-grade, but its occurrence in clays similar to porcelain-making clays of the English Midlands led to the staking of what is known as the Brickmaker's Claim by the Three Greenhorns. The Brickmaker's Claim is now the West End. No clay was ever mined nor porcelain ever made, but one of the Greenhorns was the developer of the clay mine and brickworks at Clayburn on Sumas Mountain near Abbotsford.
