In more recent years tourists are travelling from around the world to view grizzly bears in a natural setting and explore the wilderness of Bute Inlet.

He was granted a townsite at the head of the inlet (still on maps as Port Waddington but as nothing more than a land survey) and commenced construction up the Grand Canyon of the Homathko from there.

Discussing his threats that night, the warriors, led by Klattasine of the Xeni Gwet'in of Nemaia Valley near Chilko Lake, rose up and slaughtered Waddington's work party.

As a result of their reports, expeditions were launched by troops from Victoria and a posse of volunteers from the Cariboo and a long bait-and-wait game ensued known to history as the Chilcotin War of 1864.

The residual political impact of the Chilcotin War was one factor dissuading the CPR from using Bute Inlet; the other was the severe grades required in the canyon of the Homathko River in order to reach the elevation of the Chilcotin Plateau on the inland side of the Coast Range, as well as the cost of blasting along the inlet and the deep water bridges needed below it.

[6] It is also within the mainland portion of the Strathcona Regional District, which has only municipal powers such as sewage and building permits on non-Indian reserve lands in rural areas.