Port Alberni (/ælˈbɜːrni/) is a city located on Vancouver Island in the province of British Columbia, Canada.

[2] Many place names in Port Alberni have a Nuu-chah-nulth origin, such as Somass (washing), Kitsuksis (log across mouth of creek), Pacheena (foamy), and Nootka (go around).

The City of Port Alberni is named for Captain Don Pedro de Alberní,[3] a Spanish officer, who commanded Fort San Miguel at Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island's west coast from 1790 to 1792.

In 1856, Adam Horne, a Scottish fur trader employed by the Hudson's Bay Company, was directed to locate a land route across Vancouver Island.

They received land grants from Governor James Douglas and started running the Anderson sawmill at the mouth of the Somass River on May 22, 1861, at the rate of 14,000 board feet a day.

[6] The School, run by the Presbyterian and United Churches and the federal government, forcibly separated children from their families and communities so as to cut them off from their traditional culture.

Children at the school were fed poorly, at one time deliberately as part of a malnutrition experiment, murdered, and abused in other ways.

The installation depicts two thunderbirds, adorned with West Coast designs, and a third without any cultural symbols to represent the horrors of the residential school era.

[10] The main shock epicentre occurred in the Forbidden Plateau area north of Port Alberni.

A young Jim Robson honed his sports reporting skills doing the play-by-play on radio station CJAV.

The other end of the inlet is located on Barkley Sound, which includes the Broken Group Islands, considered to be one of the best areas for kayaking in the world.

Visitors continuing onward to the west coast will pass this intersection, marked by the historic Alberni Post Office on the Southeast corner.

In 2004, the Capitol Theatre, a local landmark in South Port, underwent extensive renovations and emerged as a stately yet modern relic of past times.

South Port is anchored by the Harbour Quay, a waterfront collection of shops, art galleries, great food and parks.

The Port Alberni railway station, farmers market on Saturdays, as well as the Maritime Discovery Centre can be found here.

The city's West End is an eclectic mix of new suburban style homes, large acreages, and two First Nations reserves.

Much of the residential growth over the past decade has occurred in the city's West End, where the Westporte neighbourhood has taken shape.

The hiking trails in these creeks and ravines add tremendously to the quality of life in Port Alberni.

Port Alberni's dry July gives it a warm-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen Csb), although it is much wetter than most such places.

Despite its location on the relatively drier east side of Vancouver Island, the resulting weak rain shadow is not enough to keep the city dry.

Port Alberni also serves as a hub for those travelling to the West Coast of Vancouver Island, including Ucluelet, Tofino and Pacific Rim National Park.

As commodities tend to be much pricier in these remote areas, campers and travellers often do their shopping in Port Alberni before continuing their journey.

A team of salmon enhancement volunteers and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans have worked to improve salmon habitats throughout the Alberni Valley, adding a Coho hatchery at the McLean Mill National Historic Site, in addition to the successful Robertson Creek Hatchery on the Stamp River.

The world's largest aerial firefighting flying boats, the Martin Mars Water Bombers, once made their home on nearby Sproat Lake.

On some autumn evenings, when the inlet's tide is low, black bears can be spotted looking for fish on the other side of Victoria Quay.

Della Falls, the 16th tallest waterfall in Canada (442 m (1,450 ft)), is accessible by boat from Great Central Lake or by helicopter.

The airport is home to a number of key tenants, including Coulson Aircrane, Canadian Aero Technologies, Alberni Valley Flying Club and Vancouver Island Helicopters.

It is the longest east–west main vehicle route on Vancouver Island, with a total length of 163 km (101 mi).

The highway starts at Qualicum Beach, then reaches Port Alberni from which it continues on to Tofino and Ucluelet.