This island is located at the mouth of the Baker River, this is characterized by being smooth and low and without much vegetation.
However, it is a historical monument because it was one of the first colonization vestiges in the area and also because of the legend of the workers who arrived in the area and ended up dying after experiencing strange symptoms that were deteriorating them: bruises on the legs and arms , hemorrhages, bleeding gums, headaches and other ailments.
The “Island of the Dead” is the oldest site with “western” constructions known in the Aysen Region and it may be the most valuable historical site that currently exists in this region, where these are particularly scarce, due to the recent settlement, deterioration typical of inclement weather and fires, among the most relevant reasons.
It was declared a “Historical Monument” because of its great cultural value, since it contains an old cemetery dating back to 1906, when around 120 “hacheros” chilotes who worked for the “exploiting company of the Baker” died of rare symptoms. This has 33 crosses, is testimony of the respect that the community of Tortel has had towards this space for more than a century of the permanent deterioration caused by natural forces. The caua of the death of the workers is a mystery that no one knows if one day it will be resolved.
In addition to its historical values, it is an excellent representative of the special and interesting natural conditions that occur in the delta del Baker, the main river in Chile. It summarizes here, in addition to its fluvial geomorphological constitution, the existing biomes in the commune, producing a beautiful frame of cold forest in an environment of superb landscape of mountain ranges and glaciers, which, apart from the value that it has by itself, enhances even more the mystery of what happened there.