Slatechuck Mountain is important in the culture of the Haida people as the source of a rare black form of argillite used in Haida art. Known also as black slate, this form of argillite occurs nowhere else in the world and only Haida have the right to quarry it. The black argillite occurs only at certain locations on the mountain's slope, above the basin of Slatechuck Creek. The name Slatechuck is a local Chinook Jargon usage, combining slate with the word for water, river or lake, and is a reference to the creek being where the slate is found.