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Article: Portage La Biche the forgotten portage.
- Article from:
- Alberta History
- Article date:
- March 22, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 Historical Society of Alberta. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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For a long time--from 1811 until 1825--this traffic [The Western Fur Trade] passed along the Beaver to the Athabasca River at Lac La Biche, by-passing Edmonton. (1)
The Beaver River was used for many years in transporting supplies to and from the Columbia and posts on the Athabasca and Lesser Slave Lake. (2)
The intense rivalry between the Hudson's Bay Company (HBCo) and the North West Company (NWCo) at the beginning of the 19th century included the search for a direct entry point into the southern Athabasca country, and for a travelable North West Passage. This eventually led fur traders to the Churchill River system and up the Beaver River into ...