The oldest continuously occupied Euro-Canadian site in British Columbia, Fort McLeod was first established by the Northwest Company in 1805 as a fur trading post. From 1821 until 1952 the post was operated by the
Hudson's Bay Company, first as a fur trading post and later as a Hudson's Bay Company Store. Founded in 1670, the Hudson's Bay Company is the oldest company in North America.
Fort McLeod Historic Park is valued as the
oldest continuously-occupied Euro-Canadian site in British Columbia, as an important early centre of interaction between aboriginal and non-aboriginal cultures, and as a source of information about the fur trade in British Columbia.
From Historic Places Canada
Located west of Highway 97 near the community of McLeod Lake in north central British Columbia, the fort has been moved from its original site a short distance west along the lakeshore. The only remaining extant buildings at the fort, a workshop, a house, an icehouse and a warehouse, are all twentieth century buildings, built between 1926 and 1929.
While a National Historic Site, the CNHS plaque for the fort is not at the site of the fort but in front of the McLeod Lake Post Office & General Store on Highway 97, about 620 metres (2,030 feet) to the southeast. The fort itself is at the northwest corner of McLeod Lake, down a short dirt road leading southeast off Carp Lake Road.
FORT MCLEOD
In its search for unexploited fur resources the North West Company sent an expedition west of the Rockies to McLeod Lake in the spring of 1805. That fall Simon Fraser built Fort McLeod, the Nor’Westers’ first post in New Caledonia, as a base for extending operations west of the mountains. The post was designed to trade with the Sekani and to supply parties using the Peace River route to Athabasca. After 1821 the Hudson’s Bay Company retained Fort McLeod, which it kept open into the 20th century. It is now the site of the modern community of McLeod Lake.
Fort McLeod
DESCRIPTION OF HISTORIC PLACE
Fort McLeod National Historic Site of Canada is located on the west bank of Pack River at the north end of McLeod Lake, British Columbia. The site, set in the provincial heritage site, Fort McLeod Historic Park, consists of a workshop, a house, and a warehouse, which are situated within the fenced area of the fort. The small wooden buildings are topped with gable roof, and are simply constructed. Official recognition refers to the fenced area around the fort at the time of designation.
HERITAGE VALUE
Fort McLeod was designated as a National Historic Site of Canada in 1953 because:
- founded in 1805, it was the site of the first fur-trading post built by the North West Company west of the Rocky Mountains.
By the early 19th century, the fur trade was expanding westward over the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, and the North West Company found itself increasingly threatened by the Hudson’s Bay Company and American fur traders. As a result, in 1805, Simon Fraser of the North West Company led an expedition westward from Fort William on Lake Superior to secure the fur trade for the company on the west side of the Rocky Mountains. This newly discovered area was named New Caledonia.
Fraser sent a group of men up the Pack River to build a stockaded log fort at Trout Lake, which was later named Fort McLeod in honour of Archibald Norman, a senior North West Company partner. Fort McLeod became the base of the company’s fur trading operations in New Caledonia, and was the only liaison between the two sides of the Rocky Mountains for two decades. After the amalgamation of the North West and Hudson’s Bay companies in 1821, the fort remained an active trading post into the 20th century.
CHARACTER-DEFINING ELEMENTS
Key elements that contribute to the heritage character of the site include:
- its location on the west bank of the Pack River at the north end of McLeod Lake, British Columbia;
- the small, rectangular massing of the buildings, clad with wood siding and topped with gable roof;
- the simple, unadorned façades, pierced with multiple windows;
- the integrity of any surviving or as yet unidentified archaeological remains which may be found within the site in their original placement and extent;
- viewscapes from the site across Pack River.
From Historic Places Canada