Kabinakagami

Kabinakagami Lake lies in the northern Ontario interior, on waters that drain through the Kenogami and Albany rivers to James Bay. A portage from its southeastern shore also connects toward Esnagi Lake and the Magpie River, opening a route to Lake Superior across the watershed. The lake therefore occupied a useful position between two major drainage systems.

By the late eighteenth century the North West Company maintained a trading outpost on the lake. The Hudson's Bay Company established its own post, Cappoonicagomie, in 1796, abandoned it around 1806 and returned in 1815. Both companies' posts burned in 1816; the Hudson's Bay Company rebuilt that year and added a new men's house in 1820. Its station operated as an outpost of New Brunswick House until closing in June 1824. These repeated establishments, withdrawals and rebuilding give the lake a particular place in the commercial competition of the northern interior.