Lac Seul Upland

The Lac Seul uplands belong to the forest and lake country of northwestern Ontario, within the homeland of the Anishinaabe communities of Lac Seul. Their name Obishikokaang recalls the white-pine narrows of the lake. Before later flooding, long stretches of water lay among islands, sandy shores and wooded hills. Fishing, hunting, gathering and travel joined the lakes to the surrounding country; wild rice and other foods also entered exchanges with arriving traders.

During the late eighteenth century, competing fur traders reached farther into the region along Indigenous routes. Hudson's Bay Company men approached from the Albany and Hudson Bay country, while traders connected with the St Lawrence entered the Little North from the Lake Superior side. Local knowledge supplied the paths, canoe routes and food on which their journeys depended. By 1803 a year-round trading post had been established in the Lac Seul community. Through the early nineteenth century, pelts and provisions moved outward while metal tools, cloth and other imported goods moved inland. The trading post joined an existing inhabited country to distant markets; its business remained dependent on the people who knew the waterways and surrounding resources.