Lake Athabasca

Lake Athabasca stretches eastward from the great delta of the Peace and Athabasca rivers. Rocky shores and islands lie to the north, while sand dunes rise along part of the southern shore. Its waters flow west through the Slave River towards Great Slave Lake. The lake and its surrounding country were home to Dene peoples, known to the fur traders as Chipewyan, whose hunting and travel routes extended far beyond its shores.

In 1778 Peter Pond crossed the Methye Portage and wintered on the Athabasca River, where he met Cree and Chipewyan traders. A decade later Roderick Mackenzie built Fort Chipewyan at Old Fort Point on the lake's southern shore. The post became a centre of the Athabasca fur trade, drawing on the rich hunting grounds to the north and east. In the 1790s it was moved to the northern shore, where the ice broke up earlier and the spring brigades could begin their long journey sooner.