Methye

Methye Portage crosses the height of land between Lac La Loche and the Clearwater River. Nearly twenty kilometres long, it links waters flowing towards Hudson Bay with those of the Athabasca and Mackenzie. The northern end descends steeply into the Clearwater valley. Indigenous travellers used the route for generations before it became one of the great carrying places of the fur trade.

In 1778 Indigenous guides showed the portage to Peter Pond. His party needed eight days to carry its canoes, provisions and trade goods across; beyond it Pond descended to the Athabasca and opened direct trade with people of that country. Alexander Mackenzie later crossed here on his journey to the Pacific. By the 1820s York boats were left at either end while crews carried the cargo overland, and northern brigades exchanged furs and supplies at the rendezvous along the trail.