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Nechako River Map-Area
History

Sir Alexander MacKenzie in 1793 crossed the southern part of the map-
area on his journey overland to the Pacific Ocean. He followed the West Road
(Blackwater) River through the area and continued westward roughly parallel
with its southern boundary. In taking this route, MacKenzie probably chose the
most direct and most easily travelled route possible through the interior of the
province.

During the nineteenth century the main activity in Nechako River area was
trapping, with trading at the various posts to the north, at Fort Fraser, Fort St.
James, and Fort George. No serious attempt at settlement was undertaken until
the twentieth century as the area was not on the main travel routes, did not offer
opportunities for placer mining, did not appear interesting to prospectors, and did
not contain much land suitable for agriculture.

A Hudson’s Bay Company Post was established within the area on one of the
Kluskus Lakes near West Road River about 1844, but it was soon abandoned
(Morice, 1904, p. 244).

Near the end of the nineteenth century, settlement in the Bella Coola valley
to the southwest opened a new port of entry to the interior of the province.

{ About 1905, settlers began moving into the Ootsa Lake country over the Bella
| Coola_trail, which runs in a northerly direction from Tsayakwacha Lake to

Ootsa Lake, and most of the early settlers followed this route bringing with them

| their cattle, horses, and possessions. Over this route also moved the supplies needed

in the Ootsa Lake valley. nh of ka fehe

The Prince Rupert Branch of the Canadian National Railways was com-
pleted in 1941, and settlement has gradually moved southward from Vander-
hoof, Fraser Lake, and Burns Lake. With this new line of communication, the
Bella Coola route fell into disuse.

Subsequent development of this area has been slow, with most of the activity
concentrated in the north, whereas the south half of the area with few exceptions
has remained virtually unchanged.

Alcan Project

After World War II the Aluminum Company of Canada investigated the
possibility of damming the Nechako River, raising the level of the lakes of Tweeds-
muir Park, and reversing the drainage direction through a tunnel. By this means
electrical power could be developed near Kemano River on the Pacific side of
the Coast Mountains, power that was to be used for an aluminum plant built at
Kitimat.

The key to the project was the building of a suitable dam. In 1949 test dril-
ling of some proposed dam sites near the head of Nechako River, near the
outlet of Intata Lake, was undertaken without success. In 1950 the site at the

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