Île-à-la-Crosse

History

The name may derive from the shape of the lake — supposedly resembling a bishop's staff — or from an island in the lake on which the Cree played lacrosse. The lake provides a connecting route from the Churchill River to Portage la Loche and was thus a strategic spot in the Fur Trade.

Montreal-based trader Thomas Frobisher built the first fur trade post in the area in 1776. Competing posts were set up by Alexander Mackenzie in 1785 and the Hudson's Bay Company in 1799. From here, the Athabasca brigades headed northwest. In 1846, Fathers Laflèche and Taché established a mission. Their episcopal "palace" was a crude log shelter smeared with mud. In 1860, Sisters Agnes, Pépin and Boucher founded a convent. A landing strip was cleared in the late 1940s as a base for Bush Flying. Today, the community is surrounded by mining, forestry and tourism and is also a centre for trapping and fishing.