Boat Encampment National Historic Site

Fur trade transfer point

Located on the Big Bend of the Columbia River and now lying under the Mica reservoir, Boat Encampment was an important trans-shipment point where fur traders and travellers from Jasper House, having crossed the Athabasca Pass, boarded boats for Fort Vancouver. First visited by David Thompson who wintered there in 1811, Boat Encampment was for nearly 50 years an important transfer point on the express route from the Pacific Coast to Montreal and York Factory. It lost importance with the growth of Fort Victoria, advances in ocean transportation, and changes in the trading activities of the Hudson's Bay Company.