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40-571: Fort Babine is an unincorporated community that borders the Skeena and Omineca regions of central British Columbia . This First Nations settlement is on the east shore of the Babine River at the northern tip of Babine Lake . By road, the location is about 105 kilometres (65 mi) northeast of Smithers . In 1822, on the north bank, where the lake forms two arms, the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) founded

80-463: A tumpline and one on the back ( strangulated hernia was a common cause of death). To allow regular rests the voyageur would drop his pack at a pose about every 1 kilometre ( 1 ⁄ 2  mi) and go back for the next load. The time for a portage was estimated at one hour per half mile. The Diolkos was a paved trackway in Ancient Greece which enabled boats to be moved overland across

120-595: A day school 1913–1959. New church buildings were erected at Fort Babine and Old Fort in 1915 and 1925 respectively. In 1957, the Department of Indian Affairs did not consult band members when administratively merging the Old Fort Band and Fort Babine Band, which formed what is now known as the Lake Babine Nation (LBN). The Fort Babine Indian Reserve #6 is a small community inhabited year round. The traditional name

160-406: A few places iron-plated wooden rails were laid to take a handcart. Heavily used routes sometimes evolved into roads when sledges, rollers or oxen were used, as at Methye Portage . Sometimes railways ( Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad ) or canals were built. When going downstream through rapids an experienced voyageur called the guide would inspect the rapids and choose between the heavy work of

200-635: A late arrival and diminished trade at the fort. From 1879, Fort St. James freight also largely came via the Skeena. By 1889 the HBC contracted Vieth and Borland to operate the packtrains on the Hazelton–Babine portage. In 1897, the HBC were the only party interested in buying the endeavour for $ 4,760. In 1902, the HBC sold the operation to Cataline for $ 3,960, which comprised 46 mules and 4 horses. By 1905, he had recovered his investment. This packtrain trail ascended via

240-632: A portage across the Thracian Chersonese is lacking, but it is possible that traces of it have been confused with traces of the Long Wall , which was restored by Justinian I in the 6th century. The region also saw extensive damage during the Gallipoli Campaign of 1915. The Skagerak always has been treacherous for shipping and early navigators tried to avoid it. There are various river systems in (modern) northern Germany and southern Denmark where

280-406: A portage and the life-threatening risk of running the rapids. If the second course were chosen, the boat would be controlled by the avant standing in front with a long paddle and the gouvernail standing in the back with a 2.7-metre (9 ft) steering paddle. The avant had a better view and was in charge but the gouvernail had more control over the boat. The other canoemen provided power under

320-499: A significant role. In 1830, poor trading returns were recorded. To attract the Babine trade going elsewhere, the fort was relocated northward in 1836 from a village of about 150 people to a more centralized site and renamed Fort Babine. Under the charge of mixed-race William McBean, the old fort had been in a state of disrepair. McBean was also a lay preacher , who proclaimed a hybrid religion. In 1842, William Morwick, who replaced McBean,

360-448: Is "Wit'at," which is an abbreviated form of "Wit'ane Keh," meaning "place of making dry fish" in the Nadut'en language. Many LBN members visit over the summer months to obtain their annual salmon supply, which is cured in family smokehouses . The post office operated 1950–1983. Constructed in the 1970s, the narrow Nilkitkwa forestry service road provides the only vehicle access. That decade,

400-702: Is a common place name in Scotland and Ireland indicating the site of a portage. Portages played an important role in the economy of some African societies. For instance, Bamako was chosen as the capital of Mali because it is located on the Niger River near the rapids that divide the Upper and Middle Niger Valleys. Places where portaging occurred often became temporary and then permanent settlements. The importance of free passage through portages found them included in laws and treaties. One historically important fur trade portage

440-1010: Is a historic geographic region comprising areas of both the British Columbia Coast and the British Columbia Interior in northwestern British Columbia , Canada . 55°15′N 127°40′W  /  55.250°N 127.667°W  / 55.250; -127.667 This article about a location in the Interior of British Columbia , Canada is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Portage Early French explorers in New France and French Louisiana encountered many rapids and cascades . The Native Americans carried their canoes over land to avoid river obstacles. Over time, important portages were sometimes provided with canals with locks , and even portage railways . Primitive portaging generally involves carrying

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480-403: Is inhabited mostly during summer and fall. The traditional name is Nedo'ats. Families return to fish and hunt at this important site, which is accessible only by boat. The survey found infrastructure (31%) as the paramount need. The erection of cabins, a community centre, and shower/bathhouses, would facilitate visitors and enable permanent residence. Skeena Country The Skeena Country

520-612: Is now Grand Portage National Monument . Recreational canoeing routes often include portages between lakes, for example, the Seven Carries route in Adirondack Park . Numerous portages were upgraded to carriageways and railways due to their economic importance. The Niagara Portage had a gravity railway in the 1760s. The passage between the Chicago and Des Plaines Rivers was through a short swamp portage which seasonally flooded and it

560-676: Is now Russia were vital for the Varangian commerce with the Orient and Byzantium . At the most important portages (such as Gnezdovo ) there were trade outposts inhabited by a mixture of Norse merchants and native population. The Khazars built the fortress of Sarkel to guard a key portage between the Volga and the Don. After Varangian and Khazar power in Eastern Europe waned, Slavic merchants continued to use

600-553: Is thought that a channel gradually developed unintentionally from the dragging of the boat bottoms. The 1835 Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad connected the cities of New York and Montreal without needing to go through the Atlantic. Many settlements in North America were named for being on a portage. Portages existed in a number of locations where an isthmus existed that the local Māori could drag or carry their waka across from

640-615: The 14-kilometre ( 8 + 1 ⁄ 2  mi) Grand Portage (both in North America) often covering hilly or difficult terrain. Some portages involve very little elevation change, such as the very short Mavis Grind in Shetland , which crosses an isthmus . This section deals mostly with the heavy freight canoes used by the Canadian Voyageurs . Portage trails usually began as animal tracks and were improved by tramping or blazing. In

680-579: The Babine Establishment (later known as Fort Kilmaurs , then Old Fort ). Neither William Brown (who was in charge), nor John Stuart (his superior) undertook the proposed exploration that year of the Babine River out to the coast or the Chilcotin area, because motivation and manpower were lacking. The next year, under Brown were 1 clerk and a 5-man crew. During 1824–1826, Brown was able to explore to

720-522: The Bulkley and Suskwa rivers, transited the pass over the Babine Range , and descended to Babine Lake. Since gambling distracted the indigenous people from engaging in hunting, the HBC endeavoured to discourage this practice from the 1820s to 1890. A 1906 observation noted the importance to this indigenous village of salmon catches, which were both the chief staple and barter commodity. A pile bridge spanned

760-615: The Isthmus of Corinth between the Gulf of Corinth and the Saronic Gulf . It was constructed to transport high ranking Despots to conduct business in the justice system. The 6-to-8.5-kilometre-long ( 3 + 1 ⁄ 2 – 5 + 1 ⁄ 2  mi) roadway was a rudimentary form of railway , and operated from around 600 BC until the middle of the 1st century AD. The scale on which the Diolkos combined

800-654: The Tasman Sea to the Pacific Ocean or vice versa. The most famous ones are located in Auckland , where there remain three roads named 'Portage Road's in separate parts of the city. Portage Road in the Auckland suburb of Otahuhu has historical plaques at both the north and south ends proclaiming it to be 'at half a mile in length, surely the shortest road between two seas'. The small Marlborough Sounds settlement of Portage lies on

840-409: The HBC store closed. In 1999, the new elementary school opened. Transmission lines were installed by BC Hydro in the 1980s and by Telus in 2006. That year, a water treatment plant was completed. The UNBC began archaeological excavations in 2010. The hundreds of artifacts uncovered, which date to over a thousand years ago, indicate the longevity and continued presence of the community. In 2014,

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880-571: The coast. Leather was a scarce trading commodity, because moose had not yet entered the region. The HBC obtained moose hides from trading districts east of the Canadian Rockies . The Babine-Wet'suwet'en desired high quality leather for funeral ceremonies, whereas the Dakelh used leather mainly for making clothing and sturdy moccasins , essential for hunting expeditions that procured furs to trade. First Nations would often refuse to trade if no leather

920-593: The customs house at Abydos . It would have been too costly to regularly move large ships across the peninsula, but Cosmas says that Constantine IV did it, presumably during the blockade of Constantinople (670/1–676/7) when the Sea of Marmara and the Dardanelles were controlled by the Umayyads . Constantine is said to have "driven" the ships rather than dragged them, probably indicating the use of wheels. Archaeological evidence for

960-692: The fort transferred from the New Caledonia to the Port Simpson district. During the Omineca Gold Rush , Capt. William Moore improved an old First Nations trail in 1871, which connected Hazelton (then known as the Forks) and Fort Babine. Over the following years, freight for the fort began coming via the Skeena River to The Forks, followed by a 64-kilometre (40 mi) portage . In 1876, delays resulted in

1000-462: The harbor of Alexandria , which may have been located at the southern tip of the island of Pharos. Another diolkos is mentioned by Ptolemy (90–168 CE) in his book on geography (IV, 5, 10) as connecting a false mouth of a partly silted up Nile branch with the Mediterranean Sea . Writing in the first half of the eighth century, Cosmas of Jerusalem describes the portage of boats across

1040-456: The instructions of the avant. Going upstream was more difficult, as there were many places where the current was too swift to paddle. Where the river bottom was shallow and firm, voyageurs would stand in the canoe and push it upstream with 3-metre (10 ft) poles. If the shoreline was reasonably clear the canoe could be 'tracked' or 'lined', that is, the canoemen would pull the canoe on a rope while one man stayed on board to keep it away from

1080-542: The man's arm. In response, the man stabbed Toin in the arm. A false report that Morwick had shot the man to death prompted a relative to fatally shoot Morwick in the head. On news reaching Fort St. James, an 11-man posse under McBean hunted the perpetrator, who was shot dead on peacefully surrendering. After reparations were made, Duncan E. Cameron took charge of the fort, and McBean departed for his next posting. Fearful of being drawn into inter-tribal unrest, Cameron resigned in 1845. His replacement D. McLean equally understood

1120-621: The narrowest part of the Thracian Chersonese (Gallipoli Peninsula) between the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Marmara . The peninsula there is six miles wide. Cosmas describes the dragging of small boats as common in his day for local trade between Thrace and Gothograecia . The motivation for this practice was to avoid the long detour around the peninsula and through the Dardanelles , but also to avoid

1160-658: The portages along the Volga trade route and the Dnieper trade route . The names of the towns Volokolamsk and Vyshny Volochek may be translated as "the portage on the Lama River " and "the little upper portage", respectively (from Russian волок volok , meaning "portage", derived from the verb волочить voločitʹ "to drag"). In the 16th century, the Russians used river portages to get to Siberia (see Cherdyn Road ). Tarbert

1200-530: The province gave the LBN the existing Fort Babine Lodge, $ 100,000, and additional land to develop tourism. Unemployment is high, but a 2015 community survey found social development (29%) as the perceived key need. This encompassed a desire for more people living in the community and improved educational opportunities and support services. Governance (21%) was also identified, indicating a strong desire to be separate from Woyenne resolutions. The Old Fort Indian Reserve #13

1240-429: The river to the village on the northeast side, which comprised 30 log houses and a Roman Catholic (RC) church. Sited southeast of the reserve, an HBC post supplied Fort St. James on Stuart Lake , McLeod Lake , and Fort Grahame. The post comprised a store, warehouse, residence, and several log cabins to accommodate travellers in summer and miners in winter. A trail northeast led to Takla Lake . The RC church administered

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1280-563: The shore. (The most extreme case of tracking was in the Three Gorges in China where all boats had to be pulled upstream against the current of the Yangtze River .) In worse conditions, the 'demi-chargé' technique was used. Half the cargo was unloaded, the canoe forced upstream, unloaded and then returned downstream to pick up the remaining half of the cargo. In still worse currents, the entire cargo

1320-582: The smallest watercraft, was at least once used by the Venetian Republic for the transport of a military fleet in 1439. The land link is now somewhat harder because of the disappearance of Loppio Lake. In the 8th, 9th and 10th centuries, Viking merchant-adventurers exploited a network of waterways in Eastern Europe , with portages connecting the four most important rivers of the region: Volga , Western Dvina , Dnieper , and Don . The portages of what

1360-467: The two principles of the railway and the overland transport of ships was unique in antiquity . There is scant literary evidence for two more ship trackways referred to as diolkoi in antiquity, both located in Roman Egypt : The physician Oribasius ( c.  320–400 CE ) records two passages from his first-century colleague Xenocrates , in which the latter casually refers to a diolkos close to

1400-429: The vessel and its contents across the portage in multiple trips. Small canoes can be portaged by carrying them inverted over one's shoulders and the center strut may be designed in the style of a yoke to facilitate this. Historically, voyageurs often employed tump lines on their heads to carry loads on their backs. Portages can be many kilometers in length, such as the 19-kilometre (12 mi) Methye Portage and

1440-464: The vulnerability of his small 3-man crew. Peace came the next year, when Catholic missionary Father John Nobili stayed 12 days and returned for a few months in 1847. In charge of the fort were Thomas Charles by 1850 and Gavin Hamilton by 1864. By 1867, external and internal competition (such as the new HBC Ackwilgate post ) (Roucher de Bouille) diminished returns. In 1891, administrative oversight of

1480-677: The watershed is narrow and low, such as between the Treene (discharging into the North Sea) and the Schlei (discharging into the Baltic) that would have allowed portage. There is no certain physical or written evidence, except that it is known that goods were transported along these routes between different merchant settlements. The land link between Adige River and Garda Lake in Northern Italy , hardly used by

1520-414: Was assigned the lower title of postmaster. Through his interpreter Charles Toin, Morwick had a heated argument six weeks later with a Babine man, who wanted to trade caribou meat for animal skins. When the negotiation over price resumed the next day, Toin challenged the man to a duel with pistols. When the man indicated his preference for a knife fight, Toin stepped backward, fired his pistol and lacerated

1560-511: Was available at an HBC post. The demand was so great that it might be the sole item described among a general shipment of supplies. In 1926, Joseph McGillivray replaced Brown, supervising 1 clerk and a 6-man crew. Supplies came northwestward by canoe from Fort St. James via the Babine Portage , while salmon returned southeastward. From the 1820s to the 1900s, the Babine Lake fisheries played

1600-414: Was unloaded ('décharge') and carried overland while the canoe was forced upstream. In the worst case a full portage was necessary. The canoe was carried overland by two or four men (the heavier York boats had to be dragged overland on rollers) The cargo was divided into standard 41-kilogram (90 lb) packs or pièces with each man responsible for about six. One portage or canoe pack would be carried by

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