Note 285 — OREGON MISSIONS AN OUTLINE SKETCH OF OREGON TERRITORY AND ITS MISSIONS (continued 3)

For the forts upon these lakes and their location, see Farnham’s Travels, ante, pp. 56, 58, notes 68, 77.

Fort Babine—during the first years called Fort Kilmaurs—was built in 1822 on the north bank of the lake of that name. Pierre C. Pambrum and William Connolly were the first traders in charge. The Babine Indians, so named from the plug of wood worn by the women to enlarge the lower lip, were loyal Hudson’s Bay people, and good hunters. There are still three bands of this tribe dwelling near Babine Lake—one known as the Old Fort Babines have a village in the vicinity of the first post, fourteen miles from the foot of the lake, and accessible only by canoes.

The fort on Bear Lake was named Connolly, and established in 1826 for the benefit of the northern Sekanais. The earliest post was built on an island in the lake, and was the most northerly of the interior stations of New Caledonia.—Ed.