Athabasca Pass National Historic Site

At the turn of the 19th century, fur bearing animals became scarce in the east. Fur trade companies moved west. The Rocky Mountains were a great challenge to fur traders hoping to profit from the fur rich lands on the other side. Indigenous people of these lands have travelled safely through the mountains for millennia. With their guidance, David Thompson surveyed more than one mountain pass for the Northwest Company. Athabasca Pass was the main fur trade route through the mountains to the Pacific Coast from 1811 to the mid 1850s.