Who we are | Chronological History | Inventory from 1864 

  

LAC LA BICHE HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Chronological History

Compiled on February 2003
YEAR	SUBJECT	INFORMATION
1798	Explorer Surveyor	David Thompson, one of Canada's greatest geographer, under the Montréal based North West Company, discovers Portage La Biche, the height of the land dividing Churchill and Athabasca River systems. Portage La Biche became a critical link for a number of years in Canada's first transcontinental fur trade route from Montréal to the Pacific following Thompson's discovery of the Athabasca Pass in 1811.
1798	Building	David Thompson builds a post named Red Deers Lake House on the shores of Lac La Biche.
1799	Building	Peter Fiddler arrives at Lac La Biche and builds Greenwich House, the first Hudson's Bay Company post (HBC) beyond Rupert's Land.
1814	Arboriginal Métis	Antoine Desjarlais, a former NWC voyageur from Montréal, is one of the first residents of Lac La Biche.
1844	Arboriginal Métis Missionaries	Joseph Cardinal, a retired NWC voyageur, invites Father J.B. Thibault, a secular priest, to Lac La Biche. Father Thibault, who journeyed on foot to Lac La Biche from Cold Lake with Cardinal, finds some 15 families awaiting him.
1852	Missionaries Arboriginal Métis	A large number of Metis and Native families await the arrival of Father Albert Lacombe on the shores of Lac La Biche. Alexis Cardinal, a retired HBC voyageur, agrees to act as his guide and interpreter. Father Albert Lacombe bestows name "Notre-Dame des Victoires".
1853	Missionaries	Mission established permanently by Father R. Rémas, OMI. A log house is constructed alongside Hudson's Bay Post at Lac La Biche.
1855-1856	Missionaries	Fathers A. Maisonneuve, OMI, and J. Tissot, OMI, move the location of the Mission from near Hudson's Bay Post to its present site and begin construction of a residence and the clearing of land.
1856	Agriculture Food	First crops is harvested at the Mission: some potatoes, barley and turnips.
1856	Missionaries Buildings Transportation	House completed. Bishop A. Taché of St. Boniface visits the Mission and decrees it would become "l'entrepôt du Nord", that is to say, the warehouse of the North.
1856	Transportation	First cut road in what is now Northern Alberta to Fort Pitt, which gave the Lac La Biche Mission a direct link with the oxcart trail to St. Boniface, the Red River Settlement (Winnipeg Trail) and the USA.
1857	Agriculture Food	First crop of wheat is harvested at the Mission.
1857	Building Missionaries	Brother Bowes begins construction of a 30' x 50' two story stone building, with a slate roof, to serve as the Grey Nuns' residence.
1858	Building	A lime kiln is constructed, which uses limestone boulders collected along the lake shore. Sister's residence and Bishop's palace are constructed from wood and stone. A rectory is also constructed for the priests and brothers.
1859	Building	Construction continues. Half of the construction work on stone house is done. 18 months later virtually all of the interior finishing is completed.
1860	Building Missionaries	Father Tissot, Maisonneuve and Brother Bowes become stone masons. Portion of ground floor is reserved as public chapel in Grey Nuns' residence. A "fine" house in stone of two floors measuring 30' x 50' (the foundation of which is still visible) completion. A barn is also constructed.
1862	Missionaries Nuns	Arrival of the 3 Grey Nuns from Montréal via St. Boniface and the Winnipeg Trail. They take charge of the chapel, sacristy, wardrobe, kitchen and a school. Their main task is to conduct a school and orphanage.
1862	Missionaries	New Vicariate of Athabasca-Mackenzie is established. Bishop Henri Faraud arrives at the Mission in May.
1863	Building Technology	One of the first grist mills in Alberta is completed in June. It is located about 1 mile South from the Mission. Before the grist mill became operational, the sister's coffee grinder was used to grind small quantities of wheat into flour.
1863	Agriculture	First wheat grown in commercial quantities in Alberta is harvested at the Mission. Flour is shipped to the Northern Missions from Lac La Biche. It previously came from St. Boniface by ox cart.
1864	Building	Bishop Taché visits the "magnificent establishment of Notre-Dame des Victoires", and comments favorably on this important Mission and the intelligent use of the local resources.
1865	Building	Works begins on the construction of a church.
1866	Trade	Methodist ministers, John McDougall and David McDougall of Pigeon Lake
		purchase seed wheat from the Missionaries at the Lac La Biche Mission.
1867	Metis Transportation	Local Metis buffalo hunter, Louison  Fosseneuve, shoots the Grand Rapids on the Athabasca River, earning the title "Captain Shot". The Mission then became a hub for a transportation system which ran overland from St. Boniface to the Mission, and by water from the Mission to Fort Good Hope on the Mackenzie River, near the Artic Circle. The overland journey takes approximately 75 days. The Mission route replaces the Methy Portage way.
1869	Transportation	Hudson's Bay Company refuses to ship Mission baggage at no cost. Thereafter for 20 years all of the Oblates Missionaries serving on the Athabasca-Mackensie pass through Lac La Biche. A cart road is commenced by the Oblates to connect the Mission with Fort McMurray.
1870	Event	Outbreak of small pox
1870	Missionaries	Mgr. Henri Faraud establishes residency at Lac La Biche (February 20) to administer his region.
1871	Nuns	The Grey Nuns opens "Hospice St-Joseph / The St.Joseph Hospital".
1871	Technology	Alberta's first water powered sawmill begins operation at the Mission.
1874	Technology Location Missionaries	Grey Nuns acquire the first weaving loom west of the Red River. The Lac La Biche Mission is described as the Queen of the beautiful lake. Mgr. Faraud's practices homeopathic medecine.
1875	Missionaries	Faraud's Episcopal "palace" built; Vegreville is in charge. July 23, Faraud arrives at Lac La Biche. Brother Bowes returns to Mission. Population is now approximately 500 - 600.
1875	Missionaries	Tragic death of Brother Alexis Reynard, OMI, at the junction of the House and Athabasca Rivers.
1876	Agriculture	Mgr. Faraud introduces oats at the Lac La Biche Mission.
1876	Building	Construction of new church begins (20' x 70'). Completed in 1877. Sacristy painted by Father E. Grouard, OMI.
1877	Missionaries	Mission transferred to Vicar Apostolic of Athabasca-Mackenzie and administered by Mgr. Faraud (had been under Bishop Grandin in St. Albert).
1877	Education	Children receive instruction in French and English from the Grey Nuns.
1877	Building Event	Convent enlarged. A hailstorm breaks 100 windows at the Mission and causes damage to almost every building.
1877	Technology	Father E. Grouard brings Alberta's first printing press to Lac La Biche Mission.
1878	Technology	The first volume published is a new edition of Bishop Faraud's selections from the Bible in the Dene language: Histoire Sainte en Montagnais. Publications printed in several languages thereafter including Cree, Dene, Loucheux and French.
1878	Transportation	A cart road is completed from the Mission to the Junction of the La Biche and Athabasca Rivers as a result of the lack of water in the La Biche River.
1878	Building	Construction of two warehouses, one approximately 70 feet in length and the other 75 ft in length. They are used to store the goods en route to the Northern Mission. Oven house burns down.
1882	Building	Kitchen annex is added to the convent.
1883	Agriculture	Mgr. Faraud is an active gardener. He successfully grows tobacco at the Mission. His flourishing vegetables and flowers on the terrace he built over the lake are described to be "an imitation of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon".
1885	Nuns	Riel Rebellion; Grey Nuns and children are moved to Black Fox Island. Julien Cardinal and Alexandre Hamelin turn back Beaver Lake raiding party. St. Albert Mounted Rifles arrive to guard the Mission.
1886	Missionaries	Bishop Faraud plants Manitoba Maple trees.
1888	Agriculture	The Mission has established a herd of 80 cattle, 20 oxen and a number of horses, pigs and poultry.
1889	Buildings Missionaries	The Mission is maintained as a northern depot until 1889. Buildings in bad shape; Athabasca Landing Trail in use Bishop Faraud leaves the Mission.
1891	Industrial	The Missionaries commence a project to bring water from Missawawi Lake into the Churchill Basin to Antoine Lake in the Athabasca-Mackensie basin because of declining water levels, which made the sawmill inoperable. This would have created an unwriting interbasin transfer.
1895	Industrial	Interbasin transfer abandon. Water levels in Missawawi Lake have dropped, making the water transfer impossible.
1897	Missionaries	Brother Anthony Kowalczyk, OMI, " the Blacksmith of God", loses his right arm as a result of sawmill accident.
1898	Nuns	Transfer of the Grey Nuns to Saddle Lake together with lumber, agricultural implement, grist mill and livestock. The Mission receives a heavy blow which created much local dissent.
1899	Aboriginal	Treaty Number 8 is signed.
1902	Missionaries	Father V. Legoff, OMI, in charge of Mission
1905	Nuns	New order of Nuns, "Les Filles de Jésus" (Daughters of Jesus), arrive. They are moved into the old Episcopal residence which was turned over to them. New rectory is constructed for the Oblates.
1906-1910	Building	Third floor added to the convent to accommodate Sisters. Until this time the ground floor was used as a rectory.
1917-1918	Building	Demolition of the first priest's home which was constructed in 1856 from logs, 30' x 24'.
1921	Building Disaster	Tornado levels church, but not altar. Convent, laundry and rectory suffer light damage.
1923	Building	New church is completed
1924	Building	New rectory is completed.
1941	Building	Basement under convent is dug to 9 feet and fire escapes are added.
1942	Building Missionaries	Convent is stuccoed by Brother Côté
1953	Event	100th anniversary of Notre-Dame des Victoires celebrations
1960	Building	Present school buildings are brought to site.
1963	Building	Convent is condemned and Sisters "Les Filles de Jésus" leave the Mission.
1980	Society	Incorporation of Lac La Biche Mission Historical Society
1986	Society	Tom Maccagno's research and advocacy convinces the Society and others that the Lac La Biche Mission is one of Western Canada's most important historic sites and that the Mission has the potential to be a significant historic heritage attraction in the Lakeland Tourism Destination Area.
1987	Society	Lac La Biche Mission declared a Provincial Historic Resource by Honorable Dennis Anderson.
1987	Society	Feasibility study: Development of the Lac La Biche Mission site done by Great Plains Research.
1987	Event	Local artists, Eva Ladouceur and Crystal Plamondon, sing a Cree-French-English version of O' Canada to officially open a fundraising dinner at the Mission.
1988	Funding	The Lac La Biche Mission Historical Society obtains funding of approximately $1.2 millions under the Canada/Alberta (NDA) Northern Development Agreement.
1988	Event	Cultural "Rendez-vous" at the Mission on July 1, 2 and 3rd. Canada Day celebrations becomes an annual event thereafter.
1988	Book	Mike Maccagno, historian and a founder of the Lac La Biche Mission Historical Society, writes the book "Rendez-Vous", Notre-Dame des Victoires.
1989	Society	Mission is designated a National Historic Site.
1990	Society	The historical significance of the Mission is recognized in the Lakeland Tourism Destination Resort plan.
1990	Society	Archeological survey conducted by Fedirchuk, McCullough & Associates Ltd
1993	Society	The Lac La Biche Mission Historical Society hosts the annual general meeting and conference of the Historical Society of Alberta on November 2, 1993.
1993	Building	Construction of the Visitor Center begins.
1994	Society	Lac La Biche Mission faces shut down because of a lack of money. Alberta Historic Site comes, sees and believes in our ability to pull it all back together.
1994	Building	Restoration of the convent begins.
2000	Event	Métis Nation of Alberta Zone 5  "Voyage back to Batoche" trek passes through the Lac La Biche Mission.
2001	Society	Gala Opening of the Heritage Room and interpretative displays at the convent.
2002	Visitors	Important visitors at the Mission: Premier Ralph Klein, Honorable Gene Zwosdesky, Minister of Community Development, Honorable Mark Norris, Minister of Economic Development, Doug Maley, Assistant Deputy Minister - Western Economic Diversification, Ray Danyluk, MLA, Dr. Bob Frasier,  Assistant Dean of the University of Montana, Dr. Peter Murphy, professor Emeritus - University of Alberta, Dr. Greg Johnson, Historian - University of Athabasca, and Dr. Ken Fisk, Vice President of Edmonton Tourism.
2003	Subdivision	Subdivision completed and historic sawmill site added to designation of the Lac La Biche Mission as a Provincial Historic Resource.
2003	Society	Web site development.

© 2003 Société culturelle Mamowapik and the Lac La Biche Mission Historical Society (All Rights Reserved)