History of Babine Lake

Babine Lake has been home to the people of Nat'oo (or Nat'ooten) for as long as humans have inhabited North America. They're thought to have immigrated from the Athabaska heartland millennia ago.

This semi-nomadic people thrived on the region's abundant salmon, berries, sheep, deer, caribou, moose and bear. They spoke Babine-Witsuwit'en and traded with the Gitxsan, Kootenee, Titneh, Nutseeni and Wet'suwet'en. Mysterious petroglyphs still testify to their long occupation of the area.

When European settlers arrived around 1813, they found at least four flourishing Nat'ooten villages (Nass-chick, Nah-tell-cuss (now Old Fort), Tachy, and Wu'dat. In 1822, the Hudson's Bay Company established a trading post at Old Fort. It was later moved to Fort Babine, which received a road link and electricity in the 1980s.

Culture and traidition remains strong among the Nat'ooten, today known as the Lake Babine Nation. More than half of its 2,200 members live in the lakeside reserve communities of Tachet, Fort Babine and Old Fort, as well as at Woyenne, near Burns Lake.

Copper and gold were discovered here in the 1920s. Mining began in 1965, when Granby Mining and Smelting Ltd. built an open-pit copper mine on Sterret Island in Babine Lake. Noranda built a second copper mine on the nearby Newman Peninsula in 1972.

The village of Granisle was named and built by Granby Mining and SmetlingLtd., primarily to house workers and their families. Incorporated in 1971, the village grew to include a store, gas station, post office, library, school, RCMP post, doctors' office, interdenominational church, hall, curling rink and hotel. By 1979 almost 2,000 people called Granisle home.

Although some 140 million tonnes of ore remain, world market conditions led to the closure of Granisle's mines in 1992. Most mine employees followed opportunities elsewhere, but the Central Babine area has since been discovered by recreation devotees, telecommuters and active retirees.

Seasonal visitors and residents alike appreciate the area's unspoiled beauty, cultural history, recreation opportunities and services. They cherish the region's welcoming atmosphere and close-knit community values and the sense that they're sitting on one of B.C.'s best kept secrets.

They've discovered the Central Babine as a great place to visit.... and a great place to live.