[edit]
Prehistory[edit]
Central Labrador has been inhabited by Indigenous societies, such as Innu and the Maritime Archaic people, for over 7,000 years due to its bountiful wildlife.
Trapping[edit]
Kayaking near North West River in 1909.
In 1743 French fur trader Louis Fornel was the first European to establish a year-long settlement at the present site of North West River. The site was primarily used to trade furs with the local indigenous peoples for European goods. French settlers from Quebec moved to the area surrounding North West River to work as voyageurs and coureurs des bois (i.e., trappers). Many took on Inuit wives creating a population of Métis trappers and traders. Traders would also do business trading goods with the nomadic Naskapi Innu.
European fur traders relied on the knowledge of the land possessed by the trappers and the Innu to provide them with furs. Trappers living in and around North West River would come to the trading post to exchange furs, such as beaver, mink, marten, seal, fox, and bear, for flour, raisins, canvas tents, axes, guns and other goods. Trappers maintained traplines inherited from relatives throughout central Labrador.
Hudson's Bay Company[edit]
An engraving of the HBC post at North West River c. 1890
With the signing of the Treaty of Paris (1763) Labrador was passed from the French to the British. With the arrival of the British came the Hudson's Bay Company in 1836 who would enjoy a trade monopoly over central Labrador's furs for more than 100 years. The newest of the Hudson's Bay trading posts was constructed in 1923 and still remains as museum run and maintained by the Labrador Heritage Society.
Grenfell Mission[edit]
In 1892 British doctor Wilfred Grenfell began travelling the Labrador coast providing medical services to fishermen and the Aboriginals living in Labrador, establishing the Grenfell Mission. In 1914 the International Grenfell Association was formed. The mission took doctors and nurses from the United Kingdom, and a handful of Commonwealth countries, to serve the people of Newfoundland and Labrador. One of these doctors was Dr. Harry L. Paddon, who in 1915 established a hospital in North West River which would eventually serve the entire coast of Labrador.
In 1981 the International Grenfell Association dissolved, leaving all properties to the Grenfell Regional Health Services Board, a locally run board, no longer relying on the support of missionaries. The hospital in North West River was closed by the provincial government in 1983.
Expeditions[edit]
On July 15, 1903, Leonidas Hubbard with his two companions departed North West River for his tragic canoe expedition, described in Dillon Wallace's book, Lure of the Labrador Wild.
On June 27, 1905, Mina Benson Hubbard departed North West River to complete her husband's failed mission of 1903, and provided the first detailed map of northern Labrador's interior region.
In August, 1905, North West River was the camp site for a solar eclipse expedition sent by the government of the Dominion of Canada and including members of the British Astronomical Association, whose report states that "the resident population of the place consisted only of the Hudson Bay factor [...] and the two factors in charge of a French fur trading station on the opposite bank of the river, some two or three half-breed trappers, and a small company of Montagnais Indians, temporarily encamped at the station".
In July, 1928, Gino Watkins used North West River as the base for an expedition in which he and Jamie Scott explored the area on foot, by canoe and with dog sledge. They were initially accompanied by Lionel Leslie. In nine months the pair travelled about 800 miles by canoe and 1500 miles by dog sledge.
Cable car[edit]
Until 1961, access to North West River was restricted to small boats. The North West River Cable Car was completed in 1960 and first used in 1961 as a way to connect the people of North West River to neighboring Sheshatshiu and to the road leading to Happy Valley-Goose Bay. The Cable Car remained in operation until a permanent bridge was constructed in 1981. The cable car may still be seen on permanent display near the river.
