Fort st James

James. Fort Saint James is a community on the southeast shore of mighty Stuart Lake.

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Fort-James is a county and former skins trade station in Columbia, Canada. Situated on the southeast bank of Stuart Lake in Omineca Country, at the end of Hwy 27, which is connected to Hwy 16 at Vanderhoof. In 2006, the parish celebrates its bicentenary and is registered as a county parish.

Established in 1806 by researcher and furrier Simon Fraser, it came under the leadership of the Hudson's Bay Company in 1821 with the enforced fusion of the two struggling outfitters. Aka Stuart Lake Post, it is one of the oldest settled communities in British Columbia and was the administration center for the Hudson's Bay Company's New Caledonia Furs County.

The fort was reconstructed fourfold and served as an important trade station well into the 20th cent. The fort is now a National Historic Site of Canada[3][4] with some 1880s outbuildings. On behalf of the North West Company, Fraser and his colleagues John Stuart and James McDougall investigated possible riverside trails to the Pacific from 1805 to 1808.

In the winter of 1805-06 McDougall discovered Carrier's Lake, now Stuart Lake. At the very centre of the Carrier or Dakelh First Nation area, this turned out to be a profitable place for the skins trade and a fort - Fort St. James - was erected on its banks in 1806.

The fort came under Hudson's Bay Company's sole ownership in 1821 when the North West Company and Hudson's Bay Company became one. As a result, it became the company's administration center for the huge New Caledonia district. Nevertheless, the position finally became profitably and functioned until it was closed in 1952. It is situated on the south-eastern shores of Stuart Lake, at the tip of the Stuart River.

It and the stream are called after Fraser's assistent John Stuart, who was later to become director of the New Caledonian district of the North West Company. The Fort St. James is situated in the sub borehole pine belt of British Columbia, a subdivision of the hemiboral area. Fort St. James is categorized under the Köppen environmental rating as a moist mainland climat.

Fort St. James is inhabited by about 5,000 people, about a fourth of whom are called first nations[8] The city is encircled by many small first nations and indigenous reservations, among them Pinchie, Tachie and Nak'azdli. From 2006 to 2011, the District of Fort St. James registered the second highest increase in populations of all British Columbia towns.

Kwah (aka Kw'eh Chief), (ca. 1755-1840), Dakelh chieftain of the Stuart Lake area.