Beaumont Provincial Park

IUCN Category II - National Park

Overlooking the Fraser Lake

The Beaumont Provincial Park is a provincial park in the Canadian province of British Columbia. He is at the southeastern edge of the Fraser Lake on the Nechako Plateau. It is surrounded to the west and north by mountain ranges such as the Hazelton, Skeena and Omineca Mountains. The park includes the former Indian settlement Nathleh, 1806 Fort made ​​from the Simon Fraser, which was later named after him.

History

The area around Fraser Lake is one of the traditional territories of the Cheslatta, the Nadleh Whut'en and Stellat'en First Nations. Several First Nations used the paths in the park area to transport trade goods. Therefore, archaeological sites exist within the park and in the neighboring areas. As one of the most important holy places shall be the mountain Intatuk, a cone-shaped mountain between Ormond and Oona Lake.

Members of the fur trading companies, especially the Hudson's Bay Company, used these paths to connect Fort Fraser, Fort McLeod and Fort St. James together. The park itself is located on the territory of the former Fort Fraser, which was built in 1806 by Simon Fraser and his companions. Its indigenous name was Natleh, decisive for the choice of location was the view over the lake and the breeze that kept the mosquitoes.

Beaumont Provincial Park was a gift from Captain Ernest Godfrey Beaumont (1876-1967), a supporter of the BC Provincial Park, which enabled the establishment of two other parks. So he answered the province of his own private property, from the Discovery of Iceland Marine Provincial Park emerged. He had left the province under the condition in 1976 bequeathed the territory, to make it a sanctuary.

The park was established in 1960, consisted at that time, however, only 376 acres, so a little more than 150 ha through three expansions in the years 1964 to 1966 he grew to 497 acres. 1966 and 1969, but was again reduced to 24 acres, so that he had only 473 acres. 1998 Highway 16 has been eliminated, so that the provincial park grew to 191.3 ha. A further amendment in 2004, but had the consequence that the park shrank back to an area of ​​178 ha.

Two Indian reservations exist today at Fraser Lake, that of Stellat'en and the Nad'leh Whut'en.