La Loche sits on the eastern shore of Lac La Loche, at the end of Highway 155. Its story begins with the fur trade. Peter Pond came through the Methye Portage in 1778, and fur posts followed soon after on the lake. The North West Company built posts from 1780 on, and the Hudson's Bay Company from 1819. The 19-kilometre portage to the Clearwater River was used for more than a century. Brigades from the south and from the Athabasca and Mackenzie country met each year at Rendezvous Lake to swap trade goods for furs. Today the portage is a National Historic Site within Clearwater River Provincial Park.
A permanent trading post went up at the south end of the portage in 1857 and later moved to West La Loche, where it stood until a fire in 1936. Revillon Frères had a post in La Loche from 1906, and the Hudson's Bay Company later took over its buildings, staying until 1987. Missionary priests began visiting in 1845, and the Mission of Notre Dame de la Visitation was established in 1860. Father Jean-Marie Pénard, the first resident priest, arrived in 1895. He counted about 100 people at the mission then, and about 200 by 1911.
A convent for the Grey Nuns, the first hospital and the first school all came in the 1940s, and the Catholic church still in use was built in 1953. The first road, Highway 155, reached La Loche in 1963. Water, sewer and electricity came to most homes in 1974, followed by television in 1976 and a skating arena in 1978. In 1979 a new high school opened and the Clearwater River Dene Nation was officially created next door. Denesuline is still spoken by most residents, and the community gathers each year for events such as the Yanessa Days Festival.
Written from Wikipedia’s article “La Loche” (CC BY-SA 4.0), and shared under the same licence.