Trading in furs at this junction of historic canoe routes probably began during the French regime. At intervals during the 1820s and 1830s, Chief Trader John Silveright, commanding the Hudson's Bay Company's post at Fort Coulonge, sent men to trade at Mattawa. In 1837, primarily to counteract trading by lumbermen, the company established a permanent post there. Its original site was chosen by the company's governor, George Simpson, but before 1843, it was moved to this point. In later years, faced with diminishing fur trade, the post supplied its former rivals with lumbermen and turned to general trade in the community which grew around it. Mattawa House was closed in 1908.

Location

At the site of the former post, Explorers' Point, Highway 533, just north of Mattawa

Themes

• Buildings and structures
• Exploration
• Fur trade
• Industry and trade
• Transportation systems and communications