The lake was drained by the river which flows east then north as part of the Mackenzie Basin which empties into the Arctic Ocean.

After passing near the eventual site of Dunvegan in May, he wrote: The magnificent theatre of nature has all the decorations which the trees and animals of the country can afford it: groves of poplars in every shape vary the scene; and their intervals are livened with vast herds of elks and buffaloes…..

The whole country displayed an exuberant verdure; the trees that bear a blossom were advancing fast to that delightful appearance, and the velvet rind of their branches reflecting the oblique rays of a rising or setting sun, added a splendid gaiety to the scene, which no expressions of mine are qualified to describe.Mackenzie and his group of nine voyageurs were looking for fur trading possibilities as well as a route to the Pacific.

In recent times, they had encountered hostility from bands of Cree coming in from the southeast who were themselves in search of hunting and trading possibilities.

They are a quiet, lively, active people, with a keen, penetrating dark eye; and though they are very susceptible of anger, they are easily appeased.Mackenzie and later Euro-Canadian visitors came to regard the Beaver as basically peaceful.

In the 1840s, trader John McLean depicted them as: A more diminutive race than the Chippewyan and their features bear a great resemblance to those of the Cree.

In 1842, Chief Trader Francis Butcher wrote the following entries in this journal: February 8 – Grand Oreilles and a lad arrived, the former nothing but skin and bone that we hardly knew him, he left his family with Casse’s son a short distance the other side of the Clump of Vines, they being too weak to come to the Fort.February 10th – In the afternoon a poor miserly wretch literally nothing but skin and bone (Raquette’s son-in-law) dragged himself to the Fort and told us he had left his family consisting of twelve individuals a little distance above the hills unable to reach the Fort.

It is impossible to describe their appearance, for surely such misery is seldom to be seen.February 15th – Pork Eater’s Son (St. John’s) arrived starving followed by his wife and child.

Throughout the 19th century, epidemics of influenza, smallpox, measles, whooping cough, scarlet fever and tuberculosis occurred, with countless dying.

Though devastated by the international Spanish flu epidemic of 1918-19, their population steadily grew in the years that followed, although many came to intermarry with other First Nations.

Expressing special concern for the Beaver around Dunvegan were the Anglican and Roman Catholic missionaries who came to establish churches near the trading post during the latter 19th century.

Tissier's correspondence reveals the physical and emotional hardships endured by many of the Oblates priests who ventured to wilderness outposts in the Northwest during this time.

He stayed however until the mid-1880s and was replaced by several priests, mainly Father Emile Grouard, under whom the mission was refurbished and a new church building and rectory constructed.

The first Anglican missionary, Thomas Bunn, was soon replaced by John Gough Brick, and, in 1886, by Alfred Campbell Garrioch whose memoir, A Hatchet Mark In Duplicate, provides a rare glimpse into life around Dunvegan and the Northwest at the time.

Although there are no structural remains of St. Savior's Mission, the site contains some of the Manitoba maples he brought in, as well as the grave of the Garriochs’ infant daughter, Caroline.

Among the buildings constructed to the east of the old North West Company site were a fur office, two large warehouses, and a Factor's House.

Constructed in 1878, the Factor's House is the oldest extant dwelling in northern Alberta and one of the main features of Historic Dunvegan.

The previous ten years had seen much competition on the Peace by independent traders such as the Elmore Brothers, William Cust, Dan Carey, and Henry Fuller "Twelve Foot" Davis who established a post across the river from Dunvegan.

As the initial file plan called for the line to cross the Peace River at Dunvegan, several entrepreneurs acquired land around the old fur trade site, and even into the surrounding hills and beyond, in order to establish townsites.

The townsites at Dunvegan remained stillborn, although many investors continued to hold subdivided lots in the area until recent times, some of them even on the hillside.

In 1909, a ferry was installed by the provincial government and it soon proved to be an important link between the north and south Peace River Country, with Alberta Highway #1 (later#2) crossing there.

In 1921, the Factor's House was occupied by Robert and Lily Peters who also acquired the 32 acres around it owned by the Hudson's Bay Company.

The Factor's House served not only as their dwelling, but also as a grocery store, gas station, post office and telephone exchange.

Agricultural productivity had been a hallmark of Dunvegan since the early 1800s, and indeed was one of the reasons the government felt the Peace River Country would be ideal for farming.

In time, this became the most productive market garden in northwest Alberta, famous for its corn, cucumbers, other vegetables, and various varieties of fruit, especially strawberries and watermelon.

In the meantime, the property holding St. Charles Mission and Rectory continued to be owned by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Athabasca.

The Centre continues to serve visitors and is managed by the Department of Culture with the close co-operation of the Fort Dunvegan Historical Society.