[2] The current name, Lac la Nonne has an uncertain origin but is believed to derive from "the nun" in French.

The post was used to pasture the herds of pack horses needed to portage goods from Edmonton House to Fort Assiniboine on the Athabasca River (Edm.

Missionaries arrived in the 1870s, and in 1878, the Oblate Fathers established a mission on the southeast shore at the site of the present-day Catholic Church in Camp Encounter.

“ YORK FACTORY EXPRESS JOURNAL 85 ...' Lac la Nonne or Nun lake; about 40 miles north-west of Edmonton; is now the centre of a flourishing settlement.

Proceeded this day as far as Lac La Nan/ having made one halt — 2 men sent ahead to repair the canoes at Fort Assiniboine.

Picard arrives at our encampment with letters from J. R. Esq.^ ” Source: Full text of "Proceedings and transactions of the Royal Society of Canada.

G. — Edward Ermatinger's York Factory Express Journal, Ijeing a Record of Journeys made l^etween Fort Vancouver and Hudson Bay in the year 1827-182S.

As early as 1873, the special land grants provided to the Hudson Bay Company as part of their deal with the government of Canada, were surveyed around posts in Edmonton, Lac La Nonne, Victoria, Rocky Mountain House, Assiniboine and over half a dozen others, amounting to some 3,000 acres.

[5]"The overland route from Edmonton to Dawson City in the Yukon was 1,446 miles long and passed through St. Albert, Lac La Nonne (including the Sion area), Fort Assiniboine, Grouard and Peace River.

Main stopping places on the old Klondike Trail included Riviere Qui Barre, Sion, Lac La Nonne, and Belvedere or McDonald's Crossing.

[6]Currently owned by Catholic Archdiocese of Edmonton, Camp Encounter has this to say about its history at Lac La Nonne: "Various events and people that made Canadian history contributed to our local Albertan heritage, have had strong association with this site, the lake, and the surrounding Lac la Nonne area.

Until the 1800s, the area was mainly a vast expanse of wilderness, and served as the hunting and fishing grounds for the Cree and Stoney Native peoples.

In 1870 Father Favard, who was later killed at Frog Lake during the Riel rebellion, was appointed resident priest for the area and built a little log cabin at the site of the present church, Our Lady of Lourdes.

On Easter Sunday 1878, Cree chief Katchikawesham, of the Lac la Nonne mission, was baptised and became known by his Christian name, Alexander Arcand.

...The charm and excitement of the Klondike Gold Rush through this area remains etched within the very boundaries of Camp Encounter, as a continuous section of this historic trail crosses the length of this site.

Off this once beaten path, a rock outcrop overgrown with bush is the only relic of a grotto of Our Lady that once stood here and was later destroyed by lightning.

From wilderness to the Hudson Bay Company, the Missions of the Oblate Fathers, the trail to the Klondike and one of Alberta's oldest and most popular 20th century summer resorts, Lac La Nonne has experienced a full and rich history to become one of the most settled, protected and prettiest lakes in Alberta.