La Porte, British Columbia

La Porte was a boomtown in British Columbia, Canada, during the Big Bend Gold Rush. The site at the foot of the Dalles des Morts, or Death Rapids, was chosen as the location of a ferry and town on April 23, 1866, during the first voyage of the steamboat Forty-Nine up the Columbia River.{{Citation

| last = Bilsland

| first = William W.

| title = A History of Revelstoke and the Big Bend

| publisher = University of British Columbia

| date = April 1955

| url = https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/831/items/1.0107145

| page = 38

| accessdate = 2019-09-30

}} The name reflected its role as the gateway to the mines.{{Citation

| title = First Trip of the Steamer Forty-Nine

| newspaper = The Daily British Colonist

| date = May 23, 1866

| volume = 15

| issue = 137

| page = 3

| location = Victoria

| url = https://archive.org/stream/dailycolonist18660523uvic/18660523#page/n2/mode/1up

| accessdate = 2019-09-29

}}

By 1871, engineer Walter Moberly returned from a survey trip to report that a single resident remained at La Porte,{{sfn|Bilsland|1955|page=19}} by 1885 all of the houses were in ruins.{{sfn|Bilsland|1955|page=30}}