Fort La Tourette
| Fort La Tourette | |
|---|---|
| French fur-trade post | |
| Existed | 1684 – c. 1693 |
| Coordinates | 50.166, -88.227 |
| View on map → | |
Fort La Tourette was a French trading post on Lake Nipigon, founded in 1684–85 in the same campaign that established a post at Kaministiquia. Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut had the two posts built, and placed them under the command of his younger brother Claude Greysolon de La Tourette, for whom this one is named.[1][2]
The aim was to trade directly with Cree and Monsoni people between Lake Superior and Hudson Bay, and so to keep their furs from going to the English on the bay. La Tourette told Governor Jacques-René de Brisay de Denonville in 1687 that more than 1,500 Indigenous traders had come to his posts. He continued to operate the Nipigon and Kaministiquia posts until about 1693.[2]
In 1688 Jacques de Noyon led a trading party from Fort Nipigon up the Kaministiquia River toward Rainy Lake.[3] After the French posts of the west were later re-established, Nipigon was again a secondary post of the Poste du Nord, whose main establishment was at Kaministiquia.[4]
The Dictionary of Canadian Biography locates the 1680s post only as "on Lake Nipigon." The coordinates given here are the OpenStreetMap point for Ombabika Bay, at the northeast end of the lake; the exact palisade site has not been confirmed from the sources used here.
Named people recorded at or around Lake Nipigon in this period are listed in Early named people of the Thunder Bay area (to 1800).
References
- ↑ Yves F. Zoltvany, "Greysolon Dulhut (Du Lhut, Du Luth), Daniel," Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 2 (University of Toronto/Université Laval, 1969; rev. 1982).
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Yves F. Zoltvany, "Greysolon de La Tourette, Claude," Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 2 (University of Toronto/Université Laval, 1969).
- ↑ C. J. Russ, "Noyon, Jacques de," Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 3 (University of Toronto/Université Laval, 1974).
- ↑ Yves F. Zoltvany, "Gaultier de Varennes et de La Vérendrye, Pierre," Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 3 (University of Toronto/Université Laval, 1974; rev. 2023).