Fort Témiscamingue was a

trading post A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded. Typically the location of the trading post would allow people from one geographic area to tr ...

from the 17th century in

Duhamel-Ouest, Quebec Duhamel-Ouest is a municipality in northwestern Quebec, Canada in the Témiscamingue Regional County Municipality. Located at a narrows of Lake Timiskaming, Duhamel-Ouest is home to the Fort Témiscamingue, a National Historic Site of Canada. D ...

, near Ville-Marie, Canada, located on the fur trade route on the east shore of

Lake Timiskaming Lake Timiskaming or Lake Temiskaming (french: Lac Témiscamingue) is a large freshwater lake on the provincial boundary between Ontario and Quebec, Canada. The lake, which forms part of the Ottawa River, is in length and covers an area of ...

. The fort is a National Historic Site, operated as part of the national park system by Parks Canada, in partnership with the Timiskaming First Nation.

History

Vue sur le fort Témiscamingue en 1887 lors de la mission des Oblats

Since

is at the northwest "corner" of the Ottawa River where its course turns from west to southeast, the lake is a natural site for a trading post. It was on the main canoe route from Hudson Bay to the Saint Lawrence (

James Bay James Bay (french: Baie James; cr, ᐐᓂᐯᒄ, Wînipekw, dirty water) is a large body of water located on the southern end of Hudson Bay in Canada. Both bodies of water extend from the Arctic Ocean, of which James Bay is the southernmost pa ...

Moose Factory Moose Factory is a community in the Cochrane District, Ontario, Canada. It is located on Moose Factory Island, near the mouth of the Moose River, which is at the southern end of James Bay. It was the first English-speaking settlement in lands n ...

Abitibi River The Abitibi River is a river in northeastern Ontario, Canada, which flows northwest from Lake Abitibi to join the Moose River which empties into James Bay. This river is long, and descends . It is the fifth longest river entirely in Ontario A ...

, Lake Abitibi, portage, Lake Timiskaming, Ottawa River southeast to Montreal). The lake was about the midpoint of a forty-day journey. The

Hudson Bay expedition (1686) The Hudson Bay expedition of 1686 was one of the Anglo-French conflicts on Hudson Bay. It was the first of several expeditions sent from New France against the trading outposts of the Hudson's Bay Company in the southern reaches of Hudson Bay. ...

was the first European group to use the route. Circa 1679, Montreal merchants established a fort on the west side of Lake Timiskaming to compete with the English posts on the Hudson Bay, but it was destroyed by the

Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...

in 1688.Conseil de la culture de l'Abitibi-Témiscamingue, ''Cultural Heritage and Tourism Discovery Guide'', In 1720, a new Fort Témiscamingue was founded by French merchantsHistoric Sites and Monuments Board of Canada on the east side of The Narrows where the two shores of Lake Timiskaming come closer than to each other, a former

Algonquin Algonquin or Algonquian—and the variation Algonki(a)n—may refer to: Languages and peoples *Algonquian languages, a large subfamily of Native American languages in a wide swath of eastern North America from Canada to Virginia **Algonquin la ...

encampment site called "Obadjiwan Point" (meaning "the strait where the current flows"). After the fall of New France the post was re-occupied by independent traders, the North West Company (1788) and the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business di ...

(1821). At the insistence of

George Simpson (administrator) Sir George Simpson ( – 7 September 1860) was a Scottish explorer and colonial governor of the Hudson's Bay Company during the period of its greatest power. From 1820 to 1860, he was in practice, if not in law, the British viceroy for the whol ...

it was supplied from Moose Factory rather than the more efficient Montreal. After 1863 it was again supplied from Montreal due to improvements in the transportation system. The arrival of lumbermen and later railroads and steamboats transformed the trading post into a general store. In 1887 the main store moved to

Ville-Marie, Quebec Ville-Marie is a town on Lake Temiscaming in western Quebec, Canada. It is the largest city and seat of the Témiscamingue Regional County Municipality. As one of the oldest towns in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region, it is considered the cradl ...

. The fort lingered on until it was closed in 1902.Parks Canada, ''Fort Témiscamingue National Historic Site'' leaflet, Around 1980 there were only some standing chimneys, but today there is a historic site. A

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

mission originally established at Fort Témiscamingue on the eastern shore of Lake Timiskaming in present-day Quebec was relocated to the Ontario shore of the lake in 1863. The mission comprised a presbytery for the Oblate fathers, a small hospital operated by two Grey Sisters of the Cross, and eventually a frame church.Ontario Heritage Trust Timiskaming Mission
. Heritagefdn.on.ca. Retrieved on 2012-05-15.

National historic site

Declared a national historic site in 1931, the site is notable for its cultural and natural heritage. The park's territory is mainly three distinct natural areas: the plateau, the escarpments and the lowlands. Overall, over 80% of the total area of the park is a wooded area with approximately 20 different stands and a number of plants from the climatic forest type of the Laurentian maple stand and the Upper St. Lawrence forest sub-region. Of particular interest is a forest of cedar trunks so twisted that it was nicknamed the "Enchanted Forest". Of the fort itself not much remained, but a modern visitor's centre, exhibits, and reenactments highlight the cultural history of the place.

References

External links

Parks Canada official siteTourisme TemiscamingueTemiscamingue Portal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fort Temiscamingue Tourist attractions in Abitibi-Témiscamingue Buildings and structures in Abitibi-Témiscamingue Military forts in Quebec National Historic Sites in Quebec Hudson's Bay Company forts Museums in Abitibi-Témiscamingue History museums in Quebec Protected areas of Abitibi-Témiscamingue Forts or trading posts on the National Historic Sites of Canada register