Michipicoten Provincial Park is a park in
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, located at the mouth of the
Michipicoten River
The Michipicoten River is a river in Algoma District of northern Ontario, Canada, which flows from Dog Lake and joins with the Magpie River to empty into Michipicoten Bay on Lake Superior near the town of Wawa. This river is in length (includi ...
. The park preserves the ruins of a French trading post that operated from the early 1700s until it was abandoned by the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1904.
It is a non-operating park, meaning there are no facilities or services. Fishing and hiking are the only permitted activities.
History
French explorers, including
Radisson
Radisson Hotels is an international hotel chain headquartered in the United States. A division of the Radisson Hotel Group, it operates the brands Radisson Blu, Radisson RED, Radisson Collection, Country Inn & Suites, and Park Inn by Radisso ...
and
Groseilliers, reached the area by the mid 17th century, and a post was built early in the next century (possibly about 1700).
The site was on the sandy flat delta of the Michipicoten River, on the south bank opposite the mouth of the
Magpie River. It was at the junction of the main
North American fur trade
The North American fur trade is the commercial trade in furs in North America. Various Indigenous peoples of the Americas traded furs with other tribes during the pre-Columbian era. Europeans started their participation in the North American fur ...
route from Montreal westward and the route north to
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 par ...
via the
Missinaibi River
The Missinaibi River is a river in northern Ontario, Canada, which flows northeast from Missinaibi Lake, north of Chapleau, and empties into the Moose River, which drains into James Bay. This river (including Missinaibi Lake and Moose River t ...
. In 1727,
Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye
Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye (17 November 1685 – 5 December 1749) was a French Canadian military officer, fur trader, and explorer. In the 1730s, he and his four sons explored the area west of Lake Superior and e ...
, was appointed commander of the French ''Postes du Nord'', that included the headquarters at
Fort Kaministiquia
Fort Kaministiquia (former spellings include Fort Camanistigoyan, Fort Kanastigoya, Fort Kamanastigoya and others), was a French fort in North America. It was located on the north shore of Lake Superior at the mouth of the Kaministiquia River, in ...
, a post at the
Nipigon River
The Nipigon River is located in Thunder Bay District in Northwestern Ontario, Canada. The river is about long (or when measured to the head of Ombabika River) and , and flows from Lake Nipigon to Nipigon Bay on Lake Superior at the community of ...
, and the outpost at Michipicoten.
These posts on the north shore of
Lake Superior
Lake Superior in central North America is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. and the third-largest by volume, holding 10% of the world's surface fresh wa ...
were the main source of fur supply from the west and northwest. In 1739,
Claude Marin de la Perrière and
Louis-Césaire Dagneau Douville de Quindre were granted licenses to trade at Michipicoten Post.
When the British conquered Canada in 1763, this post was abandoned by the French.
Four years later, it was re-opened on the same site by independent fur traders
Alexander Henry the elder
Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.
Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...
and
Jean Baptiste Cadotte. The route from James Bay was explored by
Edward Jarvis (1775) and
Philip Turnor Philip Turnor ( – c. 1799) was a surveyor and cartographer for the Hudson's Bay Company.
Turnor hired on for three years as an inland surveyor with the HBC and landed at York Factory (Man.) in August, 1778. After mapping York itself, he set o ...
(1781). In 1777, the post was purchased by fur traders Jean-Baptiste Nolin and Venance Lemaire Saint-Germain.
In 1783, it was taken over by the
North West Company
The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what is present-day Western Canada and Northwestern Ontario. With great weal ...
, based in Montreal. In 1797, 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 div ...
(HBC) built a rival post on the north bank to compete directly with the original fort.
With the union of the two companies in 1821, the HBC took over the original fort, and it gained importance because the Lake Superior trade was diverted from Montreal to Hudson Bay via Michipicoten. From 1827, the fort was the headquarters of the Superior Division, making it the main HBC post on the north shore of Lake Superior. Several HBC annual meetings were held there. It was a centre for fishing, boat-building, and small-scale manufacture and repair. From there a number of smaller posts along Lake Superior and in the interior were supplied, and it also served as a base for missionaries and surveyors. This lasted until 1863, when the arrival of
steamboat
A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. Steamboats sometimes use the ship prefix, prefix designation SS, S.S. or S/S ...
s and
railway
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
s made it unnecessary. When gold was discovered nearby, the Michipicoten Post boomed again, supplying the many prospectors. It became the first mining division office in Ontario in 1898. But the
gold rush
A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New Z ...
was short-lived and the post was closed in 1904, gradually taken apart.
In subsequent years, the land was used for farming.
In 1969, the site was examined by archaeologists. They discovered 16 buildings that were arranged in a square with a large open court in the centre. During other digs, evidence of an Indigenous burial site and camp were found, as well as artifacts dating as far back as 1100 A.D. indicating that the place had been used by the Indigenous people for centuries.
By 1980 the site held little more than a grassy clearing, some foundation stones, and the remains of the dock.
References
External links
Official website
{{Ontario parks
Provincial parks of Ontario
Parks in Algoma District
Michipicoten River
Archaeological sites in Ontario