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6 plaques found that match your criteria
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Lac La Pluie House 1818-1903
The Hudson's Bay Company established Lac La Pluie House on this site to compete for furs with the North West Company's Fort Lac La Pluie. After the two companies merged in 1821, only Lac La Pluie House continued in operation. It was renamed Fort Frances in 1830 after a visit by HBC Governor Sir George Simpson and Lady Frances Simpson. The post traded with local Ojibwa for furs, wild rice, and isinglass (obtained from sturgeon)... -
Jacques de Noyon 1668-1745
The coureur de bois Jacques de Noyon was born at Trois-Rivières and raised at Boucherville, near Montreal. In 1688, he led a trading party north of Lake Superior and explored further west than any Frenchman of his time. He ascended the Kaministiquia River, crossed Dog Lake and, through several portages, reached Rainy Lake. Near Fort Frances, on Rainy River, Noyon built a post where he spent the winter. He traveled on to Lake of the... -
Fort Frances Canal 1878
Constructed 1875-1878, during Alexander Mackenzie's administration as part of a larger project intended to improve communication with the West, the Fort Frances Canal provided unbroken communication between Rainy Lake and Lake of the Woods. In conjunction with land and water stretches of the "Dawson Road" between Shebandowan and Lake of the Woods, it provided a temporary connection with completed sections of the C.P.R. The importance of the canal diminished when the C.P.R. route was altered... -
Fort Lac La Pluie
Erected on or near this site, sometime between 1775-1787 by the North West Company, and abandoned in 1821 at the union with the Hudson's Bay Company. The establishment included "Athabaska House," the depot where, owing to the distances to be covered during the short travelling season, the traders from Montreal met those from the Athabaska country and exchanged lading with them. -
Sieur de La Vérendrye 1685-1749
Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, Sieur de La Vérendrye, was born at Trois Rivières and saw military service in North America and Europe before entering the fur trade. While stationed at Lake Nipigon in 1727, he heard stories of the "Western Sea" which, Indians said, lay somewhere beyond Lake of the Woods. During the next twenty years, in attempting to reach this sea, he personally explored much of what is now northwestern Ontario, southern Manitoba and... -
Dianna Boileau, Dr. Harold Challis and Transgender Rights
In 1970, Dianna Boileau (c. 1930s-2014) became the first Canadian to receive gender-affirming surgery. The catalyst for Dianna’s transition was Dr. Harold Challis, a British physician at La Verendrye Hospital in Dianna’s hometown of Fort Frances, with a rare and progressive understanding of gender for the time. Dr. Challis saw Dianna frequently in her youth and learned of her struggles among her peers. His counsel helped Dianna and her family with her transition to begin...