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 Woods, where Assiniboines told him of a route to Lake Winnipeg and the Red River. Noyon's 1689 report was used as a guide by later explorers, in particular Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, Sieur de La Vérendrye in 1732.

Location

At Rainy Lake Lookout, Noden Causeway, about 6.5 km south of Fort Frances

Themes

• Exploration
• Franco-Ontarian heritage
• Fur trade
• People
• War and conflict