Travellers on the canoe route to the West had to make a portage around the St Mary's rapids. The North West Company established a fur-trading post south of the river by 1791. After the British abandoned their occupation of the American midwest, the company moved its post here in 1797. The depot eventually included storehouses, a canal and lock, a sawmill, and a portage road. Wharves were built at either end of the rapids for steamers to unload supplies. An American invasion fleet razed the site in 1814, but the Nor'Westers rebuilt it almost immediately. It became a Hudson's Bay Company post following the union of the two rival fur trading companies in 1821.

Location

On the grounds of the Nor'Westers and Loyalist Museum, John Street, Williamstown

Themes

• Industry and trade