Fort La Jonquière facts for kids

Fort La Jonquière was a French fort built way back in the spring of 1751. It was located along the Saskatchewan River. People believed it was the most western outpost of New France, which was a huge area controlled by France in North America.

The fort got its name from Jacques-Pierre de Taffanel de la Jonquière, Marquis de la Jonquière. He was the top French official in New France at that time, like a governor. The fort was named by Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre, who was in charge of the French in the western areas from 1750 to 1753. We don't have any exact records or physical proof of where the fort was. But most historians think it was probably near Nipawin, Saskatchewan.

Building the Fort: A Western Outpost

Fort La Jonquière was one of two forts the French built along the Saskatchewan River. This happened between 1743 and 1763. These forts were important for expanding French control and trade in the west.

Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre was a French commander. He followed in the footsteps of another famous explorer, Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye. Saint-Pierre wrote in his personal notes that he told a fur trader and explorer named Joseph-Claude Boucher, Chevalier de Niverville, to build a new fort.

The Journey to Build Fort La Jonquière

Niverville was supposed to travel 300 lieues (a lieue is an old French measurement, about 4 kilometers or 2.5 miles) up the Saskatchewan River. This journey started from Fort Paskoya, which was near what is now The Pas. The goal was to build a fort in this new western area.

On May 29, 1751, ten Frenchmen set out in two canoes from Fort Paskoya. Niverville himself was too sick to go. They traveled up the Paskoya River towards what they called "the Rock Mountains." There, they built a strong fort. Saint-Pierre named this new fort Fort La Jonquière. They also gathered a lot of food and supplies. This was to prepare for Niverville's arrival, but he never made it because he was still very ill.

Saint-Pierre's Difficult Journey

Saint-Pierre later wrote that he left Fort La Reine on November 14, 1751. He wanted to visit Fort La Jonquière. But he never reached it. Along the way, he met two Frenchmen and four Indigenous people. They told him that Niverville was still sick. They also said that the Indigenous guides, called "YhachéIllini," had been attacked by a group of "Assinibouels" (Assiniboine).

Because of these problems, Saint-Pierre went back to Fort La Reine to spend the winter. In the spring of 1752, he was called back to Canada by the new Governor General. He sadly died in a battle in 1755.

The Mystery: Where Did Fort La Jonquière Go?

After Saint-Pierre's writings, no other old records clearly mention Fort La Jonquière's exact spot. This makes its location a bit of a mystery for historians.

Missing from Official Lists

In 1757, a French officer named Louis Antoine de Bougainville listed all the French outposts in the "Western Sea" area. This list included forts like Saint-Pierre, Saint-Charles, La Reine, Dauphin, Bourbon, Paskoya, and des Prairies. But Fort La Jonquière was not on his list.

After the French and Indian War, Guy Carleton, who was the Governor of Quebec, wrote a letter in 1768. He described how far French fur traders had reached by 1754. He mentioned a fort built "one hundred leagues beyond Paskoyat." But he also said he didn't have enough information to put it on a map. This might have been Fort La Jonquière, but it's not certain.

Explorers Who Didn't Find It

Later in the 1700s, explorers from the Hudson's Bay Company traveled along the Saskatchewan River. These included Anthony Henday in 1755, Matthew Cocking in 1772, and Peter Fidler in 1792. None of them ever mentioned finding any French forts west of Fort de la Corne.

Even Peter Pond of the North West Company made a map in 1785. He marked a spot below the Saskatchewan River Forks and wrote: "This is the highest point the French Traders possessed." This suggests the French didn't go much further west.

Some British fur traders, like Thomas Curry and James Finlay, also explored these areas. According to explorer Alexander Mackenzie, Finlay traveled as far as "Nipawee, the last of the French settlements on the bank of the Saskatchiwine river." This also points to a location not too far west.

Where Was It? Different Ideas

Because there's no clear evidence, historians have come up with different ideas about where Fort La Jonquière might have been.

The Rocky Mountain Idea

Saint-Pierre's mention of "the Rock mountains" and the 300 lieues distance made some historians think the fort was very far west. They thought Niverville's men might have reached the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. If true, they would have been the first Europeans to see the Canadian Rockies and reach what is now Alberta. This would have been even before Henday, who is usually credited with this.

More than a hundred years later, historian Benjamin Sulte believed Saint-Pierre's account was accurate. He even thought that Fort Calgary was built on the same spot as Fort La Jonquière. In 1875, a police inspector named Éphrem-A. Brisebois claimed he found the remains of an old fort near Calgary. He thought it was Fort La Jonquière.

The North Saskatchewan River Idea

However, a geologist named Joseph Tyrrell had a different idea in 1886. He thought it was more likely that Niverville's men went up the North Saskatchewan River instead of the South Saskatchewan. He explained that the Cree people living along the northern branch were known to the French and were friendly. But the Blackfoot people to the south were known to be very fierce and unfriendly.

Closer to Fort de la Corne

Historian Arthur Silver Morton did a lot of research. He thought it was "beyond reason" that Saint-Pierre would try to travel so far west in November. He believed the fort couldn't have been as far west as Calgary. Morton thought the remains found by Inspector Brisebois were from an American fur-trading fort built in 1833, not Fort La Jonquière.

Morton believed the fort was probably not much further west than the bend of the South Saskatchewan River. He even suggested it might have been only about 200 yards west of Fort de la Corne, near the Saskatchewan River Forks.

The Nipawin Hypothesis

Another historian, Antoine Champagne, also studied Saint-Pierre's writings. He looked at the accounts of other explorers and agreed that it was unlikely Fort La Jonquière was anywhere near the Rockies. He noted that old maps often had inaccurate distances.

Champagne calculated that the fort would have been only about 100 miles (as the crow flies) west of Fort Paskoya. This would be about 160 to 180 miles along the river. This calculation places the likely location of Fort La Jonquière near modern-day Nipawin.