Fort William was a city in Northern Ontario, located on the Kaministiquia River, at its entrance to Lake Superior. It amalgamated with Port Arthur and the townships of Neebing and McIntyre to form the City of Thunder Bay in January 1970. At that time it was the largest city in Northwestern Ontario. Northern Ontario is the part of the province of Ontario, Canada, which lies north of Lake Huron, Georgian Bay, the French River and Lake Nipissing. ... The Kaministiquia River is a Canadian river which empties into western Lake Superior at the city of Thunder Bay. ... Lake Superior, bounded by Ontario, Canada and Minnesota, USA, to the north and Wisconsin and Michigan, USA, to the south, is the largest of North Americas Great Lakes. ... Port Arthur, Ontario, was a city in Northern Ontario which amalgamated with Fort William, Ontario and the townships of Neebing and McIntyre to form the City of Thunder Bay in January 1970. ... Nickname: Motto: Superior by nature Location of Thunder Bay, Ontario Coordinates: Country Canada Province Ontario Region Northwestern Ontario District Thunder Bay District CMA Thunder Bay Established 1970 (amalgamation between Fort William and Port Arthur) Incorporated as Towns Port Arthur in 1884 Fort William in 1892 Incorporated as Cities Both Port... Northwestern Ontario is the region within the Canadian province of Ontario which lies north and west of Lake Superior, and west of Hudson Bay and James Bay. ...

History

In 1679 Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut, established a trading post near the mouth of the Kaministiquia River. French authorities closed this post in 1696 because of a glut on the fur market. In 1717 a new post, Fort Kaministiquia, was established at the river mouth managed by Zacharie Robutel, sieur de la Noue. This post appears on 18th century French maps by Royal hydrographer Jacques-Nicolas Bellin as Fort Caministogoyan. After the British conquest of New France, the French trading post was abandoned in favour of Grand Portage, Minnesota on the Pigeon River. By 1784 Montreal merchants and their "wintering partners" had formed the Northwest Company. Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut (c. ... The Kaministiquia River is a Canadian river which empties into western Lake Superior at the city of Thunder Bay. ... Daniel Greysolon Dulhut had built a fort, (Fort Caministigoyan), at the Kaministiquia River in 1679. ... Jacques-Nicolas Bellin (born Paris 1703, died Versailles 21 March 1772). ... Daniel Greysolon Dulhut had built a fort, (Fort Caministigoyan), at the Kaministiquia River in 1679. ... Grand Portage is an unorganized territory located in Cook County, Minnesota, on Lake Superior, at the northeast corner of the state near the Ontario border. ... Capital Saint Paul Largest city Minneapolis Area  Ranked 12th  - Total 87,014 sq mi (225,365 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 400 miles (645 km)  - % water 8. ... The Pigeon River forms part of the border between the State of Minnesota and the Province of Ontario on the north shore of Lake Superior. ... The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in the city of Montreal in British North America. ...

Following the signing of the Jay Treaty of 1794, the North West Company required a new midway transhipment point between their inland posts and Montreal where the partners could meet and exchange furs and supplies. In 1803 the Nor'Westers abandoned Grand Portage and established a new fur trading post, near Fort Kaministiquia on the Kaministiquia River on land acquired from the Ojibwe by written agreement 30 July 1798. In addition Canadian fur traders had been forced to abandon Grand Portage as their centre of operations when that area was ceded to the United States after the American Revolution, and to avoid American taxes the trading post was moved to what became Fort William on the Canadian side of the border.^[1]. The post was named Fort William in 1807 after William McGillivray, chief director of the North West Company from 1804-1821. After the union of the North West Company with the Hudson's Bay Company in 1821, the fort lost its raison d'être and became a minor HBC fur trading post. Although its original site disappeared under CPR railway tracks and coal piles in the 1880s, a replica of Fort William was built further upstream on the Kaministiquia River at Point de Meuron, a former military staging location, and is now known as the Fort William Historical Park. The Treaty The Jay Treaty between the United States and Great Britain averted war, solved many issues left over from the Revolution, and opened ten years of peaceful trade in the midst of a large war. ... Transshipment is the shipment of goods to an intermediate destination, and then from there to yet another destination. ... The Kaministiquia River is a Canadian river which empties into western Lake Superior at the city of Thunder Bay. ... For other uses of Chippewa, see Chippewa (disambiguation). ... July 30 is the 211th day of the year (212th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1798 (MDCCXCVIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar). ... Grand Portage is an unorganized territory in Cook County, Minnesota, on Lake Superior, at the northeast corner of the state near the border with northwestern Ontario. ... Fort William may refer to Fort William, Scotland, a town in the Scottish Highlands. ... The Hudsons Bay Company (HBC; Compagnie de la Baie dHudson in French) is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and is one of the oldest in the world. ... Fort William Historical Park (formerly known as Old Fort William) is a Canadian historical site located in Thunder Bay, Ontario that contains a reconstruction of the Fort William fur trading post as it existed in 1815. ...

Two townships (Neebing and Paipoonge) and the Fort William Town Plot were surveyed in 1859-60 by the Province of Canada's Department of Crown Lands and opened to settlement. A large section of land adjacent to the Hudson's Bay Company post remained in dispute until 1875 when it was surveyed as Neebing Additional Township. Most land was acquired by absentee landowners, particularly after Confederation when the new Dominion of Canada decided that a railway to the Pacific should begin somewhere along the north shore of Lake Superior. Once the Fort William Town Plot (later known as West Fort) was selected as the eastern terminus for the Canadian Pacific Railway, and construction of the railway began in June 1875, Fort William began to grow, but very slowly. It would take the federal Department of Public Works, and later the Department of Railways and Canals, seven years 1875-1882 to build the Thunder Bay Branch from Fort William to Winnipeg. Note: for information about Canadas present-day provinces, see Provinces and territories of Canada. ... A confederation is an association of sovereign states or communities, usually created by treaty but often later adopting a common constitution. ... Canada is the second largest and the northern-most country in the world, occupying most of the North American land mass. ... An eastbound CPR freight at Stoney Creek Bridge in Rogers Pass. ...

The Ontario Legislature incorporated the Municipality of Shuniah in March 1873, an early form of regional government, comprising a vast area from Sibley Peninsula to the American border. For eight years the residents of Neebing and Neebing Additional townships battled Port Arthur residents for the Thunder Bay terminus. In March 1881 the inhabitants of Neebing and Neebing Additional petitioned the Ontario Legislature successfully to separate the southern townships from Shuniah and to create the Municipality of Neebing. By 1883-84 it was clear to all but the residents of Port Arthur that the Montreal-based Canadian Pacific Railway syndicate, in collaboration with the Hudson's Bay Company, preferred the low lying lands along the lower Kaministiquia River to the rocky shores of Port Arthur, and the Company subsequently consolidated all its operations there, erecting rail yards, coal handling facilities, grain elevators and a machine shop.

In April 1892 Neebing Additional Township and parts of Neebing Township were incorporated as the Town of Fort William. Fort William was incorporated as a city in April 1907. The City of Fort William ceased to exist at the end of December 1969.

The city's Latin motto was A posse ad essere.

See also

• List of mayors of Fort William, Ontario

Mayors of Fort William, Ontario, from incorporation April 1892 to December 1969 when the city was absorbed into the City of Thunder Bay. ...

References

1. ^ "A Golden Gateway of the Great Northwest - History of Thunder Bay" Joseph M. Mauro,Lehto Printers Ltd. Thunder Bay, Ontario - 1981 pgs 21-23

• Thunder Bay from rivalry to unity / edited by Thorold J. Tronrud and A. Ernest Epp. Thunder Bay : Thunder Bay Historical Museum Society, 1995.

External links

• Ontario Plaques - Capture of Fort William
• Ontario Plaques - Fort Kaministiquia
• Old Fort William Historical Site - Ontario Highway 11 Homepage
• Ontario Highway 11 Homepage - Thunder Bay