Section IL, 1885. [ 135 J Teans. Roy. Soc. Canada. 



VIII.— 7%6' Five Forts of Winnii>e(j. 



By George Bryoe, M.A., LL.D. 



(Read May 28, 1885.) 



Five I'orts around which gath(^r the most iuterestiug events connected, with the his- 

 tory of Rupert's Land and the Canadian Northwest were erected w^ithin what are now the 

 limits of the City of Winnipeg. These were not mere continuations or renewals of the 

 same fort ; they were all built on different sites, and represented ditferent important 

 movements. These are : Fort Rouge, Fort Gibraltar, Fort Douglas, the original Fort 

 Garry, and the recent Fort Garry. The first erection upon the future site of the metrop- 

 olis of Northwestern C'anada was Fort Rouge: this was l)uilt almost exactly one hundred 

 and fifty years ago. 



Fort Rouge. — This small station of the French explorers, so named probably from 

 its being on the Miskouesipi or Blood-red River of the Cristenaux aborigines, was hardly 

 built and named before it was given up. The adventurous explorers found other 

 points more suitable for the purposes of a rendezvous in their work of fur-trading and 

 discovery. In addition to this, the fact of the Red Fort being on the south side of the 

 Assiniboine exposed it to the incursions of the fiery bands of 8ioux. The warpath of the 

 Sioux from the river of the west (the Missouri) was along the south bank of the Assiniboine, 

 — the very name of Assiniboine River meaning " River of the Stony Sioux," and showing 

 the proximity of the dreaded Dakotas. Coming from the last port on Lake Superior in 

 1731, the adventurous French Canadian, Varennes de la Verandrye, and his sons dotted 

 the margin of their watery way with hurriedly constructed forts or stations. At the exit 

 from Rainy Lake are still to be seen the faint remains of Fort St. Pierre, built in the first 

 year of exploration. Massacre Island on Lake of the Woods, on which a portion of de la Ver- 

 andrye's party was murdered by the Sioux, was opposite a post erected on the south-west 

 side of the lake, in 1*732, with the name Fort St. Charles. The dashing waters of the 

 Maurepas (now Winnipeg River) bore the voyageurs down to the lake, called, from its 

 turbid waters, Win-nipii/ or Winnipeg. Exactly in what year de la Verandrye ascended 

 Red River and built his Red Fort, we do not know : probably 1735 is not far from the 

 time. From investigating the maps of the daring fur-trader sent home to Paris, through 

 the goA'ernor of New France, we learn of the short life of Fort Rouge. The following are 

 some of the documents that attest its existence : — 



(1.) In the archives at Paris is a map thus named : " Map containing the new discover- 

 ies of the west in Canada, seas, rivers, lakes, and the nations who dwell there, in the year 

 1737. Discovery of the western sea joined to a letter of M. Beauharnois, October 14th, 

 1737 (prepared by Varennes de la Verandrye)."' On this map is marked a fort near the site 

 of the present town of Portage la Prairie — " Maurepas," the name afterwards given to the 



