ACROSS THE SUB-ARCTICS OF CANADA 



all its solitary, massive grandeur stood the remains of what 

 had more than one hundred years ago been a noble fortress. 



The construction of this fortification, which appears to 

 have been planned by the English engineer, Joseph Kobson, 

 was commenced in the year 1743 by the Hudson's Bay Com- 

 pany, which was then, as now, carrying on fur-trading busi- 

 ness in northern Canada. So large and expensive a fortifica- 

 tion was built, probably, not so much for the protection of the 

 Company's interests as for the purpose of complying with a 

 provision of its Eoyal Charter, which required that the 

 country should be fortified. 



The building of the fort appears to have been carried on 

 for many years under the direction of the famous Samuel 

 Hearne, already referred to as having traversed the Barren 

 Lands to the mouth of the Coppermine Eiver. In a stone 

 barrack within the fort, Hearne lived and carried on busi- 

 ness for many years. 



The fortress was in the form of a square, with sides three 

 hundred and sixteen feet long; at the corners were bastions, 

 and on top of the massive stone walls, twenty feet in height 

 by thirty feet in thickness at the base, were mounted forty- 

 two guns. "With such a defence one would suppose that 

 Churchill should have been safe from attacking foes, but this 

 does not seem to have been the case, for history informs us 

 that on the 8th of August, 1782, the gallant La Perouse and 

 his three vessels of war, with, it is said, naught but scurvy- 

 smitten crews, made their appearance before the much- 

 amazed garrison of thirty-nine men, and demanded an 

 unconditional surrender, which was granted without resist- 

 ance, and the gates of the great stone fort thrown open to the 

 invaders. Taking possession, they spiked and diBmounted 

 the gims, in places broke down the walls, burned the barracks, 

 and sailed away to France with Hearne, his men, and all 

 their valuable furs. 



As La Perouse left the fort so did we find it. For the 



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