GRAND PORTAGE Grand Portage: A History of The Sites, People, and Fur Trade

1. House for British Army escort, 1778

2. One or two fur trading posts, 1778

3. N. W. Co., 40-foot pickets, 1778

4. N. W. Co., tolerable houses with stockades, 1778.

5. McGregory & McLeod, a shed and a warehouse, 1785.

6. McGregory & McLeod, buildings erected, winter, 1785-86.

7. McGregory & McLeod, Office and fort, winter, 1785-86.

8. McGregory & McLeod, fort had gates, winter, 1785, '86.

9. Indian Lodge, winter, 1785-86

10. N. W. Co., 6 horses, 1 colt, 5 cows, 1 bull, 2 oxen, 2 calves, 6 sheep, 1787.

11. Four "lots" worth of structures at Grand Portage, 1790 (Possibly 1 N. W. & 1 ex-opposition at Grand Portage and also at west end of portage.)

12. N. W. Co. post in good repair, 1791.

13. Wall of N. W. Co. post 15-20 paces from L. Superior. Its opposite wall at foot of Mt. Rose. Gates. Sixteen cedar & white spruce buildings inside the fort. Whipsaw boards. Shingle roofs. Brown doors & windows. Six structures are store houses, one a mess house, one a counting house, rest are dwellings & shops. One wharf, 1793.

14. N. W. Co. men's tent camp spread over the road to the portage, but on one side of Grand Portage Creek, 1793.

15. Montrealers' camp on other side of Grand Portage Creek. Lived under canoes rather than tents, 1793.

16. Wharf, 1793.

17. New opposition place 4 corner posts, 200-300 yds. east of N. W. Co. post, 1793.

18. Montrealers camp between N. W. Co. post & new opposition site, 1793.

19. N. W. Co. post, West gate, 1798.

20. XY Co. post, 1798.

21. N. W. Co. Several cattle die, winter 1798-99.

22. XY Co., house & hangard, 1799

23. A concern that XY Co. might build on the "point" 1800

24. Montrealers camp under canoes on the "point", 1800

25. "Premier's scaffold," 1800.

26. Several N. W. fences near XY buildings, 1800

27. Cooper's shop, 1800

28. Two quays, 1799.

29. N. W. Co. post, 24 x 30 rods (396'x495'). Has a number of temporary dwellings, shops, & stores. XY Co. post within 200 rods (3300') of N. W.'s, 1800.

30. N. W. Co., a general shop, 1800

31. Indian tents, 1800

32. A ball held in dining room, N. W. Co., 1800

33. A shop for an outfit, N. W. Co., 1800

34. N. W. Co., two houses to be completed, winter 1800-01. Imported boards & planks.

35. N. W. Co., Otter spent winter 1800-01 at Grand Portage.

36. N. W. Co., Agent's room, with a trunk having a key, 1800.

37. N. W. Co., powder house, 1800

38. N. W. Co. grows potatoes, 1799.

39. N. W. Co., hog, 1799-1800.

40. N. W. Co., milk cows, 1799-1800.

41. XY Co. values both its forts at £ 300, 1801

42. XY Co. has 23 panal doors, 30 window sashes, 10 bedsteads, 24 chairs, 3 japanned candlesticks, 1/3 box window glass, 1803.

43. N. W. Co., cedar palisades, wooden houses, shingle roofs. North men live in tents, Montrealers live under canoes. Potatoes. Meadows. Up to 1800.

44. N. W. Co., a large hall for upper levels of management, up to 1800.

45. N. W. Co., milk cows, up to 1800.

46. N. W. Co., post is near, regular; numerous buildings, 1802.

47. XY Co. has a few buildings, a few hundred yards east of N. W. Co. post, below hill, 1802.

48. XY Co. building new fort "upon the hill", 1802.

49. XY Co., a store, 1802

50. XY Co., farmer & barn, 1802. Barn was repaired.

51. Hervieux has 3 trading tents among N. W. Co. Northmen, 1802, and 50 feet from the Montrealers the beach.

52. Hervieux moves tents one gunshot to a place near Boucher's fort, 1802.

53. Boucher's trading post, about 10 feet from lake, 1802.

54. Boucher's trading post, 950'-1,140' from Mailloux's trading post, 1802.

55. Hervieux's second trading place about 60 feet from Boucher's, 1802

56. N. W. Co. Northmen's camp 20-50' from Hervieux's first trading place, 1802.

57. Hervieux's second trading place was 285' east of his first, 1802.

58. Hervieux's second trading place was near Boucher's and 1/2 acre from the "little River", 1802.

59. Hervieux had a bark cabin & a little tent 30 feet from Boucher's, 1802.

60. Hervieux's second trading place was 190'-275' east of his first, 1802.

61. Cleared space at Gr. Portage had the N. W. Co. post on its S. W. side, the bay on its S. E. side, Boucher's fort on its N. E. side, and the woods on its N. W. side, up to 1802.

62. The road passed up from beach between N. W. Co. post & Boucher's, up to 1802.

63. A cart could travel road from beach to Gr. Portage Creek, up to 1802.

64. Lecruyer's trading store, 1794-98, same site as Boucher's and "a little distance" from N. W. Co. post, 1802.

65. XY Co. inventory, £ 7,000, winter 1802-03.

66. XY Co. post over one mile from landing, 1803, but XY Co. now in old N. W. Co. post, 1803. (If indeed the XY Co. moved into the abandoned N. W. Co. post, its Montreal canoes may have landed at the XY's former landing place, reasonably near its former post?)

67. Old N. W. Co. post, cedar palisades, 4 bastions, good buildings, immense flag staff, 1803.

68. Liquor shed, old N. W. Co. post, 1803

69. N. W. Co. post-picketed, 3 gates, 2 guardhouses, a range of stores, a range of dwellings, canoe yard (70 canoes per yr.). Written between 1803 and 1807.

70. XY Co. post was 1/4 mile from N. W. Co. post, written 1803-1807.

71. N. W. Co. post-warehouses, stables, gardens. Written 1822.

72. N. W. Co.—only depressions in ground remain, c. 1823.

73. Piers still visible "in the water", c. 1900.

Summary of References to the Portage

1. Had 16 resting places, 1793

2. Thompson measured trail-8.02 miles, 1798. He mentioned: Parting Trees, Fountain, Meadow.

3. Road "bad"- mud, clay, slippery, 1800.

4. Horses & Oxen tried for transportation— failure. Sleds used in winter. Up to 1800.

5. Overrun by briers & coppice, 1822.

6. Considerable ascent, rocks, mud. Young growth of trees & bushes, 3 "rivers", small clearing, 1823.

7. Seldom traveled, 1823

8. Still passable, 1858

9. Still passable, ca. 1900. "Weeds & Grasses"

Summary of References to Structures on Pigeon River

1. McGregory & McLeod, a hangard or storehouse

2. N. W. Co. fort, 1785

3. N. W. Co. fort called Fort Charlotte by 1791

4. Fort Charlotte, 1793

5. Fort Charlotte, extensive stores, ca. 1794

6. New opposition house, ca. 1794

7. New opposition pickets torn down by N. W. 72 Co., ca. 1794.

8. Ft. Charlotte had a house, 1798

9. Several fences, plowed ground, 1800

10. Ft. Charlotte, 1800

11. XY Co. valued both its forts at £ 300, 1801

12. XY Co., stores, 1802

13. Only cleared ground & stumps of burned pickets, 1823.

14. Landing place or dock still there, 1823

15. Remnants of old dock, ca. 1900.