bateaux. Early in
August the vanguard came within sight of the islands that bar the
approach to Thunder Bay. Then, as their canoes slipped through the
dark waters, they were soon abeam of that majestic headland, Thunder
Cape, 'the aged Cape of Storms.' Inside the bay they saw that long,
low island known as the Sleeping Giant. A portion of the voyageurs,
led by a Canadian named Chatelain, disembarked upon an island about
seven miles from Fort William. Selkirk, with the rest of the advance
party, went on. Skirting the settlement at Fort William, they ascended
the river Kaministikwia for about half a mile, and on the opposite bank
from the fort, at a spot since known as Point De Meuron, they erected
their temporary habitations.

[1] The trader was probably Charles Grant, a clerk in the North-West
Company's fort at Fond du Lac, and not Cuthbert Grant, the leader at
Seven Oaks.

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CHAPTER XI

FORT WILLIAM

Fort William was the Mecca of the traders and voyageurs who served the
North-West Company. It was the divisional point and the warehousing
centre of sixty trading-posts. No less than five thousand persons were
engaged in the trade which centred at Fort William. During the season
from May to September the traffic carried on at the fort was of the
most active character. A flotilla of boats and canoes would arrive
from Lachine with multifarious articles of commerce for inland barter.
These boats would then set out on their homeward journey laden with
peltry gathered from far and near. Every season two or three of the
principal partners of the company arrived at the fort from Montreal.
They were 'hyperborean nabobs,' who travelled with whatever luxury
wealth could afford them on the express service by lake and stream.

[Illustration: Fort William. From an old print in the John Ross
Robertson Collection, Toronto Public Library.]

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At this time Fort William had the proportions of a good-sized village.
Its structures were of wood and were of all shapes and sizes. One
commodious building near the centre of the fort, fronted by a wide
verandah, immediately caught the eye of the visitor. It contained a
council-hall, the mercantile parliament-chamber of the Nor'westers.
Under the same roof was a great banqueting-hall, in which two hundred
persons could be seated. In this hall were wont to gather the notables
of the North-West Company, and any guests who were fortunate enough to
gain adm