Kakabeka

Kakabeka Falls formed a major obstacle on the Kaministiquia water route inland from Lake Superior. Indigenous travellers knew the connected rivers, lakes and portages long before Jacques de Noyon followed the route in 1688. At the falls, canoes and cargo had to leave the river and pass overland before continuing upstream. The portage made this spectacular break in the river a place of demanding work for successive generations of travellers.

In the 1730s French traders shifted much of their traffic to the shorter Pigeon River route. The Kaministiquia route revived after 1800, when the international boundary and threatened customs charges made Grand Portage less attractive to Montreal traders. From their new depot at the river mouth, later called Fort William, North West Company brigades worked their canoes upstream towards Kakabeka and the inland waterways. For roughly a quarter-century this route carried much of the company's western traffic, making the falls an important threshold between Lake Superior and the interior.