Kaministiquia

The Kaministiquia River reaches Lake Superior through a branching mouth at the western end of the great lake. Its waters and the portages beyond them link the lake to the inland country of forests and rivers. Ojibwe travellers knew these routes long before fur traders made them a path to the northwest. The river's rapids and falls required canoes and their cargoes to be carried overland.

Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut, established a French trading post near the mouth in the late seventeenth century; another followed in 1717. The latter served as a base for La Vérendrye's western expeditions. In 1803 the North West Company moved its inland headquarters from Grand Portage to the Kaministiquia, on the British side of the new boundary with the United States. Its depot, later called Fort William, hosted annual gatherings of traders and voyageurs from across the interior.