There are many National Historic Sites and heritage attractions across Canada, but few bring the fur-trade era to life like Fort William Historical Park, on the Kaministiquia River near Thunder Bay, Ontario. It is one of the most visited heritage attractions in northwestern Ontario, welcoming well over a hundred thousand visitors each year. Part of its appeal is its setting near the forests and shorelines of Lake Superior, but much of it comes from its past. Long before European traders arrived, Indigenous peoples travelled and traded along these waterways, which for centuries formed a natural highway linking the interior to the Great Lakes and made the exchange of goods the lifeblood of the region.
In the early nineteenth century the North West Company chose this spot as the inland headquarters of its vast fur-trading network. Each summer the fort came alive for the great rendezvous, when voyageurs who had paddled from Montreal met the traders who had wintered deep in the interior, and thousands of people gathered to swap furs, supplies, and news. The fort's importance did not last. In 1821 the North West Company merged with its great rival, the Hudson's Bay Company, and trade was redirected toward routes on Hudson Bay. Within a few decades the once-bustling post had lost its purpose, its buildings fell into ruin, and later a railway yard covered much of the original ground.
