Note 205 — Chapter XXVI

From Rainy Lake to Lake Superior there were two prominent trade routes—that known as the Grand Portage or Pigeon River route, following the chain of waterways through which now runs the international boundary; and that of the Kaministiquia River, ending at Fort William. The latter path was the earliest used by the French, but later, they found shorter and more available the Grand Portage route which was followed by the early British traders. See descriptions of Alexander Henry the elder, and Mackenzie. About 1802 it was discovered that the depot of the North West Company at the commencement of Grand Portage was upon American soil, whereupon removal to the northern station was begun, and consummated upon the completion of Fort William. The Kaministiquia route had been re-discovered and re-opened by Roderick McKenzie in 1797. His path united with the Grand Portage route at Lac la Croix. Dawson (1857) explored another route into Rainy Lake along the Seine River, corresponding nearly to the present line of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Franchère took the regular Nor’Westers route through Namakam Lake and River, across Lac la Croix, up the Maligne or Sturgeon River, through Lake Windigoostigwan, to Lac des Mille Lacs.

Wild rice (zizania aquatica) is an important staple of Indian food. See Jenks, “Wild Rice Gatherers of the Upper Lakes,” in American Bureau of Ethnology Report, 1897-98.—Ed.