French Occupation of the Lakes Ontario and Erie Drainage Basins 1650-1760

Abstract

Maps dating to the 17th and 18th centuries and written accounts are used to identiy a number of contemprary posts en route from Montreal to Detroit/Pontchartrain which otherwise recieve little or no mention in the historical record. Archaeological evidence fromt he undocumented mid-18th-century Floating Bridge site, near Kingston, Ontario, is interpreted as a possible trader's post/Metis habitation occupied following the destruction of Fort Frontenac and prior to the post-1763 British occupation of the area. Evidence is presented for its use by civilians, who selected the site primarily for its environment rather than as a point of intersection on well-travelled trade routes. It is suggested that this small fur trade habitation may be representative of other 17th- and 18th-century French Regime posts and hunting cabins on the Great Lakes' frontiers of New France.