Canoe Route to the West
Text from the plaque
Here, when the canoe was the principal means of travel, explorers, voyageurs, missionaries and others bound for the West, left the Ottawa River and followed the Mattawa River to Lake Nipissing, the French River and the upper Great Lakes. For over 200 years the Mattawa River formed part of the route linking the St. Lawrence River settlements with the vast interior of the continent. Among the historic figures who passed here were: Samuel De Champlain, 1615, Jean Nicolet, 1620, fathers Brébeuf, 1626, and Lalemant, 1648, Radisson and Groseilliers, 1685, La Vérendrye, 1731, Sir Alexander Mackenzie, 1794, and David Thompson, 1812.
Transcribed from the marker, not summarised.
Find the place
The District of Nipissing
The Town of Mattawa
On the northwest corner of
Main Street (Road 533) and Mattawan Street
N 46 19.126 W 78 42.391
Recorded November 2009. Check current access before visiting.
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Where it stands
