The economy of New France was long based on the fur trade, which provided the colony's chief source of revenue. By 1685 or thereabouts, competition became increasingly fierce with the English who were attracting the Algonquins to their fur trading posts on James Bay. The Algonquins had traditionally dealt with the French. In an attempt to counter the rising competition, the French had set up an initial trading post on Lake Timiskaming in 1679. It was destroyed by the Iroquois in 1688. It was not rebuilt until 1720 at the present site of Fort Témiscamingue and remained in operation until 1902.

The Fort Témiscamingue-Obadjiwan National Historic Site of Canada commemorates the role played by the trading post in the fur trade for close to two centuries. Located at the very site where there had been Aboriginal encampments for over 5 000 years, it emphasizes the decisive role played by the Algonguins in trapping fur-bearing animals for the benefit of a succession of companies that had posts on Obadjiwan Point. Without the extraordinary contribution of the Algonquins, the fur trade would probably have never flourished as it did. Fort Témiscamingue was declared an historic site by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada in 1931.

Photo:
Fort-Témiscamingue with the Saint-Claude Mission on the other side of the lake, 1887. Coll. Robert Bell, LAC/PA-163895.