Jacques de Noyon
Encyclopedia
Jacques de Noyon was a French Canadian
explorer and coureur des bois
. He is the first known European to visit the Boundary Waters
region west of Lake Superior
.
Jacques de Noyon was born on February 12, 1668, in Trois-Rivières
, New France
. His family moved to Boucherville
not long after.
In 1688, de Noyon and three others traveled from the Montreal
area to Fort Caministigoyan
on Lake Superior
, located at present-day Thunder Bay
, Ontario
. From there they traveled inland up the Kaministiquia River
. His group followed the Indigenous canoe route over the Laurentian Divide
, past the present-day site of Atikokan, Ontario
, through what is now Quetico Provincial Park
and Voyageurs National Park
, Minnesota
. He built a fort, established ties to the local Assiniboine people, and spent the winter on the shore of Rainy Lake
. There is some question as to whether de Noyon in fact made it as far as Lake of the Woods
or not. The following summer de Noyon returned to Lake Superior, perhaps along what is now the United States
-Canada
border and includes Quetico Provincial Park, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness
, La Verendrye Provincial Park
, and Grand Portage National Monument
.
English
-French
animosity prevented Europeans from returning to the area west of Lake Superior for a number of years. In the 1730s La Vérendrye
re-visited this Boundary Waters
region, perhaps with assistance from the knowledge gained by de Noyon's travels over 40 years before. The region would become an important part of the North American Fur Trade
, connecting the Great Lakes
to the far northwestern interior of Manitoba
, Saskatchewan
, and beyond.
Jacques de Noyon continued to travel throughout New France
and New England
as a trader and coureur des bois
. He married Abigail Stebbins in Deerfield
in 1704. He was still there when the French and Indians made the raid. He was brought back to Canada
with his wife. Ruined, he became a soldier in Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit (Detroit), finishing sergeant
. He died on the 12th of May 1745 in Boucherville.
French Canadian
French Canadian or Francophone Canadian, , generally refers to the descendents of French colonists who arrived in New France in the 17th and 18th centuries...
explorer and coureur des bois
Coureur des bois
A coureur des bois or coureur de bois was an independent entrepreneurial French-Canadian woodsman who traveled in New France and the interior of North America. They travelled in the woods to trade various things for fur....
. He is the first known European to visit the Boundary Waters
Boundary Waters
The Boundary Waters — also called the Quetico-Superior country — is a region of wilderness straddling the Canada–United States border between Ontario and Minnesota, in the region just west of Lake Superior. This region is part of the Superior National Forest in northeastern Minnesota, and in Canada...
region west of Lake Superior
Lake Superior
Lake Superior is the largest of the five traditionally-demarcated Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded to the north by the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of Minnesota, and to the south by the U.S. states of Wisconsin and Michigan. It is the largest freshwater lake in the...
.
Jacques de Noyon was born on February 12, 1668, in Trois-Rivières
Trois-Rivières, Quebec
Trois-Rivières is a city in the Mauricie region of Quebec, Canada, located at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence Rivers. It is situated in the Mauricie administrative region, on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River across from the city of Bécancour...
, New France
New France
New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...
. His family moved to Boucherville
Boucherville, Quebec
Boucherville is a city in the Montérégie region in Quebec, Canada. It is a suburb of Montreal on the South shore of the Saint Lawrence River....
not long after.
In 1688, de Noyon and three others traveled from the Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
area to Fort Caministigoyan
Fort Kaministiquia
Fort Camanistigoyan, now standardized as Fort Kaministiquia, located at the mouth of the Kaministiquia River on Lake Superior in what is now northwestern Ontario, Canada, was established in 1717 by Zacharie Robutel de la Noue following the restoration of the system of trading permits by...
on Lake Superior
Lake Superior
Lake Superior is the largest of the five traditionally-demarcated Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded to the north by the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of Minnesota, and to the south by the U.S. states of Wisconsin and Michigan. It is the largest freshwater lake in the...
, located at present-day Thunder Bay
Thunder Bay
-In Canada:Thunder Bay is the name of three places in the province of Ontario, Canada along Lake Superior:*Thunder Bay District, Ontario, a district in Northwestern Ontario*Thunder Bay, a city in Thunder Bay District*Thunder Bay, Unorganized, Ontario...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
. From there they traveled inland up the Kaministiquia River
Kaministiquia River
The Kaministiquia River is a river which empties into western Lake Superior at the city of Thunder Bay, Ontario. Kaministiquia is an Ojibwe word meaning " with islands" due to two large islands at the mouth of the river...
. His group followed the Indigenous canoe route over the Laurentian Divide
Laurentian Divide
The Laurentian Divide or Northern Divide is a continental divide dividing the direction of water flow in eastern and southern Canada and the northern Midwestern United States. Water north of the height of land flows to the Arctic Ocean by rivers to Hudson Bay or directly to the Arctic...
, past the present-day site of Atikokan, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, through what is now Quetico Provincial Park
Quetico Provincial Park
Quetico Provincial Park is a large wilderness park in Northwestern Ontario, Canada, renowned for its excellent canoeing and fishing. This park shares its southern border with Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, which is part of the larger Superior National Forest...
and Voyageurs National Park
Voyageurs National Park
Voyageurs National Park is a United States National Park in northern Minnesota near the town of International Falls. It was established in 1975. The park's name commemorates the voyageurs, French-Canadian fur traders who were the first European settlers to frequently travel through the area...
, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
. He built a fort, established ties to the local Assiniboine people, and spent the winter on the shore of Rainy Lake
Rainy Lake
Rainy Lake is a relatively large freshwater lake that straddles the border between the United States and Canada. The Rainy River issues from the west side of the lake and is harnessed to make hydroelectricity for US and Canadian locations. The U.S...
. There is some question as to whether de Noyon in fact made it as far as Lake of the Woods
Lake of the Woods
Lake of the Woods is a lake occupying parts of the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba and the U.S. state of Minnesota. It separates a small land area of Minnesota from the rest of the United States. The Northwest Angle and the town of Angle Township can only be reached from the rest of...
or not. The following summer de Noyon returned to Lake Superior, perhaps along what is now the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
-Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
border and includes Quetico Provincial Park, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness
Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness
The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness , is a wilderness area within the Superior National Forest in northeastern Minnesota under the administration of the U.S. Forest Service...
, La Verendrye Provincial Park
La Verendrye Provincial Park
La Verendrye Provincial Park is a waterway provincial park located in Ontario, Canada, on the border of Minnesota, USA. The park stretches from Quetico Provincial Park through Lake Saganaga, up the Pine River, across the Height of Land Portage, then down the Pigeon River to Pigeon River Provincial...
, and Grand Portage National Monument
Grand Portage National Monument
Grand Portage National Monument is a United States National Monument located on the north shore of Lake Superior in northeastern Minnesota that preserves a vital center of fur trade activity and Anishinaabeg Ojibwe heritage....
.
English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
-French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
animosity prevented Europeans from returning to the area west of Lake Superior for a number of years. In the 1730s La Vérendrye
Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye
Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye was a French Canadian military officer, fur trader and explorer. In the 1730s he and his four sons opened up the area west of Lake Superior and thus began the process that added Western Canada to the original New France in the Saint Lawrence basin...
re-visited this Boundary Waters
Boundary Waters
The Boundary Waters — also called the Quetico-Superior country — is a region of wilderness straddling the Canada–United States border between Ontario and Minnesota, in the region just west of Lake Superior. This region is part of the Superior National Forest in northeastern Minnesota, and in Canada...
region, perhaps with assistance from the knowledge gained by de Noyon's travels over 40 years before. The region would become an important part of the North American Fur Trade
North American Fur Trade
The North American fur trade was the industry and activities related to the acquisition, exchange, and sale of animal furs in the North American continent. Indigenous peoples of different regions traded among themselves in the Pre-Columbian Era, but Europeans participated in the trade beginning...
, connecting the Great Lakes
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada – United States border. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total surface, coming in second by volume...
to the far northwestern interior of Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
, Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
, and beyond.
Jacques de Noyon continued to travel throughout New France
New France
New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...
and New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
as a trader and coureur des bois
Coureur des bois
A coureur des bois or coureur de bois was an independent entrepreneurial French-Canadian woodsman who traveled in New France and the interior of North America. They travelled in the woods to trade various things for fur....
. He married Abigail Stebbins in Deerfield
Deerfield, Massachusetts
Deerfield is a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 4,750 as of the 2000 census. Deerfield is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area in Western Massachusetts, lying only north of the city of Springfield.Deerfield includes the...
in 1704. He was still there when the French and Indians made the raid. He was brought back to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
with his wife. Ruined, he became a soldier in Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit (Detroit), finishing sergeant
Sergeant
Sergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organizations around the world. Its origins are the Latin serviens, "one who serves", through the French term Sergent....
. He died on the 12th of May 1745 in Boucherville.