The
North West Company had a major depot at
Grand Portage to the west of Fort William. After the
American Revolutionary War, Britain finally ceded the area to the United States (US) under the
Jay Treaty of 1796, to settle the northern border. British/Canadian fur traders wanted to create a new center of operations to avoid US taxes, and so the trading post was moved north to what became
Fort William on the Canadian side of the border. Fort William Historical Park is known as a
living history site. Numerous historic buildings have been reconstructed to show the range of the post, and costumed historical interpreters recreate Fort William of the year 1816. Fort William was then not primarily a settlement, but a central transport depot within the now-defunct North West Company's network of fur trade outposts. In 1816, Lord Selkirk took control of the fort and it became a Hudson's Bay Company post in 1821. The fort's original buildings were dismantled in 1902 and a plaque was placed at the site by the Thunder Bay Historical Society. Due to its central role, Fort William was much larger, with more facilities than the average fur trade post. Reflecting this, Fort William Historical Park contains 42 reconstructed buildings, a reconstructed
Ojibwa village, and a small farm. Historical interpreters represent the many roles and cultures involved in the fur trade, including
Scottish fur traders (people of capital), who often took Native American wives and had their families living with them;
French Canadian voyageurs and workers, who also had wives from among the Natives; and
native hunters and trappers. The native people in the Fort William area are predominantly Ojibwa and are represented accordingly among the interpreters. The North West Company's "winter partners", fur traders who lived at the post, in the early years married into the upper classes of the native people, strengthening their alliances. There were thus two tiers of society - the fur traders and chiefs and their daughters, and the workers, who formed liaisons or married native women. The descendants of the latter tended to stay in fur trapping and became the
Métis ethnic group. While also of mixed heritage, children of fur traders and chief's daughters tended to receive thorough English educations (as well as learning Native culture from their mothers' families) and often moved within the upper classes of Canadian society, including being selected for government posts. Fort William Historical Park has a working community of skilled
tradesmen, including a
blacksmith,
tinsmith,
carpenter,
cooper, and
birch bark canoe builder. They all craft products according to traditional early 19th-century methods and tools. Many of their crafts are not widely practised elsewhere. Fort William's canoe builder has built birch bark canoes for other Canadian cultural sites, including the
Canadian Museum of Civilization. Each summer Fort William Historical Park hosts the "Great Rendezvous", a recreation of the annual meeting of company fur traders that took place at this central location. Participants from all over Canada and the United States register to camp for the weekend at Fort William Historical Park and take part in this
historical reenactment. ==Legacy==