 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 Fort Little Niagara  Most citizens of Niagara are fairly well aware of Old Fort Niagara, but most would draw a blank stare if asked about Fort Little Niagara. Some of the first inhabitants of Niagara were the French who were engaged in the business of transportation of goods around the Falls via the Niagara River and portage. Early New France explorer Father Louis Hennepin remarked that a number of French citizens were engaged in trade around the area where the ship, “Griffon,” began its ill fated voyage in the late 1600s. By 1750, the French built Fort Little Niagara on the Niagara River, about a mile and a half above the Falls. About thirty years before, the French officer Louis Thomas Chabert de Joncaire had established a trading post at Lewiston (within Artpark today) and another at a landing above the Falls. Fort Little Niagara (or Fort du Portage) was built to protect the valuable portage that ran between the two points. The fort included about three good sized wooden blockhouses, with palisades and ditches between the buildings and the river. During the siege of Fort Niagara by the British in 1759, the French set fire to Fort Little Niagara to prevent its re-use by the attackers. In 1760, the British built another fort near the same site and named it Fort Schlosser. Douglas Farley, Director Ann Marie Linnabery Erie Canal Discover Center 24 Church St. Lockport NY 14094 716.439.0431 CanalDiscovery@aol.com www.NiagaraHistory.org |
|