Aboriginal History Unit: The Fur Trade
Frog Portage: Heading Them Off at the Portage
Frog Portage is part of an ancient travel route that connected the Churchill and Saskatchewan rivers in what is now eastern Saskatchewan. It acquired strategic significance in the late 1700s and early 1800s when competition between the Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company was so intense. The Dene used to take their furs down the Churchill River to the HBC post at Fort Churchill. However, the NWC trader, Jack Frobisher, built Fort du Traite at Frog Portage in 1774 to intercept this flow of furs. This fort, which might have been the first built on the Churchill, was abandoned in the 1790s, at which time the HBC built a post there.
Archaeological research at Frog Portage has uncovered evidence of camps up to 1000 years old, as well as artifacts from both the fur trade and more contemporary periods. However, the site of Fort du Traite has not yet been found.
New (L) and old (R) trails at Frog Portage (GiMv-3).
For further information contact the Curator of Aboriginal History
Previous Europeans Arrive