Waiting out the Weather:
A Small Site on a Big Lake


M.S. Cooper, E.M. MacDonald and D.A. Robertson
Archaeological Services Inc.
Toronto, Ontario

Abstract:  Not all fur trade posts were large, fortified establishments 
operated by the Hudson's Bay or North West companies.  Recent test 
excavations on Lake Nipissing at the mouth of the La Vase River--a vital 
link in the travel route between MontrČal and the continental interior--have
provided evidence for the presence of a small, independent trader named 
Eustache LaRonde, circa 1800-1820.  Not surprisingly, the site that LaRonde 
chose for his post already had a lengthy history, as indicated by the 
recovery of large quantities of pre-Contact material. This paper will 
describe the occupational sequence of the river mouth by those people 
inhabiting the Lake Nipissing area from circa A.D. 600 to the early 
nineteenth century.