God built Lake Superior.
The Nor’Westers built Fort William.
The recipe for the place called for stone, lead, logs, rum, logs, mud, rum, knives, rifles, rum, nails, cannon, shot, rum, pelts, traps, canoes, rum, mud, water, axes, logs, paint, augers, rum, pegs, rum, mud and, of course, plans.
This, however, was merely the crust. The filling consisted numerously of sweepings from the Montreal jails, Frenchmen, Englishmen, Irishmen, Scotchmen; sweepings from the London jails, Swedes, Indians, half-breeds, DeMeurons, voyageurs, bullies; sweepings from the Quebec jails, women, children, boys, girls; sweepings from the New York jails, partners, “rangers of the burnt woods,” coureurs des bois, all shot through with intrigue.
Well baked in summer and frozen in winter, the place presented a sc
