Fort Rouge (fortification)

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In 1738 Sieur Louis Damours de Louvieres, built Fort Rouge on the Assiniboine River for La Vérendrye. La Vérendrye and his sons, Louis-Joseph and Francois, proceeded further west on the Assiniboine and constructed Fort La Reine. The fort seems to have had a primary purpose as a depot and was abandoned by 1749.

A new commandant of the French western forts, Saint-Pierre, spent the winter of 1752-1753 at the Forks, and likely rebuilt Fort Rouge at its original location. Much research points to this site being on the north bank of the Assiniboine near the forks although some scholars place the original fort on the south bank.

Near this location, trading-posts were built by Bruce and Boyer in 1780 and by Alexander Henry (the younger) in 1803, as well as Fort Gibraltar in 1807.