The 'mystery' of the Old Fort at Mulligan's Bay near Chapleau

By Bill McLeod

I am writing to request the assistance of you and your readers for two Chapleau history research projects that I am working on for my next Chapleau book.

The projects are a collaborative effort between myself, Ian Macdonald, Mike McMullen and Mike Morris. Ian has recently retired as Head of the School of Architecture at the University of Manitoba. Mike McMullen and Mike Morris both have deep roots in the Chapleau area and Mulligan’s Bay was likely named after one or more of their ancestors. We all spent some or all of our growing up years in Chapleau and have maintained a keen interest in the community and its history.

Ian is an expert on early railroad architecture and has graciously consented to write a chapter on the architecture of Chapleau with an emphasis on the C.P.R. buildings - including (but not limited to) the station, the roundhouse, the Y.M.C.A. and the older C.P.R. residential duplexes on Monk and Pine Streets.

Ian, the two Mikes and I are collaborating on a piece about the history of the Hudson’s Bay Post(s) in the Chapleau area. We think that there was some sort of a post and small settlement including an Anglican church at what has come to be known as “The Old Fort” at Mulligan’s Bay.

We don’t know for sure when the post was opened or when the Hudson’s Bay Company first traded in the Chapleau area. We also know that the operation that may have been at Mulligan’s Bay was shut down and moved into the town of Chapleau some time around 1885 when the C.P.R. went through. That Chapleau location appears to have been closed about 1899.

The matter of the church is of peripheral interest only in that information about it might help to determine when the post was opened and exactly where it was located.

Unfortunately, the Hudson’s Bay records are sometimes tantalizingly and frustratingly incomplete. One document refers to some sort of a sub post located one mile from Chapleau. Its purpose was to try to prevent the Aboriginals from going into town and doing business with the Hudson’s Bay competitors. The site of this location is not identified in any Hudson’s Bay documents that we have examined. However we are initially hypothesizing that it might have been on the north side of the Back River about a mile east of the Cedar Street Bridge. Another possibility is that a post or sub post may have been located on the north side of the Front River near the present site of the golf course.

It is very important to all of us that this piece be as accurate and as well documented as possible.
We would appreciate any sharing of information, documents, photos or opinions about the topics about which we are researching and writing.
Bill McLeod
15 Eden Point Dr.
SUDBURY, ON
P3E 4V6

Bill's email is wemcleod@sympatico.ca and mine is mj.morris@live.ca

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