This map illustrates Thunder Bay's early history as communications link between and East and West. A is the location of Fort Camanistigoyan established in 1679 by Daniel Greysolon Dulhut as headquarters for his explorations westward to the Dakotas in the name of France. A new French fort constructed in 1717 by Zacharie Robutel de la Noue at B became the base for La VÄrendrye's expeditions towards the Rockies in the 1720s and 1730s. Thereafter till the turn of the century, the French and their British successors used the Grand Portage to Pigeon River as their entree to the West, but in 1801 the Montreal-based traders returned to the Kaministikwia. The XY Company built its headquarters at C, while at D the Nor'Westers located their rendezvous point Fort William, from which the municipality later took its name. In 1857, Port Arthur had its beginnings at E as The Landing, the starting point for a projected overland route from Lake Superior to the Red River. In 1860, a new townsite was laid out on the Kaministikwia River at F, a few miles west of Fort William, then a Hudson's Bay post. In 1875 the Town Plot became the starting point for construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway. This area became known as Westfort to distinguish it from the original Fort to the east.
The geographic factors which made the point at which the Kaministikwia River entered Thunder Bay into Canada's major transhipment point can be seen in the inset which shows Thunder Bay's location on Lake Superior at the head of the Great Lakes navigation system half-way across North America. Along the river bed of the Kaministikwia lies the route of fur trade canoes, railways and highways alike.
The name "Thunder Bay" goes back to the French who called the inlet Baie du Tonnerre from the unusually loud storms which reverberate from the promontory guarding the Bay's entrance. "Kaministikwia" comes from Objibwa (minis meaning island) but the precise meaning is not clear.
