By carrying his canoes over the portages, and running the rapids when possible, he came to the head of Rainy River, went back again with his furs, and after several such journeys, came down the Winnipeg River from Lake of the Woods, to Lake Winnipeg, and after a while made a dash across the stormy Lake Winnipeg and came to the Red River.

The places were all unknown, the Indians had never seen a white man in their country, and the French Captain, with his officers, his men and a priest, found their way to the Forks of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers.
This was nearly three-quarters of a century before the first Selkirk Colonists reached Red River.

The French Captain saw only a few Indian teepees at the Forks, and ascended the Assiniboine.

It was a very dry year, and the water in the Assiniboine was so low that it was with difficulty he managed to pull over the St.James rapids, and reached where Portage la Prairie now stands, and sixty miles from the site of Winnipeg claimed the country for his Royal Master.

Here he collected the Indians, made them his friends, and proceeded to build a great fort, and named it after Mary of Poland, the unfortunate Queen of France--"Fort de la Reine," or Queen's Fort.