Old Fur Trading Post
The establishment of a fur trading post about Sept-Îles’ bay dates back as far as 1661, at a time when North America’s French colony was only at its beginnings.
During its operation by the French, the post saw now notorious historical figures such as François Byssot, famous French businessmen at the time, and Louis Jolliet, who is thought to be the very first European to have discovered the Mississippi, set foot on its ground.
Located on a site that was traditionally a gathering place for the Innu people during the summer, the existing trading post is a partial reconstruction of a post that was managed by both the French and the English.
For the most part of the 19th century, the trading post saw a succession of owners, amongst which the still-existing famous Hudson Bay Company, each leaving behind traces of their passage, unearthed in the span of three major digs, from 1964 to 1966. These excavations allowed the reconstitution of the site and its most important buildings according to the 1786 plans of then-lieutenant governor of Québec Edward Harrison the following years.
Today, the Vieux Poste is an historic interpretation site depicting life on a trading post in the 19th century and emphasising on the meeting of two cultures: the Innu and the EuroCanadian cultures. The site is operated by the North Shore’s Regional Museum.