Fort Machault
Coordinates: 41°23′10″N 79°49′18″W / 41.386117°N 79.821679°W
Fort Machault was a fort built by the French in 1754 near the confluence of French Creek with the Allegheny River, at present-day Franklin, in northwest Pennsylvania. The fort was part of a line that included Fort Presque Isle, Fort Le Boeuf, and Fort Duquesne.
The fort was built on a hill, 60 yards west of the Allegheny River. The fort was in the form of a parallelogram, about 75 by 105 feet (32 m). The curtain was made of hewed timber, stacked lengthwise. The four corners had bastions in the form of polygons. The bastions were built of saplings, eight inches (203 mm) thick, and 13 feet (4.0 m) in height. The gate fronted the river. Inside the fort were a magazine, several officer's barracks, with two stories and stone chimneys. The soldiers barracks consisted of 45 buildings outside the fort.
One of four forts built by the French and Canadiens, to control the Venango Path between Lake Erie and the Ohio River, Fort Machault was located in modern Franklin, Pennsylvania, at the confluence of French Creek and the Allegheny River. Fort Machault was the last stop on the supply route from Canada to Fort Duquesne. Prior to the arrival of the French in 1753, Pennsylvania blacksmith and Indian trader John Fraser had set up shop on this site, supplying Indians in the region with trade goods and repairing their guns and other metal wares. His business was an example of the western expansion of Pennsylvania's fur trade that prompted the French to fortify the Ohio Country, for fear of losing trade and influence among the Indians there.
...
Wikipedia