Jacques de Noyon

Jacques de Noyon
Jacques de Noyon (1668-1745) waymarker on Rainy Lake, Ontario.
Born	February 12th, 1668 Trois-Rivières, New France
Died	May 12th, 1745 Boucherville, New France
Occupation	Explorer, trader, soldier and a coureur des bois
Known for	Being the first European to visit the Boundary Waters region.

Jacques de Noyon (1668 – 1745) was a French Canadian explorer and coureur des bois. He is the first known European to visit the Boundary Waters region west of Lake Superior.

Jacques de Noyon was born on February 12, 1668, in Trois-Rivières, New France. His family moved to Boucherville not long after.

In 1688, de Noyon and three others traveled from the Montreal area to Fort Caministigoyan on Lake Superior, located at present-day Thunder Bay, Ontario. From there they traveled inland up the Kaministiquia River. His group followed the Indigenous canoe route over the Laurentian Divide, past the present-day site of Atikokan, Ontario, through what is now Quetico Provincial Park and Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota. He built a fort, established ties to the local Assiniboine people, and spent the winter on the shore of Rainy Lake. There is some question as to whether de Noyon in fact made it as far as Lake of the Woods or not.

According to the waymarker on Rainy Lake Lookout on the north side of Noden Causeway about 6.5 km east of Fort Frances,

"Jacques de Noyon was the first white man to explore this region. Born in Trois-Rivieres, Noyon worked in the fur trade as a coureur de bois. In 1688 he led an expedition beyond Lake Superior into territory previously unknown to fur traders. He and his men ascended the Kaministiquia River, crossed Dog Lake, and through several portages, reached Rainy Lake. After wintering southwest of here on the Rainy River, they pushed on to Lake of the Woods in 1689. There Assiniboines told Noyon of a route to Lake Winnipeg and the Red River. Noyon's report on his trip was used by La Verendrye when he explored westward to Red River in 1732."