The Magazin Royale

Louis Thomas de Joncaire, a French soldier captured and adopted by the Seneca until repatriated in 1694, became an important French interpreter and trader. He and his sons were the French men most commonly associated with the Lower Landing, where Joncaire began meeting with Indians to trade and talk during the early 1700s and built a permanent structure in 1720. Working quickly, Joncaire and his men built in haste a kind of cabin of bark, measuring 30' x 40' and enclosed by a stockade, where they displayed the King's Colors and gave it the name Magazin Royale. Although both the British and the Seneca tried to force the French to leave the area, Joncaire succeeded in living openly among his Indian neighbors and played a vital role in maintaining French influence among the Indian nations. While keeping his primary residence in Montreal, he periodically visited his trading post at the Lower Landing and used it as a base for journeys to and from the Seneca. After completing this trading post, he asked the Iroquois for permission to build a larger post, and though it was originally planned for the Lower Landing, the new post became a fort at the northernmost terminus of the Niagara River. According to contemporary descriptions, that location commanded the portage and all communication between the lakes and also provided a watch over Lake Ontario. After Fort Niagara was completed in 1729, Joncaire moved his diplomatic and trade missions there. By 1740, the Magazin Royale at the Lower Landing had fallen into disrepair. Joncaire's sons, Phillippe, Thomas, and Daniel, continued as Indian agents at Fort Niagara after their father died on June 29, 1739.

Lewiston, New York · United States