Red Rock Post

Red Rock Post. . , The first permanent trading post in the area was established by Claude Greysolon in 1678 near the location of the present railway bridge. Some 180 years later, the Hudson's Bay Company built Red Rock Post to keep independent fur traders from heading upstream. Archaeological evidence indicates that this early post may have consisted of three small log cabins. , In the early 1870s, Chief Trader Robert Crawford, believing that Red Rock Post would become the terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway, set about an ambitious building program. By 1872, he had overseen construction of a wharf 350 feet long by 52 feet wide. Soon followed a farm with house, stable and outbuildings, a powder magazine, a men's house, a trade store complex, boat houses, warehouse, machine sheds and a large eight room officer's living quarters. The living quarters were built in a Gothic Revival style with ornate gingerbread designs under the eaves of the high peaked roof, complete with veranda, attached kitchen, summer kitchen and wood shed. , Although Red Rock House did not become the railway terminus, it became increasingly important as a cargo trans-shipment point, with goods shipped by steamboat to be distributed throughout the Lake Nipigon hinterland.