The Magazin Royale

The Magazin Royale. A simple structure with a grand name establishes a permanent French presence at the Lower Landing. Louis Thomas de Joncaire, a French soldier captured and adopted by the Seneca until repatriated in 1694, played an important role for the French as an interpreter and trader. Joncaire and his sons are the French men most commonly associated with the Lower Landing, Joncaire began meeting with the Indians to trade and talk during the early 1700s and built a permanent structure at the Lower Landing in 1720. Working quickly, Joncaire and his men "built in haste a kind of cabbin of bark, measuring 30' x 40' and enclosed by a stockade, where they displayed the King's Colors and honored it with the name Magazin Royale." Both the British and the Seneca tried to force the French to leave the area, but Joncaire succeeded in living openly among his Indian neighbors and playing a vital role in maintaining French influence among the Indian nations. Maintaining his primary residence in Montreal, Joncaire periodically visited his trading post at the Lower Landing and used it as a base for Journeys to and from the Seneca., After completing his trading post, Joncaire asked the Iroquois for permission to build a larger post. Originally planned for the Lower Landing, the new post was a fort built at the northernmost terminus of the Niagara River. According to contemporary descriptions, the location commanded the portage and all communication between the lakes, as well as provided a watch over Lake Ontario. Joncaire moved his diplomatic and trade missions to the new fort - Fort Niagara - after its completion in 1729. 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.