“2nd. To repay Count de Frontenac, His Majesty’s Governor and Lieutenant-General in Canada, the expense he incurred for the establishment of said Fort, amounting to the sum of 12,000 to 13,000 livres, as proved by the statements thereof prepared.

“3rd. To make grants of land to all those willing to settle there, in the manner usual in said country; to allow them the trade (la traite) when their settlements will be in the condition required by the Edicts and Regulations of the Sovereign Council of said country. 4th. To grant them land for villages and tillage; to teach them trades, and induce them to lead lives more conformable to ours, as the proposer had begun to do with success, when he commanded there. 5th. To build a Church, when there will be 100 persons; meanwhile, to entertain one or two Recollet Friars, to perform Divine service, and administer the sacraments there. 6th. His Majesty, accepting these proposals, is very humbly supplicated to grant to the proposer letters of noblesse, in consideration of the voyages and discoveries which he made in the country at his expense, during the seven years he continually lived there, the services he rendered in the country, and those he will continue to render; and all the other letters necessary to serve him as titles possessory to said Seigniory.”

In the succeeding year this petition was granted, and a decree to that effect was issued by the King on the 13th May, 1675, and a Patent of Nobility issued to La Salle; and Fort Frontenac, with four leagues of the adjacent country, was created a Seigniory of Canada, and LaSalle its first Seignior.

In the decree making the grant, it is specified that LaSalle shall “induce the Indians to repair thither, give them settlements, and form villages there in society with the French, to whom he shall give part of said land to be cleared, all which shall be cleared and improved within the time and space of twenty years. * * His Majesty wills that appeals from the Judges (to be appointed by La Salle), be to the Lieutenant-General of Quebec.” But, the subsequent chequered career and early death of La Salle, probably prevented the carrying out of these intentions.

When La Salle set out on his western exploring expedition, he “left Sieur de la Forest in charge of the fort.” As before stated, La Salle had many enemies, and among them the Governor, M. de la Barre, “who actually sequestered Fort Frontenac and took possession of it, pretending that La Salle had abandoned it. This was in 1682.”

The history of the French occupation of Cataraqui is marked by occasional visits of the French Governor, and the presence of large and small bodies of armed forces. In 1684 M. de la Barre, the successor of Frontenac, tarried at Cataraqui two weeks with his convoy, which was composed of 130 regular soldiers, 700 armed Canadians, 200 savages, and a mixed body of several hundred from the west. It must have been a picturesque sight, the encampment of this army. The veterans from France in their uniform attire, the Canadians in their various hued garments, and the Algonquins and Ottawas in their wild garb of paint and feathers formed the components of a picture truly striking. A year or two later and De Nonville, another Governor, was likewise found encamped here with an army of 2000. At this time the original fort of wood was at its greatest pitch of renown and glory. Here was kept stored within the palisaded walls, arms, ammunition, and provision, beside furs. It was while enjoying this considerable power that De Nonville committed the act of treachery toward the Ganneyouses and Kentes Indians. But this act was followed by an attack by the Indians, and the fort was in a state of siege for the space of a month; “but was not taken.” Two years later, however, finding it difficult to maintain this out-post so far from Montreal, De Nonville ordered De Valrenne, the commander, to blow up the fort, which was accordingly done, and “three barks on the lake were scattered,” and “property to the extent of 20,000 crowns,” was sacrificed.

The fort thus destroyed was rebuilt by the orders of Frontenac, and in 1695 he sent 700 workmen for the purpose. (For the circumstances and the opposition respecting this, see Introductory.) The fort being completed it was garrisoned with 48 soldiers. “The expense of re-victualling and re-establishing the fort, cost 12,000 livres, or between £600 and £700.”—​(Draper).

Respecting the situation of the fort, a manuscript published in 1838, under the direction of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, says, “it was situated at the bottom of a bay, which a little river flowing into Lake Ontario forms, close to the junction of Lake Ontario and the River St. Lawrence. It consisted of four stone curtains, 120 feet each, defended by four square bastions. The walls were defended by neither ditches nor palisades. There was no terrace to sustain it on the inside. A wooden gallery was built all round for communicating from one bastion to another. The platforms of these bastions were mounted on wooden piles, and the curtains were pierced for loopholes.”

Father Charlevoix, writing in 1720, says of Fort Frontenac, “that it is a square with four bastions built of stone, and the ground it occupies is a quarter of a league in compass; its situation has something very pleasant; the sides of the river present every way a landscape well varied, and it is the same at the entrance of Lake Ontario.”

Fort Frontenac now fully re-established on a stronger basis, continued for many years to be an important post, with respect to trading, and likewise offensive and defensive operations against the Indians, and also the English. Here was deposited vast stores of provision, and materials of a war-like nature for the use of other forts.