Reconstruction
Long after the fort had been abandoned and disappeared, newly discovered historic documents helped people find its location. In 1890 Father Aulneau's letters sent to family in Vendee, France were discovered. They were translated and published in 1893 by A. S. Jones, s.j., archivist of St. Mary’s College in Montreal, as The Aulneau Collection. They contributed to the work of R. G. Thwaites on compilation and publication of the Jesuit Relations, the accounts of missionary Jesuits in New France.
Academics at St. Boniface College in Winnipeg read The Aulneau Collection, which inspired a number of expeditions to discover the old sites. By 1908 the old fort location and probable location of Massacre Island had been established
In 1911 L. A. Prud’homme recounted the conclusions of such expeditions in the Bulletin of the Historical Society of St. Boniface In 1912 a Jesuit team excavated at the site of the fort, where they identified remains as those of La Vérendrye and Aulneau of the 1736 expedition by artifacts, including Aulneau's rosary and the hook to his cassock, buried with him under the altar.
To celebrate the Golden Anniversary of the Catholic Knights of Columbus in Minnesota, they and co-religionists in Manitoba raised funds to buy the property of the fort and reconstruct it, including a shrine to Fr. Aulneau. (This may be a distortion of the history, as the fort was for commercial purposes.) Begun in 1949, they completed the project in 1950. The Fort is situated on Magnussen's Island, at the site of the old fort, at the mouth of Angle Inlet.
Local NW Angle pioneer residents (in particular Norman Carlson and Joe Risser)were instrumental in the reconstruction of Fort St Charles. They provided invaluable machinery and knowledge of the area, and without their assistance the Knights of Columbus would have fallen on hard times in their quest for the restoration.
For more see >Graham A. MacDonald, Review of Robert M. Tegeder, Rediscovery & Restoration Fort St. Charles,
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