Pic River - History

History

Fort Pic was a trading post founded in 1789 by Gabriel Cotté in in partnership with John Grant and Maurice-Régis Blondeau. Its greatest prosperity was in 1799-1815 under Baptiste Perreault, In 1805 there were 16 men, 2 women and 3 children in the fort and 148 Indians in the vicinity. Louis Agassiz visited in 1847. After 1865 only a minimal operation was maintained. It was abandoned in 1914. The site was on the west bank about 150 yards above the river mouth on a flat 16 feet above the normal water level. A lumber camp was built here in 1930. Archaeologists found traces of the fort in 1964. The well, which is still in use, appears to be the original one. There is a government marker.

In later years the Pic was used to transport 8 foot pulp logs to Heron Bay, where they were assembled in booms and towed to Marathon. Marathon Paper operated a pulp mill at Marathon using timber that was driven down the Pic each spring. The Marathon Corporation was purchased by American Can, and in 1982 by the James River Paper Company. The Pic river drive was phased out and trucks were employed in lieu of the water based system that was in place for many years. It is interesting to note that the woodlands that furnished wood for the mill at Marathon were delineated by the Pic watershed. In the early years woodsmen walked from Marathon after their hire, following trails blazed along the Pic river to camps built to provide wood for the mill. Walkers went from the mill to the camps taking mail and gathering statistics on wood cut and hauled by horses to the river. During the early years all wood was 'driven' in the spring, down the Pic and White Otter rivers. In later years roads supplanted the trails, but until 1982 there was a Camp near the White Otter River operated by American Can. Dynamite caches were located at strategic places along the river so that log jams could be cleared.