Fort La Reine is near the portage from the Assiniboine north to Lake Manitoba. The elder Verendrye left Fort Maurepas at the mouth of the Red River in September 1738, ascended that river to the present site of Winnipeg, ascended the Assiniboine and on October 3 chose a site for Fort La Reine. Morton[2] thinks the site was about 21 miles east of Portage la Prairie and two miles southeast of Poplar Point. He thinks the fort was moved west to Portage la Prairie the following summer. In 1738 Fort Rouge (fortification) was built at the present site of Winnipeg. Fort La Reine was the base for the elder Verendrye's journey to the Mandans in North Dakota (October 1738 to January 1739). In 1742-43 it was the base for the Verendrye Brothers' journey to the Rocky Mountains. It became increasing clear that neither the Assiniboine nor the Missouri was the route to the west and French attention shifted north to the Saskatchewan River.
The first priest to travel this far west arrived at the fort in 1743. He was a Jesuit named Claude-Godefroy Coquart.
Around 1770, when trade was re-established, Adhemar's Fort and Blondishe's Fort were in the area.
Today there is a museum named after the original fort located in Portage la Prairie, MB. There is a replica of Fort la Reine on the Museum in addition numerous other buildings covering local history from the time of La Vérendrye to current day.
