Fort Gray on the Niagara Escarpment-- Part 2: British Take Control After the French and Indian War

Hundreds of Seneca Indians carried 100-pound packs up the steep hill on all-fours.  At the top these were loaded on wagons for the next leg of the journey to Fort du Portage on the Niagara River above the falls. From there the cargo was transported to boats for the rest of the journey to the Great Lakes.

The French used the site until 1759 when it was burned and destroyed to keep it from the British in the French and Indian War.

Five years later, the British built eleven new blockhouses along the portage route between the top of the escarpment and Fort Schlosser (former Fort du Portage) after the Devil's Hole Massacre of September 1763.  One of these was the one that replaced the former French blockhouse at the site.

The Seneca Indians were replaced with a mechanized tramway system.

The British held this blockhouse until 1796 when they finally evacuated Fort Niagara.

--Brock-Perry