FORT WILLIAM, the principal town of Thunder Bay district, Ontario,
Canada, 426 m. (by rail) E.S.E. of Winnipeg, on the Kaministiquia river,
about a mile from Lake Superior. It is the lake terminus of the Canadian
Pacific railway, of the new Grand Trunk Pacific railway, and of several
steamship lines. Port Arthur, the terminus of the Canadian Northern
railway, lies 4 m. to the N.E. Fort William contains numerous grain
elevators, railway repair shops and docks, and has a large export trade
in grain and other farm produce. Minerals are also exported from the
mining district, of which it is the centre. Industries, such as saw,
planing and flour mills, have also sprung up. The population was 4800 in
1901, but has since increased with great rapidity.
FORT WILLIAM, a police burgh of Inverness-shire, Scotland. Pop. (1901)
2087. It lies at the north-eastern end of Loch Linnhe, an arm of the
sea, about 62 m. S.S.W. of Inverness by road or canal, and was, in
bygone days, one of the keys of the Highlands. It is 122-1/2 m. N.E. of
Glasgow by the West Highland railway. The fort, at first called
Kilmallie, was built by General Monk in 1655 to hold the Cameron men in
subjection, and was enlarged in 1690 by General Hugh Mackay, who renamed
it after William III., the burgh then being known as Maryburgh in honour
of his queen. Here the perpetrators of the massacre of Glencoe met to
share their plunder. The Jacobites unsuccessfully besieged it in 1715
and 1746. The fort was dismantled in 1860, and demolished in 1890 to
provide room for the railway and the station. Amongst the public
buildings are the Belford hospital, public hall, court house and the
low-level meteorological observatory, constructed in 1891, which was in
connexion with the observatory on the top of Ben Nevis, until the latter
was closed in 1904. Its great industry is distilling, and the
distilleries, about 2 m. N.E., are a familiar feature in the landscape.
Beyond the railway station stands the obelisk to the memory of Ewen
Maclachlan (1775-1822), the Gaelic poet, who was born in the parish.
Fort William is a popular tourist resort and place of call for the
steamers passing through the Caledonian canal. The town is the point
from which the ascent of Ben Nevis--4-1/2 m. E.S.E. as the crow flies--is
commonly made. At Corpach, about 2 m. N., the Caledonian canal begins,
the series of locks between here and Banavie--within little more than a
mile--being known as "Neptune's Staircase." Both the Lochy and the Nevis
enter Loch Linnhe immediately to the north of Fort William. A mile and a
half from the town, on the Lochy, stands the grand old ruin of
Inverlochy Castle, a massive quadrangular pile with a round tower at
each corner, a favourite subject with landscape painters. Close by is
the scene of the battle of the 2nd of February 1645, in which Montrose
completely defeated the earl of Argyll. The modern castle, in the
Scottish Baronial style, 1-1/2 m. to the N.E. of this stronghold and
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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