Grand Portage, a fur-trade depot on the route of the voyageurs, is situated at the western extremity of Lake Superior. It was the first and most strenuous of the 29 portages from Lake Superior to Lac La Croix, requiring that each voyageur carry 4 loads of 80 kg (176 lb.) over some 14 km (8.6 mi.) of rocky trails around the cascades of the Pigeon River. The Pigeon River route had long been used by Indians and was opened to the fur trade by Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de LaVerendrye. The North West Company established an extensive post at the mouth of the river, which by 1784 was the wilderness capital of the fur trade, providing a meeting place for the voyageurs bringing supplies from Montréal ( called the Porkeaters) and the traders bringing furs from the North West (called the Winterers). Within the post, which was protected by a 5 m (16 ft.) high palisade, reinforced with a bastion and a heavy gate, were the Great Hall, living quarters, shops, warehouses and a stone powder magazine. Because the settling of the Canada-US boundary left the post in American territory, the post was abandoned in 1802 and the North West Company activities were relocated to Fort William at the mouth of the Kaministiquia River. This route, which had been travelled by de Noyon in 1688, was more arduous than the Grand Portage, requiring a portage of Kakabeka Falls and a gruelling haul over the height of land to the Savanne River.