"This Structure," Says Francis Parkman, "Destined To Be Famous In
Canadian History, Was Originally Built By Samuel De Champlain.
The
cellar still remains under the wooden platform of the present Durham
(now Dufferin) Terrace.
Behind the chateau was the area of the fort,
now an open square. In the most famous epoch of its history, the time
of Frontenac, the chateau was old and dilapidated, and the fort was in
sad condition." "The walls are all down," writes Frontenac in 1681,
"there are neither gates nor guard-houses, the whole place is open."
On this the new Intendant Meules was ordered to report what repairs
were needed. Meanwhile la Barre had come to replace Frontenac, whose
complaints he repeats. He says that the wall is in ruins for a
distance of a hundred and eighty toises. "The workmen ask 6,000
francs to repair it. I could get it done in France for 2,000. The cost
frightens me. I have done nothing." - (La Barre au Ministre, 1682).
Meules, however, received orders to do what was necessary, and, two
years later, he reports that he had rebuilt the wall, repaired the
fort, and erected a building, intended at first for the council,
within the area. This building stood near the entrance of the present
St. Louis street, and was enclosed by an extension of the fort wall.
Denonville next appears on the scene, with his usual disposition to
fault-finding. "The so-called chateau," he says (1685), "is built of
wood, and is dry as a match.
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