Fort Saint Antoine was a seventeenth-century French fort in Wisconsin.

The fort was founded in 1686 by Nicholas Perrot and a group of Canadiens.

Perrot's expedition

In the fall of 1685, Perrot and his men arrived at Mont Trempealeau by canoe. There, Perrot and his men built a protective shelter in preparation for winter. Several weeks earlier they had left La Baye

Green Bay

- Geography :Bodies of water* Green Bay , a bay of Wisconsin known to locals as the Bay of Green Bay* Green Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador, a bay located on the island of NewfoundlandMunicipalities* Green Bay, Wisconsin, United States...

 and crossed Wisconsin

Wisconsin

Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...

 via the Fox

Fox River (Wisconsin)

The Fox River is a river in eastern and central Wisconsin in the United States. Along the banks is a chain of cities, including Oshkosh, Neenah, Menasha, Appleton, Little Chute, Kimberly, Combined Locks, and Kaukauna. Except for Oshkosh, these cities refer to themselves as the Fox Cities...

 and Wisconsin River

Wisconsin River

-External links:* * * , Wisconsin Historical Society* * * *...

s to reach the Mississippi Valley.

The purpose of this expedition was to establish alliances with the Ioway and Dakota

Sioux

The Sioux are Native American and First Nations people in North America. The term can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or any of the nation's many language dialects...

 Indians in order to expand French interests in the fur trade market. Although Perrot's venture was not the first French excursion into the upper Mississippi Valley, his was the first attempt to establish a foothold in this region.

Founding of Fort Saint Antoine

In the spring of 1686 the Trempealeau site was abandoned for a more advantageous location along Lake Pepin

Lake Pepin

Lake Pepin is a naturally occurring lake, and the widest naturally occurring part of the Mississippi River, located approximately 60 miles downstream from Saint Paul, Minnesota. It is a widening of the river on the border between Minnesota and Wisconsin. The formation of the lake was caused by the...

 where Perrot built Fort Saint Antoine. Over the next thirty-five years French economic fortunes in the upper Mississippi Valley waxed and waned. It was not until 1731, and the end of the Fox Indian Wars

Fox Wars

The Fox Wars were two 18th-century wars between the Fox Indians and the French , which occurred in territories that are now the states of Michigan and Wisconsin, U.S.A.. The First Fox War broke out with the French when the Fox numbered some 3,500. After the Second Fox War , the remaining 1,500...

, that the French under the command of René Godefroy, sieur de Linctot

René Godefroy, sieur de Linctot

René Godefroy, Sieur de Linctot de Tonnancour was an early Canadien settler. He was from an early, prominent, French Canadian family.In 1718, a post was founded at Chequamegon by Paul le Gardeur, sieur de St. Pierre, with Godefroy de Linctot second in command. A settlement of Canadien traders was...

returned to Trempealeau and established another trading post.