Located on the Assiniboine River where present day Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, stands, the fort served as a fur trading post.

The elder Verendrye left Fort Maurepas at the mouth of the Red River in September 1738, ascended that river to the present site of Winnipeg, ascended the Assiniboine and on October 3 chose a site for Fort La Reine.

Fort La Reine was the base for the elder Verendrye's journey to the Mandans in North Dakota (October 1738 to January 1739).

It became increasing clear that neither the Assiniboine nor the Missouri was the route to the west and French attention shifted north to the Saskatchewan River.

[3] Today there is a museum named after the original fort located in Portage la Prairie, MB.