April 17,1840 Queenston Ontario - Fenian rebel Benjamin Lett sets off a Good Friday blast, blowing the top off the Brock Monument. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------ April 17,1754 Pittsburgh Pennsylvania - Claude-Pierre Pecaudy de Contrecoeur 1705-1775 captures an English post at the confluence of the Ohio and Allegheny rivers; builds Fort Duquesne, after ejecting a group of English settlers from Virginia. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------ April 17,1680 Kahnawake, Quebec - Catherine [Kateri] Tekakwitha dies; first native candidate for Sainthood. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------- April 17,1610 England Britain - Henry [Henrik] Hudson d1611 sets sail on the Discovery to look for the North West Passage; he will discover Hudson Bay and die there, cast adrift by mutineers the following June.