Fort Edmonton (also named Edmonton House) was the name of a series of trading posts of the Hudson's Bay Company from 1795 to 1891, all of which were located in central Alberta, Canada. Alberta (ælˈbɝtə is one of Canada's prairie provinces. It became a province on September 1 1905 Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page It was also the end point of the Carlton Trail, the main overland route for Metis freighters between the Red River Colony and the west. The Carlton Trail was the primary land transportation route connecting the various parts of the Canadian Northwest for most of the 19th Century The Red River Colony (or Selkirk Settlement) was a colonization project set up by Thomas Douglas 5th Earl of Selkirk in 1811 on 300000 km² of land granted The fifth and final Fort Edmonton was the one that evolved into the current city of Edmonton. Edmonton (ˈɛdmɨntɨn is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta.
Contents |
Fort Edmonton, Mark I (1795–1801)
In the late 18th century, the Hudson's Bay Company was in fierce competition with the North West Company for the trade of animal furs in Rupert's Land. For the grocery chain see The North West Company. The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal Fur. Rupert's Land, also sometimes called "Prince Rupert's Land" was a territory in British North America, consisting of the Hudson Bay drainage basin, that As one company established a fur trading post, the other would counter by building another post in close proximity. Expansion down the Saskatchewan River began in the 1790s. In the summer of 1795, the North West Company constructed Fort Augustus near the present-day city of Fort Saskatchewan by the North Saskatchewan River. The North Saskatchewan River is a Glacier -fed River flowing east from the Canadian Rockies to central Saskatchewan. In the following autumn, Hudson's Bay constructed Edmonton House nearby, where the Sturgeon River meets the North Saskatchewan River. Sturgeon River is a 260 km long river located in central Alberta, Canada. In a possible revelation of the competitive nature of the companies, Fort Augustus and Edmonton House's distance was described as being a "musket-shot" apart[1], yet the proximity also offered mutual security to the European traders of both companies in a land where they were all intruders. [2]
Fort Edmonton was named by William Tomison, the HBC's Inland Master. It is thought that Tomison chose the name in honour of HBC Deputy Governor Sir James Winter Lake's birthplace of Edmonton, Middlesex, England. Edmonton is an area in the east of the London Borough of Enfield, England, United Kingdom with a long history as a settlement distinct from Enfield Middlesex is one of the 39 historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland [3] Tomison used the post as his headquarters until 1799, when he was stabbed in the leg by a native man and had to depart for Europe to recover. [4] The crippling nature of his injury left Tomison unable to serve again.
Fort Edmonton, Mark II (1801–1810)
In 1801, due to several years of declining fur returns and increasingly scarce firewood, it was decided to move Fort Edmonton and Fort Augustus upstream, to what is now the Rossdale area of downtown Edmonton. Rossdale is a river valley neighbourhood in the city of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada located immediately south of the downtown core. This area had been a gathering place for aboriginals in the region for thousands of years. [1]
The first woman of European descent to live in this region was Marie-Anne Gaboury, who was also noteworthy as the grandmother of Louis Riel. Marie-Anne Lagimodière, née Gaboury ( 2 August, 1780 &ndash 14 December, 1875) was a French-Canadian woman noted as both Louis Riel (22 October 1844 &ndash 16 November 1885 in English was a Canadian politician, a founder of the province of Manitoba, and leader of the Métis She had accompanied her fur trader husband, Jean-Baptiste Lagimodière, into the west, and was known to take part in hunting expeditions. Jean-Baptiste Lagimodière ( 25 December 1778 in Chambly Quebec &ndash 7 September 1855) was a French Canadian trapper They lived in Fort Augustus from 1807 to 1811.
John Rowand, chief factor at Fort Edmonton from 1823 to 1854, first worked at Fort Augustus from 1804 to 1806; he was stationed there again from 1808 onward. John Rowand ( c 1787 &ndash 30 May 1854) was a Fur trader for the North West Company and later the Hudson's Bay Company A factor, from the Latin "he who does" (parallel to agent, from Latin agens) is a person who professionally acts as the representative of another individual [5]
Fort Edmonton, Mark III (1810–1812)
Both Fort Augustus and Fort Edmonton moved to the White Earth Creek, near present-day Smoky Lake, Alberta. Smoky Lake is a town in Central Alberta, Canada. It is located north-east of Edmonton at the junction This location was only active for two years for two main reasons: the Cree had been encouraged to visit other posts to avoid violent confrontations with the Blackfoot, yet the Blackfoot refused to travel so far off of their normal circles and consequently took their trade south to Americans.
The two posts shared a palisade from this time forward. palisade is a steel or wooden Fence or wall of variable height usually used as a defensive structure
Fort Edmonton, Mark IV (1813–1830)
Fort Edmonton and Fort Augustus moved back to the second site at the Rossdale flats, it having proven to be a site more amiable for the tribes to visit.
The name Fort Augustus was dropped following the merger of the Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company in 1821. After the amalgamation of the companies (which thereafter used the Hudson's Bay Company name), Fort Edmonton became the headquarters for the Saskatchewan District, which stretched from the Canadian Rocky Mountains in the west to Fort Carlton in the east; from the 49th parallel in the south to Lesser Slave Lake in the north. The District of Saskatchewan was a regional administrative district of Canada 's Northwest Territories. The Canadian Rockies comprise the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains range. Fort Carlton was a Hudson's Bay Company fur trade post from 1810 until 1885. Lesser Slave Lake is a Lake located in central Alberta, Canada, northwest of Edmonton. The former Nor' Wester John Rowand was placed in charge of Edmonton in 1821 as chief trader. In 1823, Rowand was promoted to chief factor. Rowand managed Saskatchewan District from Fort Edmonton until his death in 1854.
Fort Edmonton, Mark V (1830–1915)
Due to floods in the late 1820s, the Fort on the Rossdale flats had to be moved to higher ground. [1] This fifth and final fort was built on the site that is now inhabited by the Alberta Legislature Building. The Alberta Legislature Building is located in Edmonton, Alberta, and serves as the seat of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. [6]
Rowand's administration
At this time, a long-serving member of the HBC, John Edward Harriott, became the chief trader under Rowand. John Edward Harriott (1787 &ndash 7 February 1866) was a fur trader who worked for the Hudson's Bay Company. The two gained family ties when Harriott married one of Rowand's daughters. On a couple of occasions when Rowand joined HBC Inland Governor George Simpson for travel abroad, Harriott acted as chief factor. Sir George Simpson (1787 &ndash 7 September 1860) was a Scots-Quebecer and employee of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC
Rowand's administration from the 1830s onward coincided with a great change in the Saskatchewan District. For the first time, missionaries, artists, and curious travellers came to Edmonton to visit, sometimes for extended periods, which frustrated Rowand to some degree. Prior to this time, the only Europeans to come that far into the west were men on some sort of company business.
With Rowand having made Edmonton his home, the fort became an important centre in the west. It was a necessity for any traveller going any further west of Edmonton to go through there for provisions first. Rowand constructed a three-storey house in the heart of the fort for the exclusive use of he and his family, denoting his station to his subordinates, visitors and trade partners alike.
Influx of missionaries
Two Catholic missionaries, Francois-Norbert Blanchet and Modeste Demers, were the first to visit Fort Edmonton in 1838. [7] Starting in 1840, the Fort housed the Wesleyan missionary Robert Rundle as a company chaplain. A missionary is a member of a Religion who works to convert those who do not share the missionary's faith someone who proselytizes. Robert Terrill Rundle ( June 18, 1811 &ndash February 4, 1896) was a Wesleyan Methodist Missionary from England Rundle's tenure lasted until 1848, and his ministry and missionary work was met with competition of a sort by Jean-Baptiste Thibault, a Catholic priest who, like Rundle, was attempting to evangelize natives in the area. Jean-Baptiste Thibault ( 14 December, 1810 &ndash 4 April, 1879) was a Roman Catholic priest and Missionary noted for his A chapel was erected inside the fort in 1843, which the Reverend Rundle boasted could host "(one) hundred Indians"; the structure also had two small rooms for Rundle's private use. [8] Meanwhile, Rowand complained that the presence of ministers in his fort was a distraction for the natives, and was ostensibly impeding the fur trade business. [9] On a personal level, however, Rowand had taken a liking to Rundle, and entrusted the minister with teaching his children. [10]
In 1852, the Oblate missionary Albert Lacombe first visited Fort Edmonton. An oblate Spheroid is a rotationally symmetric Ellipsoid having a polar axis shorter than the diameter of the equatorial circle whose plane Albert Lacombe ( 28 February, 1827 &ndash 12 December, 1916) commonly known in Alberta simply as Father Lacombe, was a French-Canadian With Rundle having departed in 1848, Lacombe easily took up residence in the former Methodist chapel. Lacombe took pity on the fur trade labourers, opining that, "during the summer months, [Hudson's Bay labourers' toil] was as hard as that of the African slave. ". [11] He found little sympathy for the workers from John Rowand or the HBC clerks. The following year, Lacombe moved to Lac St. Anne, but had a new Catholic chapel constructed in the fort in 1857 (but did not dwell there); this chapel lasted nearly twenty years before being moved outside of the fort. Lac Ste Anne County is a Municipal district in central Alberta, Canada.
A Methodist follow-up to Robert Rundle, Reverend Thomas Woolsey, was dispatched to Edmonton in 1852. His arrival in the fort coincided with Lacombe's residency in the former Methodist chapel, a discovery which distressed Woolsey. Conflicts and private frustrations with Catholic missionaries, and failures to convert Catholics to Protestantism, marked Woolsey's twelve-year residence at the fort.
Oregon Mission
Though somewhat distant from the territory in question, Fort Edmonton was peripherally involved in the Oregon Boundary Dispute. The Oregon boundary dispute (or Oregon question) arose as a result of competing British and American claims to the Pacific Northwest of A pair of British Army Lieutenants, Mervin Vavasour and Henry James Warre, were sent on a mission in the guise of eccentric gentlemen to reconnoitre the west coast and, among other objectives, to determine which HBC posts could be used in a military conflict. Mervin Vavasour ( 1821 - March 27, 1866) was a member of the Royal Engineers. [12][13] Their mission took them through Fort Edmonton in the fall of 1845, and again on their way back to Montreal in 1846. Montreal, or Montréal in French ( pronounced in French, in English) is the largest city in the Canadian province of Quebec As with other posts he visited on his mission, Vavasour drew a plan of Edmonton.
Other notable visitors
The artist Paul Kane first visited the fort in 1845. Paul Kane (September 3 1810 &ndash February 20 1871 was an Irish - Canadian painter famous for his paintings of First Nations peoples in the Canadian He produced several works of art based upon his time there.
Rowand's end
In May 1854, John Rowand died while accompanying the annual York Boat trip eastward. The York boat was an inland boat used by the Hudson's Bay Company to carry furs and trade goods along inland waterways in Canada. Accounts suggest that he tried to break up (or join) a brawl between some of the tripmen while at Fort Pitt, and in his rage he fell suddenly dead. Fort Pitt is a fort built in 1830 by the Hudson's Bay Company was a Trading post on the North Saskatchewan River in Canada. He was initially buried at Fort Pitt, but was later exhumed and buried in Montreal as per his last will and testament. [14]
Remaining Years
Remaining administrators
Following a few short-lived administrations in Rowand's wake, William Christie was a long-lasting chief factor at Edmonton from 1858 to 1872. Christie's protegé Richard Charles Hardisty, later a Canadian Senator, served as chief factor in Edmonton for an interim period from 1862 through 1864. Richard Charles Hardisty (born March 3, 1831 died October 18, 1889) was a politician from Northwest Territories, Canada The Senate of Canada (Le Sénat du Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the sovereign (represented by the governor general
The Hudson's Bay Company relinquished Rupert's Land to the Government of Canada in 1868 with the Rupert's Land Act, thus ending the HBC's administration of the vast territory and beginning an era of settlement in the 1870s. The Canadian Government, formally Her Majesty's Government in Canada, is the Federal government of Canada. The Rupert's Land Act of 1868 was legislation authorizing the transfer of Rupert's Land from the control of the Hudson's Bay Company to the Dominion
By the 1890s, the fort was in disrepair and largely abandoned. The Hudson's Bay Company transitioned to retail stores, and business in Edmonton ran from one of those instead.
Explorers
Captain John Palliser stayed in Fort Edmonton for a time in 1858 while on his famous expedition. John Palliser ( January 29, 1817 &ndash August 18, 1887) was an Irish -born Geographer and explorer. The British North American Exploring Expedition commonly called the Palliser Expedition explored and surveyed the open Prairies and rugged Wilderness With the help of the factor's wife, Palliser held a ball there. A ball is a formal Dance. The word 'ball' is derived from the Latin word "ballare" meaning 'to dance' the term also derived into "bailar" which is the [15]
In 1859, the 9th Earl of Southesk visited on his way to the Rocky Mountains, hoping that the fresh mountain air would improve his health. James Carnegie 9th Earl of Southesk KT ( 16 November 1827 – 21 February 1905) known as Sir James Carnegie 6th Bt, from Mountain peaks of the Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, often called the Rockies, are a Mountain range in western North America. [16]
Under threat of warfare
The spring of 1870 saw Fort Edmonton come under the threat of violence due to a war between the Blackfoot and Cree, resulting from the slaying of Cree Chief Maskipiton. The Blackfoot Confederacy or Niitsítapi (meaning "original people" c The Blackfoot were unable to ford the North Saskatchwan due to the high spring waters, but they encamped across from Fort Edmonton and harassed it with their muskets nonetheless. Some wagons full of goods had to be abandoned by traders in a hurry to reach safety inside of the fort, and their contents were spoiled by the Blackfoot. Though the fort itself was not invaded, the men within were armed and ready to fight. Chief Factor William Christie chose to withstand the Blackfoot and not attack them, fearing that to do so would only invite further violence against the Hudson's Bay Company. [17].
Fifteen years later, on March 19, 1885, during the North West Rebellion, Edmonton's telegraph wire was cut. Events 1279 - A Mongolian victory in the Battle of Yamen ends the Song Dynasty in China. Year 1885 ( MDCCCLXXXV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The North-West Rebellion (or North-West Resistance or the Saskatchewan Rebellion) of 1885 was a brief and unsuccessful uprising by the Métis Fearing imminent attack, some settlers took shelter behind the fort's old wooden palisade. No attack happened. [18]
Dismantling
What remained of the fort was dismantled in 1915. It was seen as a crumbling eyesore next to the Alberta Legislature Building, which had been completed three years earlier. [19] The Government of Alberta indicated at the time that it would use the old fort's timbers to create a heritage site elsewhere in the city, but it never did.
Reconstruction
In 1969, a reconstruction of the fifth Fort Edmonton began five kilometres upstream from its final site, representing it as it stood in 1846, but this time on the south bank of the North Saskatchewan River. Fort Edmonton Park is an attraction in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The kilometre ( American spelling: kilometer) symbol km is a unit of Length in the Metric system, equal to one thousand This marked the beginning of Fort Edmonton Park, which has become one of the city's premiere tourist attractions. Fort Edmonton Park is an attraction in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The park represents, through various historical buildings, four distinct time periods, exploring Edmonton's development from a fur trade post in the vast Northwest, to a booming metropolitan centre after the First World War. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All
Bibliography
- Silversides, Brock (2005). Fort de Prairies: The Story of Fort Edmonton. Surrey, BC: Heritage House Publishing. ISBN 1-894384-98-9.
- Goyette, Linda; Carolina Jakeway Roemmich (2004). Edmonton: In Our Own Words. Edmonton, AB: University of Alberta Press. ISBN 0-88864-449-3.
References
- ^ a b c Fort Edmonton
- ^ Goyette, L. & Roemmich, C. : "Edmonton in Our Own Words", 25. University of Alberta Press, 2005.
- ^ Ancestral Orkney - Find Your Orkney Ancestors
- ^ Real Estate Weekly
- ^ INDIAN TERRITORIES (ALBERTA) 1800 - 1829
- ^ Canadian Parliamentary Review - Article
- ^ Goyette, L. & Roemmich, C. : "Edmonton In Our Own Words", 30. University of Alberta Press, 2005.
- ^ Rundle, R: "The Rundle Journals", 143-44. Ed. Gerald Hutchinson. Glenbow Institute, 1977.
- ^ Goyette, L. & Roemmich, C. : "Edmonton in Our Own Words", 56. University of Alberta Press, 2005.
- ^ Rundle, R: "The Rundle Journals", xliii. Ed. Gerald Hutchinson. Glenbow Institute, 1977
- ^ Goyette, L. & Roemmich, C. : "Edmonton in Our Own Words", 59. University of Alberta Press, 2005.
- ^ ABCBookWorld
- ^ Cover Story - Warre's War
- ^ Goyette, L. & Roemmich, C. : "Edmonton in Our Own Words", 68-69. University of Alberta Press, 2005.
- ^ John Palliser and Henry Hind - The Arctic and More - 19th Century - Pathfinders and Passageways
- ^ Alberta museum lands bulk of rare aboriginal collection
- ^ Goyette, L. & Roemmich, C. : "Edmonton in Our Own Words", 109-112. University of Alberta Press, 2005.
- ^ Goyette, L. & Roemmich, C. : "Edmonton in Our Own Words", 143. University of Alberta Press, 2005.
- ^ Real Estate Weekly
External links
Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic