Search Results for: victoria trail

Bruderheim, AB
Phone number: (780) 796-3357
14 sites, dump station, showers. Recreation – Baseball, motorcross-track

Take a Scenic Drive Through Alberta’s Past In late 1999 directional and interpretive signs were installed along the 58 kilometre length of the historic Victoria Trail, the oldest road in Alberta that is still in regular use. Begun as an Indian trail running along the banks of the North Saskatchewan River, it winds through picturesque farmland from Secondary Highway 38, southeast of Redwater, to the Victoria Settlement Provincial Historic Site in south Smoky Lake County. Click image for video

Eventually becoming the chief overland route linking Fort Garry (Winnipeg) with Fort Edmonton (2nd), the trail was known by various names depending on the stretch being referred to, the “Victoria Trail” being used to describe that portion between Edmonton and Fort Victoria. Further east, it was known as the Fort Pitt or the Fort Carlton Trail, after the next major trading posts along the North Saskatchewan River. It was also summarily identified as the “Winnipeg” or “Saskatchewan” Trail in some early maps and documents, the larger parts of which have disappeared with time, while much of the Victoria Trail has been largely preserved.

The first white man to walk on the ancient Indian paths along the Saskatchewan River was the explorer Anthony Henday in 1754-1755, then he travelled upriver with some Cree associates on a trailblazing mission for the Hudson’s Bay to encourage tribes further west to come and trade at York Factory in Manitoba. Later, Peter Fidler, David Thompson, and Alexander Henry the Younger were among the other well known fur traders who made use of the wandering track that provided a cross-country alternative to paddling against the current or seasonal ice floes of the swift-running Saskatchewan River.

With the establishment of the Methodist Mission at Victoria in 1862 by George McDougall, and the subsequent founding of an adjacent Hudson’s Bay Company outpost two years later, what had long been a track suitable for walking or for pack horses, gradually evolved into a primitive road capable of conveying carts and wagons. Thus, when the North West Mounted Police made their historic trek through Kalyna Country to Fort Edmonton in 1874, they were able to follow – sometimes with great difficulty and genuine hardship – what was essentially a crude road with an already colourful past. A few years earlier the trail had been traversed by engineer Sandford Fleming, who was familiarizing himself with possible routes to be taken by the new Canadian national railway to the Pacific Coast.

With the growth of both Edmonton and the Victoria Settlement traffic naturally increased, especially after east central Alberta was opened up to homesteading in the late 1880’s and 1890’s. With the huge influx of Ukrainians and other immigrants at the turn of the century, the Victoria Trail saw heavy and regular use that resulted in its further evolution into an important rural road. Although it fell out of favour when first railways and then paved highways came, the Victoria Trail continues to be used by local farmers as well as area residents who prefer a more leisurely and scenic trip to their destination.

Now tourists, too, can enjoy its charms by taking the interpretive drive developed by the Kalyna Country Ecomuseum. Along the way you’ll see a host of fascinating reminders of the past, such as the historic Victoria Park Cemetery which was recently restored and reconsecrated on the initiative of the Victoria Home Guard Society. You will also see a monument commemorating the famous 1874 trek of the Mounties.

To learn more about the Victoria Trail, obtain a copy of the self-guided driving tour, which is available at Fort Victoria and select outlets within Kalyna Country.

The Victoria Trail

The Victoria Trial was the name commonly given to the last segment of the Carlton Trail, which stretched west from Fort Garry, at Winnipeg, all the way to Fort Edmonton at the present-day provincial capital. A southern branch of the trail also led from the Victoria Settlement through Lamont County to Fort Saskatchewan, but its traces have been largely erased by more than a century of agricultural development.

The Historic Victoria District

Situated at the very heart of the Kalyna Country Ecomuseum is the historic Victoria District, extending along the north shore of the North Saskatchewan River from Fort White Earth, at the mouth of the White Earth Creek, to the Pine Creek District near the mouth of Waskatenau Creek. The area embraces the Victoria and Lobstick Settlements, as well as Pakan and Fort Victoria, all of which can be accessed by means of the Victoria Trail.

A partial list of the historic resources found in the Victoria District includes the site of Fort White Earth, or Lower Terre Blanche House (1810-1813); the Clerk’s Quarters at Fort Victoria (1862), the oldest building in Alberta still on its original foundation; Pakan Methodist Church (1906); the Free Traders House (c. 1873); the Victoria Mission (1862); and the Pine Creek Post Office (1910). Several early cemeteries and old farm buildings built by Ukrainian pioneers are also found within this important heritage corridor in south Smoky Lake County.

The North West Mounted Police passed through the district on their famed trek west in 1874, and the longest-running and oldest ferry in Kalyna Country operated for eighty years at Pakan between 1892-1972. Earlier, steam paddlewheelers could be seen plying the fast-flowing North Saskatchewan River as they made their way from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan to Edmonton, while the ancestors of today’s inhabitants of the Saddle Lake and Whitefish Lake First Nations Reserves freely roamed the region, hunting, fishing, and trapping.

Fort Victoria, 1864-1873, 1887-1897

The last of the outposts built in Kalyna Country reflects how much the fur trade changed over the course of the nineteenth century. Faced with dwindling stocks, the Hudson’s Bay Company used the effective monopoly that it had gained through amalgamation with the North West Company in 1821 to close redundant posts, reduce the size of its work force, eliminate costly supply routes, curb alcohol abuse and initiate measures that attempted to conserve the fur-bearing resources that were the staple of the trade. Still, with the appearance of a growing number of free traders in the Saskatchewan River country in the second half of the century, the Hudson’s Bay Company was prompted to respond by constructing posts at Turtle Lake and the Victoria Mission (at the same time dropping their conservation policies) in an effort to meet the competition.

Victoria, which was situated on the North Saskatchewan River southeast of the present-day town of Smoky Lake, was a logical place to start a trading post for a variety of reasons. To begin with, it was already the site of a small Methodist Mission, which had been founded in 1862 by George McDougall. The location of the mission was probably chosen not only because of the natural transportation route provided by the North Saskatchewan River, but because it was at the intersection of a trail that led to the previously-established Smoking Lake mission to the north, and a trail to the south running parallel to Egg Creek. More importantly, the site was associated with large, twice-yearly gatherings of Woods and Plains Indians, providing a familiar and easily accessible place to do business.

Construction of a trading post began in 1864, the Clerk’s House being completed by October of the following year. (This house has survived to the present day, and enjoys the distinction of being the oldest building in Alberta still on its original foundation.) A storehouse was added in 1866, and by 1874 at least seven structures formed part of the complex, which by then was also surrounded by a palisade. The post was almost shut down in 1873, then closed between 1883 and 1887, before being reopened as an outpost of Lac La Biche. Upgraded to a post in 1889, with outposts of its own at Saddle and Whitefish Lakes, Victoria was almost closed again just two years later, indicating its tenuous existence. Never a particularly vital or lucrative centre for trade, Victoria Post was finally abandoned for good in the winter of 1897-1898.

Partially restored for interpretive use after archaeological work was initiated in the 1970s, Fort Victoria opened to the public in 1981 as a provincial historic site. It is situated 10 kilometers south of Smoky Lake off Secondary Highway 855, and 6 kilometers east along the Victoria Trail. It is also now possible to reach the post and other landmarks within the historic Victoria Settlement via the scenic Victoria Trail, which can be accessed off Highway 38, southeast of Redwater, 3.2 kilometers from where the Vinca Bridge crosses the North Saskatchewan River.

The Victoria / Pakan Ferry (1863/1875, 1892-1972). The ferry crossing at the Victoria settlement is probably the oldest in Alberta and the longest-running in the Kalyna Country Ecomuseum. By 1863, a scow was being used at the Victoria Mission to shuttle people and goods across the North Saskatchewan River. Although not operated as a full-fledged ferry service, the scow nevertheless represented a distinct improvement over forging the river on foot or horseback. The next reference to a ferry at the Victoria settlement dates from 1875, when Samuel Whitford is said to have established a crossing method that was similarly rudimentary. Apparently his craft had to pushed with some difficultly half a mile upstream after each run, so that it could then be negotiated across the current to the landing on the opposite side. A more sophisticated and permanent service was finally established at the site of Fort Victoria in 1892, when Superintendant A.H. Griesbach of the NWMP approvingly noted that “It is a great convenience to settlers at Victoria and Egg [i.e., Whitford] Lake, and also to the travelling public.” Initiated and run by Louis Thompson for the first thirteen years, Samuel Whitford is identified as the ferryman for 1906, after which there is a seventeen-year gap in the registry of operators. During its final years the ferry service was maintained by three local residents, Metro Krawchuk, Nick Repchuk and George Alexandiruk. In 1962, it was listed as operating between 25 April to 6 November, from 7 am to midnight. It is possible to see two of the former Pakan ferries: one at the Smoky Lake Museum, which was restored in 1999; and the other at the Historical Village and Museum at Shandro, which had been originally built at Pakan.

The Great March West of the North-West Mounted Police

On 23 May 1873, a Federal Act of Parliament established a paramilitary police force for the lands newly-acquired by the young Dominion of Canada from the Hudson’s Bay Company. Modelled after the Royal Irish Constabulary, the force was to maintain law and order in the North-West Territories (present-day Alberta and Saskatchewan), and to assert Canadian sovereignty on the prairies in anticipation of their imminent settlement. Gradually becoming known as the North-West Mounted Police, the force was given “Royal” designation by King Edward VII in 1904, and then in 1919 was merged with the Dominion Police to create today’s internationally reknowned Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). The red tunics now donned only on ceremonial occasions by modern “Mounties”, were originally adopted for the NWMP to easily distinguish them from the US Cavalry, who wore the more traditional police blue.

It was in the fall of 1873 that a hastily-assembled body of some 150 men made their way to the Stone Fort, thirty-two kilometers north of the village of Winnipeg, where they settled in for the winter. Reinforced by a similar number of recruits who arrived the following spring via the United States, the two contingents rendezvoused at Fort Dufferin, on the Red River near the American border (west of the present-day town of Emerson), in preparation for their trailblazing march. Organized into six divisions, or troops, the combined force of 275 men, along with twenty Metis drivers, finally set out for the western prairies on 8 July 1874.

On 1 August, at La Roche Percee, in southeastern Saskwatchewan, 440 kilometers into their journey, ‘A’ Division broke off from the main contingent (which was destined for Fort Whoop-Up and the future Fort Macleod, near Lethbridge), and headed northeast to Fort Ellice to catch the well-established fur traders’ trail to Fort Edmonton. At the time of the divergence, the Division consisted of five commissioned and non-commissioned officers, twenty-two constables and sub-constables, and fourteen Metis hired as assistants — including one who served as the guide. The column also comprised 60 horses, 74 oxen and cattle, 57 ox-carts, 26 wagons, 52 cows, and 45 calves. However, some of the sick men, several of the weaker horses, and the majority of the cows and calves, were later left behind at Fort Ellice along with a substantial quantity of supplies.

By the time ‘A’ Troop headed out on the main cart trail on 18 August, it had been reduced to twenty force members and thirteen Metis. There were 30 horses, 69 oxen, 53 ox-carts, 12 wagons, 15 cows, 14 calves, one bull, and four dogs. The Division subsequently lost other vehicles and animals enroute, so that it slowly shrank in size due to attrition as it moved further west. Reaching Fort Carlton (north of Saskatoon) on 11 September, where everyone rested before being ferried to the north shore of the North Saskatchewan River, the Division then passed south of Fort Pitt before crossing into Alberta.

The following account is based on several diaries that were kept by members of ‘A’ Troop. It vividly describes their often arduous journey through the territory of the Kalyna Country Ecomuseum from the vicinity of Heinsburg in the east, to the mouth of Sturgeon Creek, opposite the City of Fort Saskatchewan.

October 18 – Two miles in the morning. Crossed Mud Creek. One wagon mired so deep it all but disappeared. Eight miles in the afternoon. Three more oxen abandoned, and three wagons far behind. Camped half a mile from Victoria (Hudson’s Bay Company Post).

October 19 – Crossed a hill and camped in front of Victoria. Several wagons did not trail in until 10 p.m. The column was well received by the trader in charge of the post, which consisted of a small palisaded enclosure on the north bank of the Saskatchewan. Here also was a Methodist Mission founded by the Rev. George McDougall, who had moved westward to the Upper Bow River some time before. A small village of log houses occupied by Scotch and English half-breeds [sic] — buffalo hunters and freighters – lay nearby. A welcome halt was made. A number of Cree Indians had come in to trade, one of whom bore a name worthy of historical record: “Sky-Blue-Horn-Sitting-Down-Turning-Round-On-A-Chair”. Inspector Jarvis arranged with a trader to have a settler care for all the cows and calves and eleven oxen for the winter, at $15 each for the oxen and cows and $10 each for calves. Several wagons and a quantity of flour were also left behind. Though the remainder of the animals were virtually living skeletons, there was no alternative but to press foward with them. Harmony and good spirits prevailed among the men.

1.  The reconstructed diary entries are excerpted from Turner, Peter John. The North-West Mounted Police, 1873-1893. Ottawa: Edmond Cloutier, King’s Printer and Controller of Stationary, 1950, pp. 176-178.
2.  The reference is to White Earth Creek, some eleven kilometers downriver from the Victoria Settlement. A trading post – Fort White Earth, also known as Lower Terre Blanche and Fort White Earth — operated near the mouth of White Earth Creek from 1810-1813.
3.  Inspector William Drummond Jarvis, who commanded ‘A’ Division, was a former soldier and surveyor who enlisted in the force in 1873.

Researched and written by Jars Balan for the Kalyna Country Ecomuseum

Catch a glimpse of an exciting period of Alberta’s past through exhibits, trails, and a variety of activities provided by costumed interpreters.

Addresses:
Location: 58161 – Range Road 171A
N54* 00.199  W112* 24.168 318,
Smoky Lake, AB Canada T0A 3A4
Mailing address: 8820 -112 St Edmonton, AB T6G 2P8
Directions: 10 km South of Smoky Lake on Hwy. 855 and 5km east on historic Victoria Trail
Fax Number: (780) 656-2333  Other: (780) 472-5598
Phone Number: (780) 656-2333
Website: http://history.alberta.ca/victoria/
Email: victoriasettlement@gov.ab.ca   or Suzanna.wagner@gov.ab.ca

Step inside the 1864 Clerk’s Quarters or the 1906 Methodist Church to discover how the history of the site is made up of the stories of the different people woven together in time. The lives of the missionaries, fur traders, Mixed blood settlers, Metis and Eastern European settlers were all connected yet quite different. The creation, growth and eventual decline of this community tells the story of many of Alberta’s earliest communities. Catch a glimpse of a exciting period of Alberta’s past through exhibits, interpretive trail and audio visual production. Interpretive tours and activities provided by costumed interpreters. Drop in visitors and pre-booked tour groups are welcome.

Hours: May 15 through Labour Day (1st Monday in September)
10:00 AM. – 5:00 PM Daily. (closed Wednesdays)

SELF-GUIDED Wednesdays

Admission: Adults $5.00 Seniors $4.00 Youth (7 to 17 years) $2.00

Children 6 and under Free
Family $14.00 (Two adults and their children aged 7 to 17 years)

Food Services: snack foods

Gift Shop: books primarily

Group Access: loop driveway for buses

Handicap Access: Yes – some areas are limited

EVENTS:

Frontier Christmas: July 22, 2018 1:00 -4:00pm

Christmas was celebrated very differently in the 1860’s long before the days of malls, automobiles and internet shopping. Join us and have fun trying some of the activities, treats and crafts of Christmases past remembered fondly in the writings of the McDougall children and others.

Great Alberta Potato Derby: August 19, 2018  11:00am

Join us for a full afternoon of zany potato fun for all ages. This celebration of the potato’s key role in the survival of this community in its early days starts event starts at 11 am with a church service which is followed by derby events starting at 12:30, Enjoy a free baked potato, win prizes and race your “spudcar” on Alberta’s first potato racing track.

Kalyna Country…Awesome Trails!

Explore Over 1000 kms of trails throughout Kalyna Country in North East Central Alberta! Enjoy hiking, biking, equestrian, ATV & snowmobile trails across Kalyna Country.

Alberta’s Iron Horse Trail

This Trail is also officially a part of the Trans Canada Trail. This uninterrupted corridor of abandoned CN Rail Line weaves its way for 260 km and has been transformed into a multi-use recreational resource. All types of trail users are welcome to access this route. Along the trail you will experience views of the North Saskatchewan River, boreal forest, parkland, wetlands, grasslands, agricultural landscapes and historical attractions.

The Trail has three branches with Mile 0 being Abilene Junction, south of Ashmont. The western branch starts in Waskatenau, the eastern branch starts in Heinsburg, and the northern branch heads to Cold Lake. By exploring the trail you are witnessing scenery that is only seen by landowners or that would have only been seen long, long ago when passenger trains chugged along the tracks. Trailheads are located in all communities along the trail. Most have picnic, washroom facilities. ATV’s and snowmobiles are very popular along this trail.

The Trail is a fitting monument to the legacy of the railroads and an amenity that will be enjoyed by many generations to come. In Kalyna Country the trail passes through more than 12 communities where you can find camping, hotels, shopping, dining and unique attractions that will complete your adventure. For locations see our Kalyna map. Information on our communities, attractions and businesses are located throughout the Kalyna Country website.

For more details about the Iron Horse Trial please visit their website at http://www.ironhorsetrail.ca/

National & Provincial Parks

Elk Island National Park – 100 km

Offers 100 km in its 11 hiking trails ranging in difficulty from a leisurely stroll to a full day hike over rolling hills, through marshy forests and around many small lakes. Several of the trails, ranging in distance from 3 to 18 km, provide lookout points and rest areas equipped with vault toilets. Encountering a herd of wild buffalo or elk on your hike is not uncommon here. (780) 992-2950

Cooking Lake/Blackfoot Provincial Recreation Area – 170 + km

Has 4 staging areas that act as trailheads for the 170 + km of total trail network of hiking, cycling, equestrian and cross-country skiing. Cycling is permitted on all of the 85 km of hiking trails, but is not allowed on the equestrian trails. The main Waskahegan Staging Area is located 45 km East of Edmonton on Hwy 16, south on R.R. 210 just past Twp. Rd. 524. (780) 922-3293

Provincial Parks – 100 + km

Hike, bike or cross-country ski on:
– 20 km of aspen parkland trails through Vermilion Provincial Park just off Hwy 16 & 41.
– 26 km at Long Lake Provincial Park north of Waskatenau.
– 20 km at Miquelon Lake Provincial Park south of Tofield.
– 35 km at Whitney Lakes Provincial Park east of Elk Point. Along the trails you will see a combination of pine, spruce, aspen and kalyna (highbush cranberries). Here the Whitney Lake Trails connect to the Iron Horse Trail, for even more that you can explore in this area.
Northeast Alberta – Pilot Trail Mapping Project
Download brochure/map under the Resource box or brochure/map can be picked up at the SRD Information Center in the bottom of the Great West Life Building (9920 – 108 Street, Edmonton or 310-0000), from Local SRD offices in the region, Visitor Information Centers throughout the province and through Alberta Trail Net (11759 Groat Road, Edmonton or 1.877.987-2457).

Other Recreation Areas

Alberta’s Waskahegan Trail – 235 km

The Waskahegan Trail is a 235 km long volunteer managed trail allowing day hiking, snow-shoeing and cross-country skiing. The trail begins in Edmonton and goes south to the Wetaskiwin area, then east to Camrose. North through Miquelon Lake Provincial Park area to Cooking Lake – Blackfoot Recreation Area & Elk Island National Park, then west to Fort Saskatchewan. A large portion of the trail crosses private property so we recommend contacting Waskahegan Trail Association for complete details before using this trail. For more information visit www.waskahegantrail.ca.

Strathcona Wilderness Centre – 12 km

Located 16 km east of Sherwood Park on R.R. 212 and Baseline Road. It is situated on 550 acres of wilderness with 12 km of trails for hiking & x-country skiing with Lodge & Visitor’s Centre.

Heritage Parkway Trail System – 50 km

Enjoy over 50 km of paved trails located in and around Sherwood Park.
(780) 467-2211

Turner Park – Riverside Trail System – 25 km

Located in Fort Saskatchewan & is part of a paved 25 km community linked trail system designed for year round activities. (780) 992-6231

Silverberry Recreational Area – 2000 + Acres

This 2000 acre area is popular for horseback riding with numerous equestrian trails and some hiking trails on its sandy soils. You can access the main staging area from Hwy41 south of Elk Point, head west on Twp. Rd. 550 12 km, turn south on R.R. 80. From Hwy 45 near Derwent only 4.5 km north to main staging area. Signs are posted on both highways.

Redwater Sandhills Natural Area

The Sandhills Area boasts one of the largest sand dune fields in the region, and can be found in the northeast section of Sturgeon County near the North Saskatchewan River. Its rolling sand hills are ideally suited for recreational vehicle day use, and the area contains numerous natural trails and habitat indicative of the region. It is used extensively by OHV riders, but is also environmentally significant and used for both conservation and recreation purposes.

To arrive at this area: Take the Manning Freeway or Highway 21 to Fort Saskatchewan. Continue east on Hwy 15 to the junction of Hwy 830. Turn left (north) on Hwy 830 to Hwy 38. Turn left on Hwy 38, cross the Vinca Bridge and continue west until you see the sign for Victoria Trail. Turn right onto Victoria Trail and follow the road for approx. 2 miles (3.2 km) to Range Road 205. Turn left onto RR 205 and head north approx. 3 mi (5 km) to the staging area.

There are also a number of other trails in parks and natural areas in towns & counties throughout the region.

The first Methodist missionary to work among Ukrainians was the Rev. Dr. Charles H. Lawford (1862–1952). Although he originally planned to serve as a medical missionary in China, in 1900 Lawford decided instead to settle at Pakan, seventy-five miles northeast of Edmonton on the north shore of the North Saskatchewan River. There, he provided both medical care and pastoral services to the Ukrainians and the Cree Indians who were living in the vicinity of the former Hudson’s Bay Company Post at Fort Victoria. At the time of his arrival, there were no resident Ukrainian priests among the mostly Bukovynian homesteaders who had recently settled in what is today southern Smoky Lake County. Interestingly, Dr. Lawford did not see himself as proselytizing among the Ukrainians, but claimed to be motivated chiefly by a desire help them in their pioneering struggles and “to bring to them a fuller knowledge of the will and love of God.” Certainly, he did not hesitate to assist Pakan area Ukrainian settlers in their church-building efforts, in his patient log noting that on one day alone he helped two nearby congregations file for permits from the government:

Case 10: A trustee of the Greek Church 10 miles east, for me to write regarding logs they wish the government to give them for their church.

Case 12: A trustee of another Greek Church, to have me write a list of men and the number of logs they were contributing to their church, and write regarding the grant of land they desire.

According to Rev. Dr. Lawford, Orthodox Ukrainians seemed better-versed in the Bible than typical Roman Catholics, but nevertheless were “very lax” when it came to such important matters as dancing and drinking, which they sometimes even indulged in on the Sabbath. Curing the Ukrainians of these “vices” was to be one of the duties of the missionaries charged with the task of inculcating Protestant values and virtues. It proved to be a daunting task, as cultural differences and language barriers were not easily surmounted.

On 20 June 1904, Lawford and his sister Kate were joined at Pakan by Miss Reta Edmonds and Miss Jessie Munro of the Womens’ Missionary Society of the Methodist Church of Canada. After resting a few days, the women made their way with Lawford and a student minister named Frank Bushfield, to Wahstao, on the Victoria Trail east of White Earth Creek.

There, they selected a forty-acre site for the first Rural Home School to be founded among Ukrainians in east central Alberta. While the women lived in a tent at Pakan, construction of a wooden residence began at Wahstao on 10 August 1904 following the arrival of Dr. T.C. Buchanan of the Board of Home Missions. Miss Edmonds and Miss Munro subsequently relocated to the new home on 7 October even before the plaster had set, using one room as a Sunday school that in the beginning attracted three boys and one girl, but soon was filled to capacity.

In 1905, a third teacher, Miss Edith Weekes, was dispatched to the Wahstao Home School. A graduate of Victoria College at the University of Toronto, she quickly acquired a basic grasp of Ukrainian and threw herself into the task of compiling a Ukrainian-English grammar for use in the classroom. She also began teaching the children to sing hymns, accompanying them on an organ and encouraging them to share the beautiful folk songs that they knew in their native language. The Wahstao Home School eventually operated until June 1934, when the residence (which had been replaced by a much larger structure during the tenure of W.H. Pike in 1916) was dismantled and later used to construct a home in the railway town of Vilna.

At the same time, the Reverend Dr. Lawford continued to travel among the scattered homesteads by horse and buggy providing medical assistance and holding religious services with the aid of interpreters. Once, when the translation seemed particularly unsatisfactory to Dr. Lawford, he gamely decided to use his own, rather rudimentary Ukrainian. The story he wanted to relate was of Christ healing a man who had to be lowered on his bed through the roof of a home that had been surrounded by crowds eager to see Jesus perform miracles (St. Luke, 5:18-26). However, in Lawford’s Ukrainian telling, lizhka (i.e., “bed”) mistakenly became confused with lozhka, or “spoon”, provoking convulsive laughter among the immigrant farmers in his audience.

Undaunted by these and other challenges that he faced in the conduct of his unique ministry (such as the fact that he had an artificial leg), in 1906 Lawford finally succeeded in building a Methodist Church at Pakan. And there, the following year, he officially opened the George MacDougall Hospital, a much-needed facility in the growing Ukrainian colony. Then in 1908, another Methodist Home and School Mission was opened by the talented Miss Weekes upstream on the White Earth Creek, at a place poetically named “Kolokreeka”, north of the present-day town of Smoky Lake.

Meanwhile, a second doctor affiliated with the Methodist church joined Dr. Lawford in providing medical care to the Ukrainians pioneers of Alberta. Dr. Albert Earnest Archer (1878-1949) initially settled in the Star area in 1903, the year after he graduated from the University of Toronto. In 1906, Dr. Archer and his wife moved their home on skids to the newly established rail town of Lamont, where he immediately spearheaded a fundraising campaign to construct a local Methodist Church.

 #1 As cited in “Recollections about Dr. Charles W. Lawford,” www.smokylake.com. and “The Rev. Dr. Charles H. Lawford,” The Mission, July 2007, p  5. Nevertheless, as noted in the latter source, “Charles was also instrumental in building the Pakan Ukrainian Methodist Church in Pakan in 1906.”

#2  The Mission, p. 12. The log was for 2 February 1905. On the same day Lawford also provided advice to an “Austrian settler” on how to form a school district, performed two tooth extractions, treated a Métis with middle ear problems, wrote several letters on behalf of local Ukrainian homesteaders, and leant a horse to a resident whose team had gotten away on him. His “practice” area covered some 1200 square miles, from beyond Radway to Saddle Lake and St. Paul crossing north of the river, and south to Soda Lake in the vicinity of present-day Willingdon.

 #3 Olender, “Methodist,” pp. 89-90.

#4  Pike, W.H. “The Flame”. Unpublished memoir of missionary work among Ukrainians, September 1966, pp. 4-5.

 #5 Pike, p. 6. Also see the account in Olender, “The Reaction of the Canadian Methodist Church….” Ibid, pp. 104-109. 

#6  Pike, p. 14. Although Dr. Lawford worked among Ukrainians, he did not make much of an effort to learn their language.

#7  Olender, “Methodist,” p. 90; Pikes, p. 14. The hospital was named in honour of the first Methodist missionary to work in Alberta. It was moved into the town of Smoky Lake in 1922.

#8  Pike, pp. 7-9. Kolokreeka School operated until 1932. In 1938 part of its property was sold as United Church cemetery. “Kolokreeka” is a hybrid combining the Ukrainian word “kolo,” meaning “beside” or “by,” with the English word “creek”. 

Researched and written by Jars Balan for the Kalyna Country Ecomuseum

Former Forts and Trading Posts within the Kalyna Country Ecomuseum

An especially important part of Kalyna Country’s heritage are the former fur trading posts that once used to operate along the North Saskatchewan River between Heinsburg and Fort Saskatchewan.

In all, the remnants of six outposts can be found in Kalyna Country dating from the times of the fur trade. The first of these, Fort George-Buckingham House, east of Elk Point, flourished from 1792 to 1802, while the last, Fort Victoria, was founded in 1864, and finally closed in 1897. Both of these have been developed as provincial historic sites for tourists to enjoy while visiting east central Alberta. Whereas a million-dollar interpretive centre at the location of the former documents the life of the early fur traders, the latter offers a more inter-active experience featuring costumed interpreters and the oldest building in Alberta still standing on its original foundation. Neither is to be missed by anyone wanting to learn more about the pivotal role played by the Kalyna Country region in the formative years of the province and the city of Edmonton.

The fur trade expanded into in Alberta in the wake of the trail that was originally blazed by the inland migration of the Woodland Cree and the first Europeans to explore what eventually became the westernmost province on the Canadian prairies. The North Saskatchewan River formed the historic “highway” that was followed by hardy adventurers looking for economic opportunities as well as an overland route to the Pacific Ocean when the vast interior of North American continent was still a great unknown. Initially, pelts harvested on the territory of Alberta were taken to posts further east, and then transported via Hudson’s Bay or the Great Lakes to markets in Western Europe and the burgeoning urban centres of the New World. However, the demand for furs was so great that trading companies were soon compelled to move their collection points further west so as to be closer to their source in the wilderness. In this way, a succession of forts came to be built along the course of the North Saskatchewan River by the various companies that were engaged in the fierce competition for trading partners and territorial supremacy, chiefly the Hudson’s Bay and North West Companies.

Whereas the Cree and Assiniboine (Stoney) Indians supplied the forts of Kalyna Country with furs taken from the lands immediately alongside and to the north of the North Saskatchewan, the Blackfoot, Gros Ventres, Sarcee and the distant Peigans brought business to the posts from the south. And since Woodland Indians generally did not get along with their more aggressive counterparts from the Plains and Foothills, it was necessary for the fur traders to try to keep their customers apart so as to avoid the battles that frequently resulted when young braves from rival bands encountered each other in their relentless pursuit of game. At the same time, the trading posts were themselves vulnerable to assaults by occasionally hostile Natives, as happened in 1793 and 1794 when the Gros Ventres Indians attacked four posts in the Saskatchewan district, burning one of them to the ground.

To protect the traders, the posts were typically encircled by high palisades that were reinforced by corner bastions and other defensive structures. All of the forts in Kalyna Country were also erected on the north side of the Saskatchewan River, so as to make it more difficult for the Plains Indians to launch a direct attack by forcing them to first cross the water. Notwithstanding the sometimes uneasy relationship between the Europeans and their Aboriginal trading partners, none of the posts in east central Alberta ever had its defenses tested by an onslaught.

Fort George – Buckingham House, 1792-1802

Fort George was established in 1792 by the North West Company after the furs had been depleted around the first Fort d’Isle on the North Saskatchewan River in eastern Saskatchewan. It was constructed by James Hughes for Angus Shaw with the help of some sixty men – most of them Canadiens from Quebec, many with Indian wives — on the northern banks of the river, 13 kilometers (8 miles) southeast of the modern-day town of Elk Point. The site may have been chosen because it was at the terminus of a Native trail leading from a smaller post that had been previously founded by Shaw at Moose Lake, further north. Fort George eventually consisted of a complex of buildings that included a Main House, store, various living quarters for company employees, a blacksmith’s shop and warehouses, all of which were protected by a palisade.

Not be outdone by their bitter rivals, the Hudson’s Bay Company began work on a fort 1/4 mile west of Fort George on 13 October 1792. Named Buckingham House, the trading post was built by thirty-eight men under the supervision of William Tomison, who like all but four of his labourers came from the Orkney Islands of Scotland. Two days after Tomison reached the site where Fort George was already being erected, he was joined by the English-born surveyor, Peter Fidler (1769-1822). Within three weeks, the Hudson’s Bay men were able to put up a roof on the Main House, which measured 19.2 m by 7.9 m (63’ by 26’). The construction of Buckingham House was undertaken in three phases between the fall of 1792 and April 1794, the completed ensemble of structures being comprised of the factor’s “big house” as well as blacksmith, carpenter, tailor shops and enclosures for horses. A stockade made of 3.6 m (12’) high logs enclosed the trading post, which covered an area measuring 57.9 by 42.6 meters (190’ x 140’).

By the spring of 1795, Fort George had largely outlived its purpose because the countryside around it was considered to be “entirely ruined.” According to the company clerk at the time, Duncan McGillivray,“The natives have already killed all the Beavers, to such a distance that they lose much time in coming to the House, during the Hunting Season.” When the famed mapmaker, David Thompson (1770-1857) arrived at Fort George in the winter of 1799 with his young wife, Charlotte Small, he “found it totally without Doors, or windows, all the Planks, Doors, Flooring, &c &c carried away and 2 of the Beams cut out of the Great House.” The house was then repaired with materials provided by J.P. Pruden, who was in charge of neighbouring Buckingham House during its last years of operation. Henceforth, Fort George served primarily as a provisioning centre for trading posts further upriver, acquiring buffalo meat and hides that Natives harvested from the still plentiful herds in the south. The fort is thought to have been totally abandoned by 1801, and by 1808 Alexander Henry the Younger reported: “Passed the ruins of old Fort George, only the chimneys of which are now to be seen.” It is possible that a grass fire was responsible for eventually destroying the structures of the outpost, leaving only cellar depressions, collapsed stoneworks and faint traces of old pathways as evidence of its existence.

Buckingham House, which never was as large as Fort George, experienced a similar pattern of growth and decline. Peter Fidler used it as a base for his famous survey expedition to southern Alberta in the winter of 1792-1793, when he spent time with the Peigan Indians south of modern-day Calgary and became the first European to meet the Kootenay and other tribes. After returning in March 1793, he went up the North Saskatchewan to look for a site for the first Fort Edmonton. Fidler subsequently spent a year serving as the factor at Fort Buckingham, where in 1797 he had “2 fine large Batteaux” built by Nicholas Spense that were 30 feet long. Later known as York boats, these sturdy freighters were the first river boats to ply the Saskatchewan system. Temporarily abandoned in 1799, Buckingham House was finally closed in 1802, though it may have been used sporadically by passing traders and travellers for several years afterward.

In 1965 archaelogical excavations were begun at the site of Fort George-Buckingham House, where an interpretive centre with a breathtaking view of the North Saskatchwan River valley was officially opened by the Province of Alberta in 1992.

Fort Augustus I – Fort Edmonton I, 1795-1801 (Riverlot 2-55-22 W4)

In the spring of 1795, the North West Company bourgeois at Fort George, Angus Shaw, resolved to construct a trading post further upriver during the course of the summer since local supplies of furs were noticeably dwindling. Builder James Hughes was subsequently instructed to go 12-14 days march westward to a spot called the Forks, a little more than a mile above the mouth of the Sturgeon River, on the opposite shore and to the north of the modern-day City of Fort Saskatchewan. (In the late winter of 1754, Anthony Henday, the first white man to see Alberta, had spent seven weeks in the same vicinity waiting for the ice to break so that he could continue his explorations by canoe.) The area around the site was said to have such abundant game, that women and children were able to kill beavers and otters with sticks and hatchets. This move was stealthily undertaken, so as to give the Nor’Westers a head start on penetrating the frontier further inland.

When William Tomison learned of this development upon his return to Buckingham House in the fall of 1795, he immediately responded by founding a trading post “within a musket shot” of where the “Canadians” (i.e., fur traders from Quebec) had launched their new enterprise. Whereas the North West post was named Fort Augustus – possibly after the Highland town near Loch Ness, in Scotland – the Hudson’s Bay Company adopted the name Edmonton House, or Fort Edmonton. It is believed that the latter was chosen to honour Sir James Winterlake, Deputy Governor of the HBC, who resided in Edmonton, near London. This first location of what subsequently evolved into the City of Edmonton was approximately 32 kilometers (20 miles) northeast of the legislative grounds in today’s provincial capital. Until the construction of Rocky Mountain House and Acton House in 1799, Forts Augustus I and Edmonton House I were the westernmost outposts of the fur trade, and a full 1,500 miles further inland than any posts in the frontier of Midwestern America.

Although it was hoped that the Blackfoot and other tribes living in the southwestern prairies and foothills would frequent Edmonton House and Fort Augustus, and that the Cree and Assiniboine would primarily patronise Fort George or Buckingham House, both trading centres were eventually utilized by Indians from each side of the North Saskatchewan. And while relationships were sometimes uneasy between and among the fur traders and their Native suppliers, on the whole business was conducted with minimal conflict. One tense moment occurred in the fall of 1795 when 400 Gros Ventres appeared at the still-unprotected trading posts and encamped themselves on the opposite shore of the river. However, the situation was defused when a North West Company official shrewdly agreed to do business with them despite their recent history of violence in Saskatchewan – in the process outmaneouvering the Hudson’s Bay Company representative. Still, in the fall of 1798 William Tomison of the HBC suffered a serious stab wound through his left knee when he refused to provide goods to two foul-tempered members of the same tribe who had no furs to offer in exchange but demanded satisfaction.

Around 1799, the upstart XY Company (a break-away faction of the NWC that rejoined the company in 1804) also began operating a post near the Sturgeon River confluence under the leadership Pierre Rochesblave, the son of the Governor of Illinois. In 1800, David Thompson spent part of the summer at Fort Augustus, and recorded its location on his map. By then, the surrounding countryside was not only being rapidly exhausted of its furs, but firewood was also becoming hard to find within easy proximity to the forts. Consequently, the officials in charge of Fort Augustus and Edmonton House began investigating other sites that offered more favourable conditions for the continued conduct of trade.

James Bird (ca. 1773-1856) was in charge of Edmonton House in 1799 when he initated the HBC’s establishment of a new fort 200 miles upriver toward the Rocky Mountains. He also oversaw the 1801 relocation of the Sturgeon River post to a site near the centre of today’s provincial capital at the EPCOR Power Plant east of the 105 Street bridge – where James Hughes simultaneously moved Fort Augustus for the NWC. When Alexander Henry the Younger crossed the Sturgeon River in October 1809 while travelling overland from Fort Vermilion to the second Fort Augustus, he referred to seeing “old Fort Augustus”, which had already begun to recede into memory. David Thompson also reported seeing the structures of the abandoned fort in July of the same year, but when he again came across it on 22 June 1810, all that was left were ruins. Apparently, the abandoned posts had been picked over and then burned by Blackfoot Indians sometime in this interval.

Fort de l’Isle II or Fort Island, 1799-1801

With Fort George-Buckingham House having already gone into decline within a few years of their establishment, sites suitable for new trading posts were increasingly sought further up the North Saskatchewan River. In 1799 the X.Y. Company under the leadership of Alexander Mackenzie (a nephew of the knighted partner in the NWC with the same name) began operating a post on an island twenty miles west of Fort George – now situated immediately east of the bridge that was later built across the river on Secondary Highway 881 north of the Village of Myrnam. The island’s existence had first been noted by David Thompson during his early surveying trips on behalf of the Hudson’s Bay Company, and again in his 1800 journals when he referred to it as the “Island of Scotland.” This small body of land in the middle of the fast-flowing Saskatchewan was obviously regarded as a location that could be secured with relative ease from an attack by any hostile Natives.

Soonafter, Francois Decoigne began building a fort on the island for the North West Company, while Henry Hallett did the same for the Hudson’s Bay Company. The three posts shared the descriptive name which had originally been used for another Fort Island (James Finlay’s Fort de l’Isle I) that had been previously established downriver near Manchester House in Saskatchewan. Although the second Fort de l’Isle only lasted three years, it earned the dubious distinction of being associated with the first recorded murder committed in the future province of Alberta. This occurred early in 1801, when an X.Y. Company clerk named La Mothe (also spelled Lamotte) killed a NWC employee, James King, when both men were working at Fort Island. The tragedy unfolded at a site that was a two days’ trek by dog sled from the island, where King and La Mothe had travelled along with their interpreters to trade at an encampment of Indians. Enroute the two men even shared a tent to help ward off the chill of the bitterly cold nights, and had agreed that each would spend a night with the band with whom his company had already established credit, before collecting the pelts that were owing to them in the morning.

However, an argument erupted while the two men were loading their sleds, with King accusing La Mothe of stealing some of the packs that had been obtained in barter with the Natives. As King’s temper flared, he reached to take one of the packs from the sled being tied down by La Mothe, who impulsively responded by fatally shooting his competitor with a pistol. Shocked by what he had done, La Mothe put King’s body on his sled and brought it back to Fort de l’Isle, where the NWC bourgeois, John Mcdonald, had the victim buried “with military honours.” Although the X.Y. Company subsequently sought to pursue the matter in court in Montreal, the fact that the killing had taken place in wilderness where legal jurisdiction was not clearly defined resulted in La Mothe eventually being acquitted after a trial. Described as being from a respectable family, the killer of James King was allowed to live in Montreal without further consequence. Nevertheless, this unfortunate event had the positive effect of getting the Imperial Government to pass the Canada Jurisdiction Act which ensured that any future criminal offenses committed in Indian territories could be tried in Lower Canada. The murder also resulted in the first five Justices of the Peace being appointed in 1803 for the territories of the Canadian interior: William and Duncan McGillivray, Sir Alexander Mackenzie, Roderick MacKenzie and John Ogilvy.

Meanwhile, by 1801 Fort de l’Isle had outlived its utility and was duly abandoned, though the posts probably saw occasional use by travellers for several years following. The second Fort Island was then succeeded by Fort Vermilion II, which was founded downriver circa 1802, east of Fort George and opposite the mouth of the Vermilion River, north of the modern-day community of Marwayne. In 1808, David Thompson mentioned passing by the “Old Island Fort”, which was still listed in the books of the Hudson’s Bay Company. The location was last utilized as a coralling place for horses (to safeguard them from theft by Natives) in 1810, as reported by Alexander Henry the Younger from Fort Vermilion II shortly before its demise. An historical cairn was put up at the site of the post on the northwest side of the island around 1960, marking the barely visible archaeological remains of the short-lived fort with a tragic past.

Lower Terre Blanche House-Fort White Earth-Edmonton House III, 1810-1813 (S. 35-58-16 W4)

In 1810 it was decided by James Hughes at Fort Augustus II (today’s Edmonton) and Alexander Henry at Fort Vermilion II to consolidate North West Company operations at a new post which they had built at a mid-point on the Saskatchewan River near the mouth of White Earth Creek, southeast of the modern-day town of Smoky Lake. They were immediately joined in this decision by their counterparts with the Hudson’s Bay Company, enabling both trading posts to be enclosed within a single stockade. The amalgamation was partly intended as a cost-saving measure, and partly to draw all of the Blackfoot to a single location that could be more effectively defended in case of trouble.

Alexander Henry’s Journal provides a detailed description of the construction of the NWC establishment, from the harvesting of the logs and their preparation as planks, to the mudding of the chimneys and walls of the bark-roofed structures. The completed post contained an Indian hall and a storehouse that measured 21.3 m by 6 m (70’ x 20’) and was two storeys high, residential quarters for the company Master and NWC employees, a blacksmith’s shop, and several outbuildings. The HBC undoubtedly erected a similar complex of buildings on their part of the palisaded property, which boasted defensive bastions in the southwest and northeast corners.

David Thompson, who on a visit to the area on 1 April 1800 had noted that “White Mud brook” was 6 yards (5.4 m) wide and without water, stopped by at the site again on 23 June 1810, when “White Mud Brook House” was still in the process of being constructed. Alexander Henry the Younger provides a particularly revealing glimpse of circumstances at the outpost that he had helped to build in the following passage from his journal entry for 17 May 1811: “On approaching Lower Terre Blanche I found that spring was not nearly so far advanced as at Fort Augustus; the hills were still destitute of verdure, and in many places snow lay on the banks, although exposed to the sun on the N. Side. But this place is at the northernmost bend of the Saskatchewan, and on this river a few miles N. or S. make a very material alteration in the face of the country, especially in depth of snow. The piles of ice are immense here on both sides, forming a wall nearly as high as at the Rocky Mountain house when I left that place. At 8.30 we sighted the S.W. bastion of our fort, and at the same time saw the chimney of my two-story house. The current very soon drove us opposite, but the ice prevented our landing until we drifted down to where one of the H.B. Co. boats was lying. I fetched up, but the velocity of the current drove my boat heavily against that of the H.B. Co., thus starting one of the planks of the latter, and she came near sinking with some horses that were on board to be conveyed across the river across the river. Having grappled fast to her, we landed among huge cakes of ice.

Our people were briskly renewing their canoes for the outgoing, and had nearly finished 14; others were making packs. But the incessant rain has set them back, and no gardening has been done this spring. They have suffered much with hunger, having been reduced to eat meat without an ounce of grease. I found a number of Strong Wood Crees who had been starving for some time, and were thinking of decamping; nothing but hunger could drive them away from our establishments.”

Obviously, the conduct of the fur trade was accompanied by many hardships and characterized by great fluctuations in the fortunes of outposts. Fort White Earth and Edmonton House III were vacated by both the NWC and the HBC in April 1813 because they were no longer regarded as being conveniently located. At this time, the two companies again re-established themselves at the site of the second Fort Augustus and Edmonton House, namely, at the location that subsequently developed into the City of Edmonton. There, conditions proved much more advantageous for the long-term conduct of trade throughout central and northern Alberta.

Dog Rump Creek House, 1817-1822

Only sketchy information exists about Dog Rump Creek House below the mouth of Atimoswe Creek, 6.4 kilometers (4 miles) south of the modern-day town of Elk Point, where both the North West and Hudson’s Bay Company established trading posts in the fall of 1817. The latter abandoned their house the following spring, then reopened it again for a time in the fall under William Taylor because the NWC was continuing to operate from the site. Nevertheless, the HBC soonafter shut down their post a second time, only to return to the location in 1821, the year that the Company was merged with their longtime rivals, the Nor’Westers. The HBC used the buildings as a supply depot for their outpost on Moose Lake to the north, with William Taylor once more briefly taking charge of the operation before being succeeded later that fall by Patrick Small. At the time, Dog Rump Creek House had a staff of twenty-five men, though by October of 1822 it was considered redundant and closed for a final time. Shortly afterward some Assiniboines burned down some of the buildings forming the complex, but others were left standing at what remained an occasional campsite. Thus, Edward Ermatringer, in his journal entry for 4 September 1827 was still able to report, “Started about 4 o’clock and took breakfast at 10 at the Old Fort below the Dog Rump Creek.” Indeed, as late as 1830 enough structures were still intact for John Rowand, while travelling to Edmonton, to instruct a brigade of his men to dismantle the remaining buildings and stockheads at Dog Rump and to raft them downriver for use in the construction of Fort Pitt.

Fort Victoria, 1864-1873, 1887-1897 

The last of the outposts built in Kalyna Country reflects how much the fur trade changed over the course of the nineteenth century. Faced with dwindling stocks, the Hudson’s Bay Company used the effective monopoly that it had gained through amalgamation with the North West Company in 1821 to close redundant posts, reduce the size of its work force, eliminate costly supply routes, curb alcohol abuse and initiate measures that attempted to conserve the fur-bearing resources that were the staple of the trade. Still, with the appearance of a growing number of free traders in the Saskatchewan River country in the second half of the century, the Hudson’s Bay Company was prompted to respond by constructing posts at Turtle Lake and the Victoria Mission (at the same time dropping their conservation policies) in an effort to meet the competition.

Victoria, which was situated on the North Saskatchewan River southeast of the present-day town of Smoky Lake, was a logical place to start a trading post for a variety of reasons. To begin with, it was already the site of a small Methodist Mission, which had been founded in 1862 by George McDougall. The location of the mission was probably chosen not only because of the natural transportation route provided by the North Saskatchewan River, but because it was at the intersection of a trail that led to the previously-established Smoking Lake mission to the north, and a trail to the south running parallel to Egg Creek. More importantly, the site was associated with large, twice-yearly gatherings of Woods and Plains Indians, providing a familiar and easily accessible place to do business.

Construction of a trading post began in 1864, the Clerk’s House being completed by October of the following year. (This house has survived to the present day, and enjoys the distinction of being the oldest building in Alberta still on its original foundation.) A storehouse was added in 1866, and by 1874 at least seven structures formed part of the complex, which by then was also surrounded by a palisade. The post was almost shut down in 1873, then closed between 1883 and 1887, before being reopened as an outpost of Lac La Biche. Upgraded to a post in 1889, with outposts of its own at Saddle and Whitefish Lakes, Victoria was almost closed again just two years later, indicating its tenuous existence. Never a particularly vital or lucrative centre for trade, Victoria Post was finally abandoned for good in the winter of 1897-1898.

Partially restored for interpretive use after archaeological work was initiated in the 1970s, Fort Victoria opened to the public in 1981 as a provincial historic site. It is situated 10 kilometers south of Smoky Lake off Secondary Highway 855, and 6 kilometers east along the Victoria Trail. It is also now possible to reach the post and other landmarks within the historic Victoria Settlement via the scenic Victoria Trail, which can be accessed off Highway 38, southeast of Redwater, 3.2 kilometers from where the Vinca Bridge crosses the North Saskatchewan River.

SOURCES

Unpublished materials

Porter, Philip. Information provided in a letter to Buster and Eva Axley of Myrnam on Fort De L’Isle by Philip Porter of Dewberry, Alberta, dated 22 July 1991.

Smythe, Terry. “Thematic Study of the Fur Trade in the Canadian West: 1670-1870.” A Preliminary Report prepared for the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, Ottawa, 1968.

Voorhis, Ernest A.M. (comp.). “Historic Forts and Trading Posts of the French regime and of the English Fur Trading Companies,” prepared for the Department of the Interior, Ottawa, 1930.

Publications

Coues, Elliot (ed.). The Manuscript Journals of Alexander Henry and of David Thompson, 1799-181. Volumes I and II. Mineapolis, MN: Ross & Haines Inc., 1965. Originally printed in 1897.

Forsman, Michael R.A. The Archaeology of Victoria Post, 1864-1897. Edmonton: Alberta Culture, Archaeological Survey of Alberta Manuscript Series No. 6, 1985.

Fryer, Harold. Stops of Interest in Central and Northern Alberta.Surrey (BC): Heritage House, c. 1982. Pp. 62.

“How Smoky Lake Got its Name” and Early  Beginning,” in the local Smoky Lake history, pp. xxii and 1-2.

Losey, Timothy et. al. Archaeological Investigations: Fort Victoria, 1974. Edmonton: Alberta Culture, Historic Sites Servic, Occasional Paper No. 2, 1977.

MacDonald, George Heath. Edmonton: Fort-House-Factory. Edmonton: Douglas Printing Co. & McDermid Studios Ltd., 1959.

MacGregor, J.G. “Dog Rump House”, submitted by Dr. MacGregor to a local history (needs to be identified).

MacGregor, J.G. Edmonton: A History. Edmonton: Hurtig Publishers, Second Edition, 1975.

Melnycky, Peter. A Veritable Canaan: Alberta’s Victoria Settlement. Edmonton: Friends of Fort Victoria Historical Society, 1997.

Paziuk, Russ. “Fort De L’Isle”, in Dreams Become Realities: A History of Lafond and Surrounding Area. Co-op Press Ltd. For ____, 1981, pp. 89-90.

Victoria Settlement. [Edmonton]: Alberta Culture, n.d. Interpretive pamphlet.

Researched and written by Jars Balan for the Kalyna Country Ecomuseum

The Town of Bruderheim – 100 Years Young!

Situated northeast of Fort Saskatchewan, 47 kms from Edmonton, the town of Bruderheim is this year celebrating its centennial. Originally known as Bruederheim, or ‘Home of the Brethren,’ the district was heavily settled in 1894 by Moravian German immigrants from the Ukrainian province of Volhynia, then part of Tsarist Russia. The earliest religious services in the community were held in the log cabin of the colony’s founder, Reverend Andreas Lilge, who was responsible for convincing both his poor countrymen to come to Canada and for securing critical financial support for their fledgling settlement. A restless and determined leader, Rev. Lilge and some of his followers soon after joined the Lutheran Church, while others remained loyal to the Moravian Church. Consequently, both Moravian and Lutheran sanctuaries were erected to provide for the spiritual needs of the German-speaking settlers from Russian Ukraine.

The hamlet of Bruderheim traces its beginnings to a pioneering Scotsman and rancher named William Leslie. In 1892 he took out a homestead at the present town site, also operating a store from his cabin on the Victoria Trail. To better serve the needs of the burgeoning population of the district, in 1904 he built a two storey structure that housed a general store on the main floor and his residence above. Tragically, this store was  destroyed by a fire that also killed Mr. Leslie in January 1905. Nevertheless, the completion of the Canadian Northern Railway line through the Leslie homestead later that same year prompted other businesses and services to locate themselves nearby, including a post office, bank and a growing number of commercial enterprises. In 1907 Walker School was founded in the rapidly developing trade centre, and helped to educate four generations of area residents before being converted in 1980 for use as a meeting place and a tourist information bureau.

On 29 May 1908 the Lieutenant-Governor of Alberta issued a proclamation granting Breuderheim village status, inaugurating its municipal existence. Interestingly, even though documents indicate that the first ‘e’ began to be dropped from the way Bruderheim was written as early as 1911 and became a common practise by the late 1920s, it was only in 1952 that the village legally changed the spelling of its name.

The discovery of oil in the countryside surrounding Bruderheim in the 1950s greatly boosted the local economy and the size of the village. A volunteer fire department was formed, a curling rink built, and new homes sprang up on the town-site. As time went by more services were added to meet growing demand.

Rail traffic increased and regular bus service was initiated, better connecting Bruderheim with the wider world. One hundred years later, some of the proud descendants of the village founders still live among the hard-working residents of the modern-day town and on the farms in outlying districts.

Bruderheim now boasts nearly fifty businesses, several of which are home-based operations. There are two service stations, conveniently located on Highway 45, which runs parallel to Main Street. There is also a hardware store, a popular restaurant, a grocery store, hotel, liquor outlet, real estate agency and a bank. There are facilities for the use of non-profit organizations such as the active boys and girls club, library, elementary school, as well as a sports arena and a beautiful Memorial Centre for special events. There is also a senior centre and an attractive seniors apartment building. The two churches that began it all continue to border the downtown – the Moravian Church to the east, and Bethlehem Lutheran Church to the west. Each welcome visitors at any time.

Much pride taken in keeping our downtown vibrant and inviting, businesses are decorated in style, and numerous flower planters keep Main Street looking fresh through the summer. Queen’s Park provides a soothing place to sit and relax, while west of the downtown core is the Victoria Trail Recreation Park, suitable for hosting a variety of sporting events. Adjacent to it there is an R.V. Park and campground.

Close by Bruderheim is a scenic Natural Area, situated just north of the town site. Running directly through town is historic Beaverhill Creek, beautifully adorned with shrubs and wild flowers. If you have children, we have very clean and well-maintained playgrounds for all ages.

Bruderheim is served by Hwy’s 45 & 15, giving easy access to Edmonton (30 minutes away) and to neighbouring towns. Of course, we are ideally situated for anyone working in the Industrial Heartland, and offer well planned subdivisions with attractive homes suitable to any family. The town is committed to promoting planned growth into the future, and to creating a desirable place to live for everyone from young families to retirees.

Come join us! Help us celebrate our 100^th anniversary August 29 – 31 long weekend. Bring your family, friends, and anyone born between 1908 and 2008! When you take part in our centennial celebrations, be sure to check out our subdivisions and see our new homes. Then think about the great lifestyle that could easily be yours, with all of the amenities of city living in a down home country setting. Thats why we call it Bruderheim, Home of the Brethren – an urban oasis in the Capital City Region’s bustling Industrial Heartland.

By Audrey Rinas with Jars Balan

Situated east of Edmonton with the North Saskatchewan River basin is the world’s second largest Ecomuseum and Alberta’s most celebrated cultural landscape. Known as “Kalyna Country” literally, the land of the high bush cranberry this unique heritage conservation area encompasses a picturesque territory that is four times the size of Prince Edward Island.

It is a region steeped in the provinces’ native history, a place where aboriginal tribes roamed for millennia and where today their proud descendants can still be found at Saddle Lake, Goodfish Lake and Frog Lake First Nations Reserves. Names of great chiefs like Onchiminahos and Poundmaker are woven into the very fabric of the land, which is dotted with ancient campsites, former battlefields and hallowed burial grounds. Of special significance are the famed “ribstones” near Viking, where native hunters would go to seek divine guidance and to pay tribute to their quarry, the mighty buffalo.

Europeans first entered Alberta’s western plains through the North Saskatchewan valley in the mid-18^th century. Beginning with Anthony Henday in 1754-1755, renowned explores like Peter Pond, Peter Fiddler, David Thompson and other mapped the unfamiliar wilderness and forged early commercial links with central Canada and the outside world. With the help of Cree guides and the hardy Scots, French and the Métis adventurers, the Hudson Bay and Northwest Companies established a succession of six trading posts form Fort George – Buckingham House east of Elk Point to the original Edmonton House-Fort Augustus, opposite present day Fort Saskatchewan. A witness to this period in Kalyna Country history was the talented artist Paul Kane who left a visual and written record of his 1846-1847 travels between Fort Pitt and Fort Edmonton, on horseback, by river and on foot.

A short time later, the Victoria Settlement was founded along the banks of the North Saskatchewan, signaling the beginning of the agricultural development of east central Alberta. Missionaries arrived to serve these early settlers and to evangelize the local Native population, now comprised of Plains and Woodland Cree who had migrated with the fur trade westward form Hudson’s Bay. Among the dedicated men of the cloth who brought Christianity to the changing wilderness were a Frenchman, Father Albert Lacombe, A Scot George McDougall and an Ojibway, Henry Bird Steinhauer.

Of course, as the settlement of the Canadian West proceeded, it became necessary to establish law and order on the untamed frontier. Thus in 1874, members of the Company of the newly formed North West Mounted Police crossed the length of Kalyna Country on the way to their first posting at Fort Edmonton. One of the leaders of this ‘trek west” was arguably the greatest mountie in the force’s history, the legendary Sam Steele. Who later became a military commander and was knighted for his many accomplishments. Another similarly honoured early visitor to east central Alberta was Sir Sandford Fleming, who oversaw the surveying of the Canadian prairies and thought the first intercontinental railway should be built through the very heart of Kalyna Country.

As the nineteenth century drew to a close, the region was transformed by a massive influx of homesteaders. These included central Canadians, Americans and farmers from the British Isles, but by far the largest group came form the former Austro-Hungarian crown lands of Galicia and Bukovyna, which are today part of Ukraine, Poland and Romania. Ukrainians in particular were drawn to the free lands outside of Edmonton, and by the outbreak of the Great War they had helped to make Kalyna Country the largest agricultural colony to be established by East European immigrants in Western Canada. Furthermore, it wasn’t just Ukrainians, Poles and Romanians who settled in the vicinity of Alberta’s future provincial capital, but Moravians, Mennonites, Germans and Jews also came to the region from the predominantly Slavic part of Europe. With the arrival of the Scandinavians, Slovaks, additional French settlers and even some Japanese, who founded a small community west of Redwater, Kalyna Country acquired the distinctive multicultural character that still flavours many of its communities to this day. One obvious reminder of the unique traditions brought by the early immigrants are the onion-shaped silhouettes of the Eastern Rite churches, over 100 of which were built by Ukrainian pioneers on the territory of the Ecomuseum alone. An excellent place to begin exploring this rich spiritual legacy is the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village on Highway 16, or the nearby Basilian Fathers Museum in Mundare.

Initially crisscrossed by a network of Indian trails the meandering path eventually gave way to rough-hewn tracks, and still later to today’s modern, paved highways. However, one can still experience the leisurely atmosphere of travel in bygone times on the historic Victoria Trail, the oldest functioning road in Alberta.

Naturally, the coming of the railroad in 1905 heralded the beginning of an exciting new era in the history of east central Alberta, marked by the appearance of boomtowns that sprang up along the tracks like mushroom after a nurturing rain. The trains not only carried grain and local products to distant markets, they brought urban culture and distinguished visitors to the countryside, including Kings, Queens and Hetmans and several prominent church leaders. Sadly, this chapter of Kalyna Country’s past in now coming to an end, as trucking has become the primary means of commercial transport. Nevertheless, seizing on the opportunity presented by the dismantling of abandoned railway line, Kalyna Country communities form Heinsburg to Waskatenau created the multi-use Iron Horse Trail, an all-season recreational resource that welcomes outdoor enthusiasts to the region who are keen to take in some country air.

Similarly, while seventeen ferry crossings once linked neighbouring communities on opposite sides of the North Saskatchewan River, these have now been replaces by a series of bridges spanning the majestic river valley at strategic intervals throughout the Ecomuseum. Still, if you are interested in taking a route once plied by York boats and steamships, you can always come by canoe or now hire a jet-boat to whisk you across the shimmering waters of the North Saskatchewan.

Today, it is easier than ever to enjoy the beauty of the landscape and the rich culture inheritance of east central Alberta. With more than 40 local museums, over 600 km of multi-use trails, year-round festivals and special events, there are many things to see and do, whether on a day-trip, weekend getaway or a fun-filled family vacation.

Written by Jars Balan

Our historian and one of our proud founders of Kalyna Country 1992.

Situated northeast of Fort Saskatchewan, 47 kms from Edmonton, the town Bruderheim is this year celebrating its centennial. Initially known as Bruederheim, or ‘Home of the Brethren,’ the district was heavily settled in 1894 by Moravian German immigrants from the Ukrainian province of Volhynia, then part of Tsarist Russia. The earliest religious services in the community were held in the log cabin of the colony’s founder, Reverend Andreas Lilge, who was responsible for convincing both his poor countrymen to come to Canada and for securing critical financial assistance for their fledgling settlement. A restless and determined leader, Rev. Lilge subsequently joined the Lutheran Church, and although some of his fellow colonists followed him in this move, others remained loyal to the Moravian Church. Consequently, both Moravian and Lutheran churches were erected to provide for the spiritual needs of the German-speaking settlers, who by 1896 had also organized the first local school district.

The hamlet of Bruderheim traces its origins to the efforts of a Scotsman and rancher named William Leslie, who in 1892 had taken a homestead at the present town site, also operating a store from his cabin on the Victoria Trail. Recognizing that the new immigrants from Russian Ukraine required services, in 1904 he built a new two storey structure that housed a general store on the main floor and his residence above. Although destroyed by a fire in January 1905 in which Leslie himself tragically perished, the completion of the Canadian Northern Railway line through the district later that same year helped to stimulate the establishment of other businesses and services in close proximity to the tracks, including a post office, bank and a growing number of commercial enterprises. In 1907 Walker School was founded in the rapidly developing trade centre. Expanded and rebuilt a number of times over the years, when it was finally closed in 1980 Walker School was converted for use as a meeting place and a tourist information bureau.

On 29 May 1908 the Lieutenant-Governor issued a proclamation granting Breuderheim village status. Although documents indicate that the spelling Bruderheim began to be used as early as 1911,

The 1950’s saw the discovery of oil in the countryside surrounding Bruderheim, which greatly boosted the local economy. The surge of prosperity gave employment to many, and increased the village population. A volunteer fire department was formed, a curling rink built, and new homes expanded the town-site. As time went by, more services were required and then built.

The spelling of Bruederheim officially changed to BRUDERHEIM, and declared a ‘Town’. We saw rail traffic increased and bus service added, connecting us more with the outside world. One hundred years later, here we are, the same type of diligent workers, some of which are descendants of the original immigrants from 1908. Some are still working to keep this area prosperous with their dedication to the area; many still farming the nearby areas.

Bruderheim now boasts near fifty businesses, some of which are home businesses. The smartly kept downtown core hosts two service stations, located for convenience on the highway running through Town. There is also – a hardware store, a popular restaurant, a grocery store, a hotel, a liquor outlet, a real estate agency, a bank. There are buildings for use to non profit organizations, such as – the active boys and girls club, hair care, library, the elementary school, a sports arena, a beautiful Memorial Centre for special events, a senior center, a lovely seniors apartment building, and the Town office. The two churches that began it all border the East and West sides of down town. They are the Moravian Church, and Bethlehem Lutheran Church, each will welcome you at any time.

There is much pride taken in our downtown, area keeping it attractive to all. Businesses are decorated in style, and many flower planters keep the entire area fresh and inviting. There is a refreshing place to sit and relax which is our beautiful Queen’s Park. Just to the West of central downtown is the great Victoria Trail Recreation Park, which can host all types of sporting events. Adjacent to it – a very nice R.V. Park and campground.

Bruderheim is surrounded by the gorgeous Natural area, just North of Town. Running directly through town is the Beaverhill Creek area, beautifully kept with shrubs and wild flowers. If you have children, we have very clean kept, well provided playgrounds for all ages.

We are served by two major highways, Hwy’s 45 & 15. They give easy access to Edmonton (30 min away) and two other major towns; anywhere within three km to eight km. You may access the industrial sector of heartland, where any type of employment may be found.

We have well planned subdivisions with very beautiful homes suitable to any family. Many of these homes overlook the beautiful surrounding countryside.  The present vision of this popular town is first rate planning for extended growth. It has strong outlooks for the needs of new families, and to serene, tranquil retirement for others, making our town a very desirable place to live.

Come join us! Help us celebrate our 100^th anniversary August 29 – 31 long weekend. Bring your family, friends, and all those from 1908 to 2008! When you visit our centennial celebration, look over the entire area. Check out our subdivisions, and see our new homes, then think of the pleasant contented life style with us in the future. Great city living, with a quiet country down home atmosphere, Bruderheim, Home of the Brethren, the Oasis of the Industrial Heartland.

(Respectfully submitted – Audrey Rinas)