Fifth Fort Edmonton .281830.E2.80.931915.29 Fort Edmonton

1 fifth fort edmonton (1830–1915)

1.1 rowand s administration

1.1.1 influx of missionaries
1.1.2 oregon mission
1.1.3 other notable visitors
1.1.4 rowand s end


1.2 remaining years

1.2.1 remaining administrators
1.2.2 explorers
1.2.3 under threat of warfare
1.2.4 dismantling

fifth fort edmonton (1830–1915)

due floods in late 1820s, fort on rossdale flats had moved higher ground. fifth , final fort built on site inhabited alberta legislature building.

fort edmonton, 1870.


rowand s administration

at time, long-serving member of hbc, john edward harriott, became chief trader under rowand. 2 gained family ties when harriott married 1 of rowand s daughters. on couple of occasions when rowand joined hbc inland governor george simpson travel abroad, harriott acted chief factor.

rowand s administration 1830s onward coincided great change in saskatchewan district. first time, missionaries, artists, , curious travellers came edmonton visit, extended periods, frustrated rowand degree. prior time, europeans come far west men on sort of company business.

with rowand having made edmonton home, fort became important centre in west. necessity traveller going further west of edmonton go through there provisions first. rowand constructed three-storey house in heart of fort exclusive use of him , family, denoting station subordinates, visitors , trade partners alike.

influx of missionaries

two catholic missionaries, francois-norbert blanchet , modeste demers, first visit fort edmonton (called fort-des-prairies) in 1838. starting in 1840, fort housed wesleyan missionary robert rundle company chaplain. rundle s tenure lasted until 1848, , ministry , missionary work met competition of sort jean-baptiste thibault, catholic priest who, rundle, attempting evangelize natives in area. chapel erected inside fort in 1843, reverend rundle boasted host (one) hundred indians ; structure had 2 small rooms rundle s private use. meanwhile, rowand complained presence of ministers in fort distraction natives, , ostensibly impeding fur trade business. on personal level, however, rowand had taken liking rundle, , entrusted minister teaching children.

father pierre-jean de smet spent winter of 1845-46 @ fort edmonton having traveled , explored oregon country meet natives of rocky mountains.

in 1852, oblate missionary albert lacombe first visited fort edmonton. rundle having trouble controlling department in 1848, lacombe took residence in former methodist chapel. lacombe took pity on fur trade labourers, opining that, during summer months, [hudson s bay labourers toil] hard of african slave. . found little sympathy workers john rowand or hbc clerks. following year, lacombe moved lac st. anne, had new catholic chapel constructed in fort in 1857 (but did not dwell there); chapel lasted twenty years before being moved outside of fort.

a methodist follow-up robert rundle, reverend thomas woolsey, dispatched edmonton in 1852. arrival in fort coincided lacombe s residency in former methodist chapel, discovery distressed woolsey. conflicts , private frustrations catholic missionaries, , failures convert catholics protestantism, marked woolsey s twelve-year residence @ fort.

in 1854, mission st. joachim officially founded in turn @ fort-des-praires (fort edmonton).

oregon mission

this watercolor scale diagram of fort drawn vavasour in 1846.

though distant territory in question, fort edmonton, important stop on york factory express overland trade route, peripherally involved in oregon boundary dispute. pair of british army lieutenants, mervin vavasour , henry james warre, sent on mission in guise of eccentric gentlemen reconnoitre lower columbia river valley , puget sound. among other objectives, determine hbc posts used in military conflict. trip had been encouraged sir george simpson governor of hudson s bay company. warre , vavasour reported mountain passes unsuitable troop transport. mission took them through fort edmonton in fall of 1845, , again on way montreal in 1846. wrote: without attempting describe numerous defiles through passed, or difficulty of forcing passage through burnt forests, , on high land, may venture assert, sir george simpson s idea of transporting troops. . . stores, etc. through such extent of uncultivated country , on such impracticable mountains appear quite unfeasible. other forts visited on mission, vavasour drew plan of edmonton.

other notable visitors

artist paul kane s romanticized painting of fifth fort (1849 1846 sketch), displaying rowand s house rising high above palisade.

the artist paul kane first visited fort in 1845. produced several works of art based upon time there.

rowand s end

in may 1854, john rowand died while accompanying annual york boat trip eastward. accounts suggest tried break (or join) skirmish between of tripmen while @ fort pitt, , in rage fell dead. buried @ fort pitt, later exhumed , buried in montreal per last , testament.

remaining years
remaining administrators

following few short-lived administrations in rowand s wake, william j. christie long-lasting chief factor @ edmonton 1858 1872. christie s protégé richard charles hardisty, later canadian senator, served chief factor in edmonton interim period 1862 through 1864.

the hudson s bay company relinquished rupert s land government of canada in 1868, pursuant rupert s land act 1868, ending hbc s administration of vast territory , beginning era of settlement in 1870s.

by 1890s, fort in disrepair , largely abandoned. hudson s bay company transitioned retail stores, , business in edmonton ran 1 of instead.

explorers

in 1841 james sinclair stopped @ fort edmonton receive instructions on cross rockies. him 116 121 métis settlers red river colony, hired pugets sound agricultural company settle on fort nisqually , cowlitz farm within modern washington state.

captain john palliser stayed in fort edmonton time in 1858 while on famous expedition. of factor s wife, palliser held ball there.

in 1859, 9th earl of southesk visited on way rocky mountains, hoping fresh mountain air improve health.

under threat of warfare

fort edmonton, near new legislature building, 1914.

the spring of 1870 saw fort edmonton come under threat of violence due war between blackfoot , cree, resulting slaying of cree chief maskipiton. blackfoot unable ford north saskatchewan due high spring waters, encamped across fort edmonton , harassed muskets nonetheless. wagons full of goods had abandoned traders in hurry reach safety inside of fort, , contents spoiled blackfoot. though fort not invaded, men within armed , ready fight. chief factor william j. christie chose withstand blackfoot , not attack them, fearing invite further violence against hudson s bay company.

fifteen years later, on march 19, 1885, during north west rebellion, edmonton s telegraph wire cut. fearing imminent attack, settlers took shelter behind fort s old wooden palisade. no attack happened.

dismantling

what remained of fort dismantled in 1915. seen crumbling eyesore next alberta legislature building, had been completed 3 years earlier. government of alberta indicated @ time use old fort s timbers create heritage site elsewhere in city, never did.