Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
, Canada, containing the remains of three trading posts that existed from 1799 to some time before 1808. The island the
North Saskatchewan River
The North Saskatchewan River is a glacier-fed river that flows from the Canadian Rockies continental divide east to central Saskatchewan, where it joins with the South Saskatchewan River to make up the Saskatchewan River. Its water flows event ...
on which the posts were located is about 47 miles west of the Saskatchewan border and about 7 miles north of Myrnam. The west end of the island can be seen from the
Alberta Highway 881
Alberta Provincial Highway No. 881, commonly referred to as Highway 881, is a highway split into two sections in northeast Alberta, Canada. Each section is over in length; the southern portion runs from Highway 13 in Hardisty to ...
bridge.
A Mr. de Rochblave of the
XY Company
The XY Company also known as the New North West Company was a joint-stock fur trading enterprise based in Montreal that conducted business chiefly in the Canadian Northwest between 1798 and 1804. North West Company and the
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business di ...
decided to abandon their posts at Buckingham House/Fort George and move 20 miles upstream. Henry Hallett of the HBC had built the main buildings of Island House by that fall but could not build the stockade until spring, when it was possible to float logs downriver. François Decoigne from
Fort Augustus
Fort Augustus is a settlement in the parish of Boleskine and Abertarff, at the south-west end of Loch Ness, Scottish Highlands. The village has a population of around 646 (2001). Its economy is heavily reliant on tourism.
History
The Gaeli ...
upstream built Fort de l'Isle, between the other two, for the NWC. John McDonald of Garth ran the NWC post for the first two years.
In 1802 James King of the NWC and Joseph-Maurice Lamothe of the XY Company both left for an Indian camp about five days away to pick up furs that were owed to their respective companies. King tried to take furs that Lamothe claimed belonged to the XY Company, words were exchanged, and Lamothe shot King. From the time of
Médard des Groseilliers
Médard Chouart des Groseilliers (1618–1696) was a French explorer and fur trader in Canada. He is often paired with his brother-in-law Pierre-Esprit Radisson, who was about 20 years younger. The pair worked together in fur trading and explor ...
it had been unclear whether Canadian jurisdiction extended beyond the Saint Lawrence basin. A Montreal grand jury brought a true bill against Lamothe, and he went to Montreal to stand trial but changed his mind and disappeared into the West to be beyond the reach of the law. This led to the passage of the Canada Jurisdiction Act of 1803, which provided that offenses committed in the West would be dealt with in the same way as those in Upper and Lower Canada. It also allowed the Governor of Lower Canada to appoint justices of the peace in the West, something that would cause trouble later.
Both posts were abandoned in favor of
Fort Edmonton
Fort Edmonton (also named Edmonton House) was the name of a series of trading posts of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) from 1795 to 1914, all of which were located on the north banks of the North Saskatchewan River in what is now central Alberta, ...
upstream or Paint Creek House/Fort Vermilion downstream. In 1808 David Thompson passed by and implied in his journal that the forts were gone. A marker was erected in 1960. The surviving visible remains consist of cellar depressions and piles of chimney rock. The island can be reached only by boat or by snowshoes in winter; a fairly powerful outboard is needed because of the current.
See also
*
Saskatchewan River fur trade
Saskatchewan River fur trade The Saskatchewan River was one of the two main axes of Canadian expansion west of Lake Winnipeg. The other and more important one was northwest to the Athabasca Country. For background see Canadian canoe routes (ea ...