Fort de Prairies: The Story of Fort Edmonton

David W. Leonard is the project historian (Northern Alberta) in the
Historic Sites and Archives Service, Alberta Community Development. He
is the author of Delayed Frontier: The Peace River Country to 1909 and
co-author of The Lure of the Peace River Coun

After establishing a permanent post on the western shore of Hudson Bay
in 1684, the Hudson’s Bay Company was hesitant to build any post
further inland, preferring the Native population to come to them. When
other companies began to penetrate the western prairies, however, the
HBC decided to move further west, erecting Cumberland House in 1774.
Before long, a rivalry was begun between the HBC and its principal
opponent, the North West Company. In 1795, the NWC established a post at
the confluence of the Sturgeon and North Saskatchewan Rivers called Fort
Augustus. That same year, the HBC followed with the Edmonton House post
on the North Saskatchewan. The rivalry lasted until the amalgamation of
the two companies in 1821. With the amalgamation, Fort Edmonton became
the principal post along the Saskatchewan River system.

Over the years, Fort Edmonton took on several names, including Fort De
Prairies, the one favoured by many Metis traders. In 1830, after a
severe flood, the post was moved to higher ground just below the
present-day Legislature Building. Here, it served as the principal
meeting place (in what is now Alberta) for traders, hunters,
missionaries, and Aboriginal peoples for hundreds of miles around, until
the fur trade gradually declined in the latter part of the 19th century.
In 1915, long after the post had grown into a city, the remaining
buildings of Fort De Prairies (now known as Fort Edmonton) were burned.

The story of Fort Edmonton has been told many times, but never with
such a rich array of illustrative materials as is included in this book.
Many appear not to have been published before, such as the shots by
Cornelius Soule, which have been provided by the Saskatchewan Archives.
A colour section allows the full appreciation of several
chromolithographic postcards featuring the post. Indeed, it is
surprising Heritage House did not produce this as a hardcover with dust
jacket. The book, with its many revealing graphics, must be considered
the standard monograph on Fort Edmonton.