ALBERTA HISTORY 1800-1849

ALBERTA HISTORY Return to ALBERTA INDEX

DIRECTORY Return to MAIN HISTORY INDEX

IN THE BEGINNING

The Clan of Garneau

This is the story of the Clan of Garneau, the Metis, who brought a Ojibwa, Wendat (Huron), Cree, Dakota Sioux, Iroquois, Celt, Pict, and Viking (Scottish, English, and French) background from the 17th and 18th century to this Province of Alberta.  It also speaks to the integration of religious, political, and business beliefs and values.  It speaks of maternal and paternal societies, of killing cultures and cooperative cultures, of Aboriginal peoples and European peoples.   To this Metis mixture would be added: Austrian-Hungarian, a dash of Welsh, more English and Scottish via Acadia.

Alberta, however, was occupied long before the Clan of Garneau arrived.  The first Albertans may represent some ancestors of the Garneau Clan, in the form of the Algonquian speaking peoples, who migrated from California to Alberta some time prior to 1450 A.D. but were lost to antiquity.

A brief history of Alberta's occupation follows:

78,000 B.C.  

Global cooling resulted in an ice sheet covering most of Alberta about this time.  Some contend there were ice free passages during the cooling periods.

50,000 B.C. 

Some researcher speculate that America was peopled at this time or earlier but evidence is sparse.  It is interesting that during my life time it was thought that people only occupied Alberta from about 8,000 B.C. and now writers are saying 50,000 to 100,000 B.C. might have been their arrival.  I have discovered that reality is more bazaar and exciting than scientific speculation of the past or present.  

The Blackfoot, Blood and Peigan People of Alberta contain the highest incidents of type 'A' blood in the world.  It is noteworthy that Europe is also high in type 'A' blood type.  This may suggest these Peoples are the decedents of the same Caucasian People's who migrated to Europe from the Middle East about this time until 25,000 B.C.

40,000 B.C.  

Stone choppers and scrapers have been discovered below the glacial deposits in Grimshaw, Bow River and Lethbridge dated to 40,000 - 20,000 B.C.  Others challenge this dating.

35,000 B.C. 

Genetic research suggests a major migration of peoples into America occurred about this time.   It is therefore possible that humanoids existed in Alberta about this time.

30,000 B.C.  

A child's skull, found in 1961 near Taber, Alberta, is carbon dated to 30,000 B.C. and is believed to be one of the oldest inhabitants discovered in Alberta.  Some contend the dating is in error and is closer to 4,000 B.C.  However, other finds include; 23,000 B.C. artifacts found at Crowsnest Pass, 9,000 B.C. artifacts at Vermilion Lakes, 8,000 B.C. artifacts at Lake Minnewanka, 5,000 B.C. artifacts Cypress Hills, and 3,000 B.C. artifacts at Strathcona that would become the first Garneau homestead in Alberta.  There is much controversy in archeology circles, especially as to the dating of these discoveries.  We can conclude that Alberta is first inhabited by peoples some time during the period of 11,000 to 50,000 B.C., either arriving from the North or South depending on which theory prevails.  Most evidence suggest they came from the south.

23,000 B.C.  

Grizzly bears are in the Edmonton, Alberta area at this time suggesting it was not covered by glaciations as some suggest. 

21,000 B.C.  

According to long held theory, Alberta is covered with continent sized ice sheets from glaciations. This period is believed to be 25,000 to 21,000 B.C.   This however is not supported by facts.  Gravel pits near Edmonton reveal that during this time the area is teeming with wildlife.  One gravel pit yielded 900 bones, including an extinct giant bear, a North American lion, mastodon, wolves, giant bison, cow sized ground sloth, camels and herds of horses.  It is believed the ice age didn't affect this area until after 20,000 B.C., based on the bones.  Calgary is believed to be glaciated and preliminary digs below the glacial gravel suggest the presence of man.  The evidence of human activity consists of artificially flaked quartzite and hard limy siltstone cobbles found in the upper Bow River near Calgary.

20,000 B.C. 

Genetic research suggests a second major migration of peoples into America occurred about this time.  There is little doubt that our ancestors were in Alberta within the past 15,000 years.  

18,000 B.C.  

Evidence discovered west of Calgary (Alberta) at Varsity Estates suggests human occupation dating to this period.  Many are skeptical of these findings.

16,000 B.C.  

It is believed a period of Global Cooling occurred 18,000 B.C. to 16,000 B.C. causing ice sheets to cover most of Alberta.

13,000 B.C.  

Conventional belief is that the ice sheet began retreating from southern Alberta and Saskatchewan between now and about 10,000 B.C.  Greenland ice core studies suggests conventional beliefs may not accurately reflect what actually transpired and many have come and gone in relatively short periods of times (maybe ten years, more or less).  Others suggest this Global Warming period lasted to about 1 AD when a Global Cooling period set in that lasted until about 1830 as recorded in Alberta.   

Genetic research suggests a third major migration of peoples into America occurred about this time

10,000 B.C.  

Knife River Silica from the south Missouri River is trading as far north as Jasper and Edmonton, Alberta.

The People of this area have been using Cypress Hills (Alberta/Saskatchewan) as a wintering site  from about this time.

9,200 B.C.  

The footprints of mammoth, camel, muskoxen and horses are perfectly preserved at St. Mary River (Alberta).

9,000 B.C.  

Kananaskis Country west of Calgary, Alberta appears to have been occupied since about this time.  Over 100 archaeological sites have been identified.

Clovis man is hunting horses in the St. Mary Reservoir area of Alberta.

8,800 B.C.  

Glacial Lake Vermilion (Alberta) was a camping site of Clovis People.

8,500 B.C.  

Wyoming obsidian is trading into the Edmonton area.  A band of hunters built a hearth beside Vermilion Lake (Alberta).  Some suggest this is the oldest site in Alberta.  This is highly unlikely as humans have been in the America since earlier than 50,000 B.C. based on the Pedra Furada, Brazil excavations.

The Clovis People lived on the shorelines of the "Water of the Spirits" (Lake Minnewanka, Alberta).  The area was abundant in fish and wild life.  

8,000 B.C.  

On the banks of the Oldman River, near Taber, Alberta that is West of Lethbridge, a Paleolithic hunter butchered a buffalo.  Dr. L.A. Bayrick discovers the site.  Some believe that glacial ice still covers much of the Edmonton and Calgary area, a period of global cooling.  Some ultra conservatives, however, do not believe man has entered North America until about 4,000 B.C.  Others suggest 50,000 to 100,000 B.C. is more likely.

Global warming began melting the Antarctic ice sheet at a fairly constant rate of 5cm per year and is expected to be gone by 12,000 A.D.  Other studies of Greenland ice sheet suggests global warming and cooling occurs in relatively short time periods of time, like 10 years. 

Others suggest a severe drought was extensive throughout Alberta from 8,000 to 6,000 B.C. 

The Alberta oil sands contain spear points, knives, scrapers, stone flakes and micro blades with evidence of mammoth kills. 

7,000 B.C. 

Two spearheads are discovered dating to this period at Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump in southern Alberta.  There are about 100 buffalo jumps in north America.  The use of animal jumps is believed to date back to at least 40,000 B.C.

Near Chin Coulee in southern Alberta, hunters with spears trapped and killed a buffalo herd.

6,500 B.C. It is believed early man camped at Fish Creek Valley (Calgary, Alberta) about this time.

6,000 B.C.  

On the top of a high ridge, 500 meters above the Crowsnest Pass, ancient miners hewed out lumps of multicolored Etherington chert.  The chert was heat-treated to make it harder and easier to shape into tools.  The hunters in Alberta are using dart throwers.

5,000 B.C.  

Cypress Hills, believed spared from glacial ice in southern Alberta, is an early stopping place for early hunters.  The French fur traders who first came across these un-glaciated Cypress Hills called them Montages de Cypres, meaning Jack Pine Mountains, and the Indians called them Thunder-Breeding Mountains due to the sudden storms generated there.  It is believed the climate was more humid for the next 1,000 years.

4,850 B.C.  

Mount Mazama (Crater Lake) in Oregon exploded and spread a thick layer of volcanic ash across central and southern Alberta and is used as a marker for dating.

3,200 B.C.  

The Oxbow People are believed to have migrated from Saskatchewan to Alberta bringing with them the medicine wheel.  It is believed they also introduced the process for making pemmican.

3,000 B.C.  

Strathcona (Alberta), the future homestead of Lawrence Garneau (1840-1921), has indications of occupation at this time.  The plain's people are driving buffalo over cliffs for food and some wear large wooden plugs called labrets in their lower lips and skewers in their noses.

2,500 B.C. 

Alberta is considered the core area for Medicine Wheels and likely started about this time.  One Medicine Wheel was however located in Wyoming.  We tend to underestimate the mobility of our early ancestors.

2,000 B.C.  

Aisinai'pi or Writing on Stone Provincial Park, Alberta, on the Milk River, has been in use from this period of time based on artifacts discovered.  The actual writing are estimated from 1,500 to 1,700 A.D., although some could date back to 1,000 A.D.

Some suggest wetter, cooler winters resulted in reactivation of mountain glaciers in Alberta.

1,000 B.C.  

There is evidence to suggest that Writing-on-Stone (Provincial Park) has been used for sacred writings since this time.

The Alberta People have been trading for copper items from the Great Lakes, stones from Oregon and North Dakota, shells from the Pacific Ocean and shells from the Gulf of Mexico.  It is not known if this trade was direct or via other traders.

500

Indians from the Dakota's are hunting bison (buffalo) near Taber, Alberta.  Arrow heads discovered are made from Knife River flint.

Archaeologist at Spring Point, Alberta, at a buffalo (bison) jump found knives, spears, arrow points, bone smashers, hide scrapers, drills, awls, pottery and bake ovens.  

1190

The glaciers in the Rocky Mountains, Banff, Alberta advanced from 1190 to 1250.

1250 The rock art of Milk River, Alberta is believed to have been created by the Shoshoni Indians who occupied this area about this time.

1280

The glaciers in the Rocky Mountains, Banff, Alberta advanced from 1280 to 1340.

1450

Some time prior to this the Garneau ancestors arrived in Alberta.  These people were called the Algonquian speaking peoples.  They spread across Canada from Alberta to the Atlantic ocean.  They evolved into the Blackfoot, Cree, Ojibwa, Micmac, Sauk, Gros Ventre, etc., to name a few.  The Garneau family traces their ancestry to the Cree and Ojibwa peoples.

1600 

The bow and arrow began to replace the spear in Alberta.  This also marked the appearance of teepee rings, stone cairns, buffalo effigies, medicine wheels, rib stones, pictographs and petrography.  The Neutral Hills north of Concert, Alberta contains effigies of bison, turtles, and snakes.

1630 

It is believed the Blackfoot brought the first horse into Alberta about this time.

1654 

Some suggest the following people reside in Alberta at this time: Atspu, Beeny, Feather, Grizzly Going and Pimotewiw Sisip. 

1680 

A severe drought occurred in southern Alberta that lasted 40 years (1680-1720) according to tree ring analysis. 

Others suggest the coldest periods of the Little Ice Age (1550-1850) are 1550-1620, 1680-1700.  

1690 

The glaciers in the Rocky Mountains, Banff, Alberta advanced in the 1690's.

1700

The glaciers in the Rocky Mountains, Banff, Alberta advanced in the early 1700's.

The Beaver People arrived from north of Peace River to other side of the Saskatchewan River, from the future site of Fort Edmonton.  The area became known as Beaver Hills and later Strathcona before being absorbed into Edmonton city. 

1704

Some suggest the following people are in Alberta about this time: Apikuni, Api Kutenai and Sky Red.. 

1715

The Cree told Knight, of the Hudson Bay Company, of the existence of Lake Athabasca and the Great Athabasca River.  Captain Swan, the Cree explorer, explored Alberta for the Hudson Bay Company and discovered the Athabasca Tar Sands.  He brought back a sample of the brimstone oil to York Factory.  He made peace with the Beaver Natives in the Athabasca Valley.  The Beaver Natives at this time occupied the area between Edmonton and Peace River.  To the east, west, and north are the Chippewa, Slave and Sekani people.  The Sarcee occupied the Athabasca and upper North Saskatchewan River.  The Blood, Piegan and Blackfoot occupied the prairies south of the North Saskatchewan River.  The foothills dominated by the Kootenay and to the southwest the Shoshoni (Snake).  The Cree is entering Alberta from the northeast and the Assiniboine and Gros-Ventre from the southeast.

1720 

The Alberta drought of 1680-1720 ended this decade according to three ring analysis.

1730

The Blackfoot acquired the horse. They referred to time before this as the dog-days.  Saukamappe, a Cree living with the Piegan, reported seeing a horse between Eagle Hills, south of Battleford, and Red Deer River.  He also reported the Piegan had acquired guns from the Cree in trade.

1743

Some claim La Verendrye junior sighted the Stony (Rocky) Mountains January 1, 1743, but supporting evidence is scant.  Others claim he may have reached the tip of the Province of Alberta this year.  It is believed that the French Metis or Coureurs de Bois are wintering on the Saskatchewan River this season.

James Isham complained to London that the French were beating the bush and running away with the hair (intercepting the fur trade).

1745

The Hudson Bay Company reported that French Traders from Montreal are on the Saskatchewan River, intercepting the Bays trade. This is according to reports from the Cree and Assiniboine.

1747

 (I)-Anthony Henday, HBC man (1750-62) claimed to have wintered near Three Hills in central Alberta south of Edmonton. Does this refer to his alleged 1754 trip? 

1749

A number of Montreal men have been wintering with the Indians on the Saskatchewan River over the past few years, but their names are unknown.  The Indians said the river started in the shining mountains.  Based on this information, this year it is reported De Niverville searched for the sources of the Saskatchewan River toward the Rocky Mountains.

Pierre Gautier Chevalier de la Verendrye (Verandrye) returned from the extreme West and donated a slave, Jean Francois Regis, born 1743 (age 6 years), to the Jesuit Mission at Michillimakinac ,who baptised him April 6, 1750.

1750  

Some claim that Fort La Jonquiere (Calgary) is established by the Metis and abandoned about 1759-1760.  Trade goods from the Gulf of Mexico, in the form of masks, are discovered in Southern Alberta, some 2,000 miles from their source.

Peonon Point, on the Saskatchewan River, is a French house.

April:  Anthone Henday believed born the Isle of Wight (suggestion he was a Frenchman) signed on in London as a net maker and general laborer for York Factory.  He was a convicted smuggler. 

1751

A French expedition reached the Stony Mountains (Rocky Mountains) and established a temporary Fort at Rocky Mountain House, aka Poste de la Montagne de Roches.  Later they established Fort Le Jonquiere at the junction of the North and South Saskatchewan Rivers.  By 1753 the French had establish Fort Saint Louis, north of Kinistino, Saskatchewan.  Another version of the same story is as follows: Boucher de Niverville sent off two men in two canoes to ascend the Paskoyac (Saskatchewan) as far as the Rocky Mountains, where they made a good fort May 29, 1751, named Fort La Jonquiere.  They also made a considerable store of provisions, expecting the arrival of De Niverville, who is to follow in a month, but did not arrive due to illness.  In November, Legardeur de Saint Pierre arrived Fort La Jonquiere and reported that De Niverville had arrived.  This second account is based on the memoir of Saint Pierre, found in the report of the Canadian Archives of 1886.  Others contend Boucher de Niverville sent 10 Frenchmen (Metis?) to establish Fort La Jonquire on the Bow River near Calgary, Alberta.  In the course of 1751 Boucher de Niverville sent ten Frenchmen from that post at the forks of the Saskatchewan up the river, who erected a fort (La Jonquière) on the Bow River, where Calgary now stands

May 29:   The Chevalier Jacques Repentigny LeGardeur of Saint-Pierre (1701-1755), originally commander of Fort Michilimackinac, dispatched a party on ten men in two canoes this spring (May 29) to build a trading post near the forks of the Saskatchewan that they called Fort La Jonquiere (Nipawin, Saskatchewan).  LeGardeur is actually stationed at Fort La Reine (Portage la Prairie, Manitoba) from 1750 to 1752.  Some contend this fort is built near Calgary, Alberta and was abandoned in 1759.  This story suggests a party of ten Frenchmen were dispatched by Boucher de Nioerville (Niverville), Lieutenant under command of Jacques LeGardeur of Saint Pierre (1701-1755), to established Post La Jonquiere, on the Saskatchewan River, near the mountains.  Bishop Emile Tardiff, in his writings, supports the story that De Niverville built Fort La Jonquieret at or near Calgary.  These stories, or expeditions, were fueled on the 1745 reports from the Cree who said the Poskoyac River (Saskatchewan) started in the very lofty mountains and over the mountains a great lake exists in which the water is undrinkable.

1752 

Joseph Robson of HBC reported the French Canadians travel many hundreds of miles overland from Canada to the head waters of of the rivers of the Hudson Bay and erected huts and settled considerable factory upon the lake at the head of the Nelson River.

1753 

The Hind Post is established on the Hind or Wabish River (Red Deer River)

1754 

The Metis are reported trading to the upper reaches of the Saskatchewan River.  The Cree report 30 Canadians in 7 canoe are intercepting furs of the Assiniboine River in Saskatchewan/Manitoba.

Elizabeth Grouard claimed February 14, 1754 to be a Cree from the Grouard Band of Lesser Slave Lake (Alberta) to have married this year Henry Newhall (Newell) but others dispute this claim.  However if true, Henry Newell likely visited Lesser Slave Lake (Alberta) pre 1754.

It is known that the original journal of Anthony Henday or any of his notes do not exist.  Only edited, altered copies are on file.
The four known versions of Anthony Henday, HBC man (1750-62) journals are as follows:

            A.  B.239/a/40, fos. 1-45, the version sent to London from York Factory in about 1755.  Andrew Graham, an assistant writer at York, created this version which tries to put a favorable light on Henday's travels.  We would say altered to be politically correct to achieve the desired results from London.  Graham was hard pressed to explain how every Indian wanted to trade HBC yet not a single one came back with Henday.  The fact that Henday had taken on a country woman (a bed mate) was edited out of this version.  Henday says he traveled inland 1,546 miles.  C. says he only traveled 1,130 miles.  There is serious doubt that Henday saw the Rocky Mountains.

            B.  E.2/4, fos.35-60, included in a volume of Andrew Graham's Observations dated 1768-9.  This journal is not made in Andrew Graham's hand writting and contains errors Graham would not make.  The journal is dated 1755-56 instead of 1754-55.

            C.  E.2/6, fos.10d.-38d, included in another volume of Graham's Observations dated 1767-9, this journal is in Andrew Graham's hand writing.  Henday says he traveled inland 1,130 miles.

            D.  E.2/11, fos. 1-40d included in a volume of the Observations whose date of compilation is uncertain but is prior to 1782.
                This version is most often used by many historians.  This journal is in Andrew Graham's hand writing.

It is noteworthy that Anthony Henday was to repeat his year journey to the interior but returned in a week on the plea that the apprentice boy sent with him was quite jaded.  The London Committee thought little of the explorer's (Henday) competence.  They apprehended that Henday is not very expert in making Drafts with accuracy or keeping a just Reckoning of distance other than by guess which may prove erroneous.  He would try again in 1759-60 to reach the prairies with Joseph Smith to take a true and Exact acct. but little account survives.

Attickasish, a Cree Merchant, agreed to take Anthony Henday, HBC man (1750-62) into Alberta, September 11, 1754.  Anthony Henday, HBC man (1750-62) traded a gun for a horse from the Assiniboine. The English believed he was lying about the Indians having a horse.  They traveled to the foothills of Alberta and visited the Blackfoot south of the Red Deer River where two hundred tents cover over three-quarters of a mile.  The chief's tent could hold fifty people. The Blackfoot referred to Anthony Henday, HBC man (1750-62) as a very white man, clearly indicating that he was not the first European they had known.  The Ojibwa and French Metis from Fort La Pointe (Wisconsin) explored and traded  this region during their past forty years of trading.  Anthony Henday requests the Blackfoot  trade with the Hudson Bay Company.  The Indians turned down the request as they are trading with the French.  Anthony Henday then traveled to the mouth of the Sturgeon River, a favorite French location, then on to the French Fort St. Louis in Saskatchewan.  It is suggested Anthony Henday (HBC service 1750-1762) first encountered the horse at Buffer Lake, Saskatchewan and bought his first horse at Sounding Creek, Alberta.  It is highly questionable if he even made this journey.  See the Metis section for a more complete account of the forgery surrounding this alleged expedition. 

June 24 Anthony Henley attached himself to a departing Cree party who are going to the land of the Blackfoot below the great Stony Mountains. It is important to understand that there are four known differing journals of the 1754-1755 Henley trip with serious discrepancies and contradictions.  Much of this trip is open to question.  Anthony Henday married a Cree Girl named Enteiskwew or as he called her his 'bedfellow'.

English historians would have us believe Anthony Henday was a brave figure, dominated his Cree companions, won solemn pledges from the Assiniboine and Blackfoot to trade down river to the Hudson Bay, the first European to walk the Alberta Prairies, a striking personal achievement.  However the four journals produced for this venture paint a very different picture.  He was never promoted in the Hudson Bay Company because this and other attempted ventures were unsuccessful.  He died in obscurity in England after 1762.  Henday admits a French Canadian or Metis in command of 20 canoes is in Red Deer, Alberta at the same time as himself.  One journal suggests he traveled 1,546 miles whereas another suggests he traveled 1,130 miles.

Some suggest the follow people are in Alberta this year: Asis Atik, Leader French, Anthony Henday, Kokamanakiwiw. Wapi Kona, Tete La Grosse, Beouf Le Petit, Wapenesew and Piyew Wapi.

July 22:  Fort Paskoyac, Henday said the French and English had equal rights to the interior lands and the French are living in a hogstye and are very lazy.   Other versions of his journal deleted ownership claims and said the French are very genteel.  Henday appeared uncertain even frightened of the French and would have turned back if it wasn't for the Cree Attickasish (Little Deer) who appeared to act as the leader of the expedition.  

July 31:  Henday encountered either 2 or 10 tents of Senipoets, Aseenepoet, Assinepoet or Asinepoet Indenians depending on which journal you read. Two journals say these Indians will come to Hundson Bay to trade next spring.  Two other accounts say they will NOT as they are strongly attached to the French and the Frenchmen's House of Trade.

August 4:  Henday encountered 7 tents of Esinipoets who agreed to go to Hudson Bay to trade.  Other copies of the journal says no way will they go to Hudson Bay as they have strong attachments to the French.

September 20:  Henday encountered the Assiniboine who reject the opportunity to trade Hudson Bay and didn't need English trade goods and besides its a long way.  The other journals eliminated this exchange.

September 26:  Henday went hunting and killed a moose and the Indians were overjoyed that I killed it by myself.  The other versions eliminate the self glorifying verbage by simply saying I killed a moose and the Indians killed a great many.

October 14:  Henday claims to arrive near Red Deer, Alberta and met Earchithinue on horseback with 40 scouts and they took us to their main camp of 400 tents.  No mention is made of trade negotiations, whereas the other journals are full of gloomy negotiations.  Bottom line Hudson Bay is too far.

October 15:  Henday's journal makes no mention of trade discussions with Archithinue.  He also fails to record the gift of two Indian slave girls but one died at York Factory in 1765.  The other journals speak of intense trade discussion, gift giving and that every man is given a side of meat (not likely plausible) and claims the Indians committed to trade Hudson Bay (which is not likely). 

December:  Only 2 men, 5 women and 4 children remain at Red Deer, Alberta.  One woman is Henday's bedfellow (Enteiskwew), 2 women are slaves.  Henday's bedfellow (Enteiskwew) Cree tried to explain the trading business to her husband.  He was bewildered and resented that the Indians didn't want to trade with the Hudson Bay Company.  The Indians were angry with Henday for pushing the idea the People should trap animals.  They told him to speak no more of trapping and threatened hard to his woman if she doesn't stop.   The said they had more furs than they can carry through trade with others.  The journals sent to London omitted any mention of Henday's bedfellow (Enteiskwew. Cree) as well as the fact the Indians liked the steel sled blades.  It is noteworthy that a Frenchman or Metis was at Red Deer, Alberta who commanded 20 canoes and promised to visit Hudson Bay.  Most journals didn't report this important entry.

1755

  Some historians contend Anthony Henday wintered 1754 and 1755 in the Blindman River Valley Northwest of Lacombe, (Alberta).  These are the same folks who claim a 1747, Three Hills, (Alberta) is a wintering site.  Some contend Anthony Henday encountered the Asinepoet Nation using horses as pack animals on the South Saskatchewan River.  Some believe Henday camped at Birch Hills this year at the mouth of the Sturgeon River in what is now called Fort Saskatchewan (Alberta).  Birch Hills aka Fort Saskatchewan (Alberta) is a traditional manufacturing site for canoes. The Indians called this location 'Birch Hills'.  The mouth of the Sturgeon River that flows into the North Saskatchewan River provided a plentiful supply of raw materials and a good flat location for canoe building.  This would be the future site of Fort Augustus of the North West Company.  Henday had no map making training so it is uncertain where he went.  Some claim he sited the Rocky Mountains but this is unlikely.  To confuse matters further their are four differing versions of his diaries known to exist.  

May 12:  Henday departs Red Deer, Alberta area for the Saskatchewan River.

May 15:  Henday encounters 127 tents of Earchithinues who one journal says they will go to Hudson Bay to trade.  The other journals say no way.

May 16:  Henday talked with 30 tents of Archithinues who had the finest horses he had ever seen.  The English contend he was lying about the horses.  Again all promise of trade with Hudson Bay was rejected.  Other journals say the Archithinues promised to trade.

May 21:  Henday traded all his guns, hatchets and knives mostly for wolves skins.  It is noteworthy the French would not accept wolf skins in trade.  They departed down river with 60 canoes for the French Fort.

May 23:  The 60 canoes arrived Fort LaCorne and 5 or 6 French came out to great them.  One journal suggests the French got very little in trade from the 60 canoes.  The other journals suggest the French traded for 1,000 of the finest skins, refusing wolves, bears or damaged beaver skins.  The Indians refused to leave the hospitality of the French.

May 29:  Henday reached the French fort at the Pas.  One journal says the Indians were just busy.  Other journals say the French traded cassed cats, martins and beaver of the finest quality.  Henday say the Frenchmen are masters of all Indian languages.  

May 31:  Trading at the Pas continued in earnest and Henday departed for York Factory, arriving June 23.  The Henday expedition was a failure and the four know accounts have serious problems of reliability and authenticity.  The original journals have not been discovered.

1759  

Anthony Henday HBC man (1750-62) and Joseph Smith wintered near Rocky Mountain House, aka Poste de la Montagne de Roches and returned the following year with sixty-one canoe loads of furs.  This account is highly questionable.  The Metis at this time abandoned Fort La Jonquiere (Calgary).

1763

  The Metis established posts far up the Saskatchewan River, had seen the Stony Mountains and were aware of the Oregon River.  It is noteworthy that the Metis reached the Stony Mountains (Rockies) some two decades before Daniel Boone pushed the American frontier west to Kentucky.

1766

  The Metis trader, (III)-Jean Baptiste Cadotte Sr. (1723-1803), from Sault Ste Marie, who was the only one who held his fort during the Pontiac war,  Alexander Henry (1739-1824), the elder,  James Finlay, and Peter Pond (1740-1807) went into the Saskatchewan and Athabasca country to establish contact with the Chipewyan, Red Knives, Dog Rib, Caribous and Stone people.  They participated in opening up a trading territory to Athabasca country that covered a territory equivalent to Western Europe and is the most lucrative fur farm in America.  From a European perspective it was a no mans land waiting for the taking.  

Isaac Batt d-1791 is claimed to have wintered 1766/1767 Alberta.  He was a free trader but worked for the HBC (1754-1775).

1767 

(IV)-Joseph Barthelemi Blondeau (1743-1790) of Michillimahnac is reported on the Assiniboine River this year.  He would spend the next twenty years exploring and working the North West Territories.   

William Pink is likely the first European to visit the St. Paul des Metis area of Alberta during a buffalo hunt.

1768 

Jacques Raphael (Jacko & Jocko) Finlay, Metis (1768-1828) aka (Jacco, Jaccot, Jacko, Joeko and Jacquot) is born at Fort Finlay on the south bank of the South Saskatchewan River about 50 miles from the forks, son James Finlay and Chippewa Woman.  James Finlay is the chief factor of Fort Finley, N.W.C..

William Pink of the Hudson Bay Company is claimed to have wintered near Fort Edmonton.

1770 

Buffalohead (Pierre or Paul) St. Germain, a Metis guide, is working the Athabasca Region this decade.

Some believe the Iroquois, and Iroquois Metis, free traders are working Alberta at this time or earlier.

1771

Henry Pressick wintered with the Blackfoot in southern Alberta.  (I)-Samuel Hearne (1745-1792) and his band of Chipewyan, led by Matonabbee, is recorded at Athabasca Lake in north eastern Alberta and north western Saskatchewan.  It is believed Hearne and company visited Athupusco or Etcharrottine Lake aka Great Slave Lake this year.  It is also believed that (I)-Samuel Hearne (1745-1792) visited Lesser Slave Lake des Metis this year.

It is noteworthy that the Metis and Coureur de Bois at lesser Slave Lake carried on aggressive farming operations as well as trading for furs.  The also settled, Lac La Biche,  Buffalo Lake Metis Settlement 50 km SW Lac La Biche,  Sturgeon Lake, 24 km N.W. Grande Prairie, Bear Lake, 22 km from Grande Prairie, Saskatoon Lake 24 km N.W. Grande Prairie and Flying Shot Lake, just west of Grande Prairie.  Some were established at this time or earlier, while others are established over the next thirty years.  Some do not consider these Metis Settlements until occupied on a continuous basis.  

Thomas Cory of Montreal did so well with his Saskatchewan River trade that within two trading seasons he could retire

.

1772

Le Doyen Beaulieu, the Metis, is born the son Francois Beaulieu and a Montagnais mother and he spent most of his life around Lesser Slave Lake.  His Father journeyed to the Pacific in 1793 with (I)-Alexander MacKenzie (1764-1820).

Ten canoes departed from Montreal under permit for Francois Le Blanc, born 1712, also known as (Franceway, Saswee and Shish),a voyager of Michillimahnac, who is in the Northwest.  (IV)-Joseph Barthelemi Blondeau (1743-1790) of Michillimahnac, with forty canoes, began working the North West Territories.  This year he is reported on the Red Dear River.  William Bruce, an independent trader, is also on the river having fled Basquia, Mississippi, after killing an Indian.

1773

A travel permit is issued to Maurice Blondeau and 22 men.  Blondeau is up the Saskatchewan River.  (IV)-Joseph Barthelemi Blondeau (1743-1790), of Michillimahnac, is on the Red Deer River. 

(IV)-Joseph Barthelemi Blondeau (1743-1790), of Michillimahnac, is reported to have worked the Saskatchewan River this year.  Charles Paterson (d-1788) of the Michilimackinac Company stayed on the Saskatchewan.

Charles Bruce is reported at Red Deer River.  Bruce is from the Mississippi where he killed an Indian and had to depart that region.   William Bruce and four men are at Pasquia on the Saskatchewan River.  

Francois Le Blanc, born 1712, also known as (Franceway, Saswee and Shish) voyager of Michillimahnac, dispatched 15 canoes among the various routes to pursue Indians on their way to York Factory.  (I)-William Pink of York Factory has spent the last 7 years attempting to direct trade from the Peddlers to the Hudson Bay Company, especially on the Saskatchewan.  Matthew Cocking, the bigamist (d-1799), returned to York Factory having for the past two years traveled the Blackfoot Territory.  He would spend the next two years on the Red and Assiniboine Rivers.  He said he finds himself practically defenseless against the Peddlers.  Those Montrealers are monopolizing the fur trade on the Saskatchewan River.  He had to travel to Eagle Hills, south of Battleford.

May 11:  (I)-Alexander MacKenzie (1764-1820) encountered a band of Beaver Indians near the site of the future Fort Dunvegan site.

1775

Charles Patterson (d-1788) is trading and wintering out of the Assiniboine with Alexander Henry and Holmes.  The native traders told Henry of the Peace River.

Travel passport is issued to James McGill (1744-1813), (I)-Benjamin Frobisher (1742-1787), his brothers, and (III)-Maurice Regis Blondeau (b-1706) for 12 canoe and 78 men for Grand Portage and beyond.  Alexander Henry (1739-1824), the elder, reported that 4 different interests on the Saskatchewan joined forces this year.  Peter Pond (1740-1807) entered the North West with the backing of Simon McTavish (1750-1804), who would engineer the formation of the North West Company.

Some sixty canoes a year are going West from Lake Superior and these probably excluded many free traders.  Peter Pond (1740-1807), who is born Melford, Connecticut, left the Mississippi fur trade after killing a fellow in a duel and with two canoes and seven men went to Saskatchewan River near Prince Albert (Saskatchewan).  On the way he teamed up with (III)-Jean Baptiste Cadotte Sr. (1723-1803), (I)-Thomas Frobisher (1744-1788), (I)-Joseph Frobisher (1740-1810), William Paterson and (I)-Alexander Henry (1739-1824), the elder, making a company of one hundred and thirty men in thirty canoes.  The permit dated April 10 lists a Michel Cadot likely (III)-Michel Cadotte (1729-1784) and Francois Giroux among the crew.  The group had bought sufficient wild rice in Red River to last until they reached the Saskatchewan.  (I)-Alexander Henry (1739-1824) the elder wrote that without the wild rice obtained at the Lake of the Woods, the voyage beyond the Saskatchewan River would have been impossible to complete.  He had purchased 100 bushels of rice from the previous year's crop from an Ojibwa village of only 100 people at the Lake of the Woods.  He also noted 50 lodges of Ojibwa at Rainy Lake.  This is interesting in that most traders believed the woods Indians didn't store their harvests.  They also processed and stored fish and fish oil.   (III)-Jean Baptiste Cadotte Sr. (1723-1803) separated at the forks and he went to Fort des Prairies (Edmonton, Alberta) in October.

Charles Paterson (d-1788) of the Michilimackinac Company, (IV)-Joseph Barthelemi Blondeau (1743-1790) of Michillimahnac, William Holmes, Peter Pangman (1744-1819), the German some say Dutch and many other employees occupies Fort La Corne (Fort des Prairies) and are working the Saskatchewan.  Franceway on the Saskatchewan acquires two Blackfoot women slaves whom he takes to Montreal and sells.  He also took out 170 bundle fur of 90 pounds each.  (I)-Robert Longmoor of Hudson Bay Company is robbed of his trade goods and roughly handled by Indian's who accompanied him.  He is abandoned without provisions on the trail to Cumberland House.

April 10:  A permit is issued to Alexander Henry (1739-1824) and (III)-Jean Baptiste Cadotte Sr. (1723-1803) for 4 canoes to Sault Ste Marie and Grand Portage and  included a crew of 31 men.  Included in the crew is Michel Cadott, a possible relative of (III)-Jean Baptiste Cadotte Sr. (1723-1803), a Francois Giroux.  This historic voyage covered Lake of the Woods, Winnipeg River, Lake Winnipeg, and the Saskatchewan.  They encountered Peter Pond (1740-1807) and the Frobisher brothers (I)-Joseph and (I)-Thomas.  Some of the party reached the Rockies.  It is noteworthy that they had to pay a toll on Rainy River to the Ojibwa who possessed the ability to stop all trade to the interior.  The Ojibwa have villages at Lac La Croix, Rainy Lake and Rainy River.
St. Jean LaVigne - Pierre LaVigne - Jacques Primake - Michel Cadott -Lafrance Laborde - Francois Valtige - Joseph Montmmois - Pierre Camsse - Pierre Gouiltan - Nicolas Demars - Louis Lapointe - Charles Boulteau - Albert Donaus - Francois Demit - Fabien Robert - Louis La Poretin - Etisne La Carter - Michel Content - Jacques La Gameya  - Joseph Potorin - Joseph Gaul  - Pierre Pilette - Charles Deneau - - Emett - Charles Nutier - Joseph Denieu - Faweaiger  - Joseph Maloux - Francois Giroux.

1776 

James Deering and William Pink wintered in Alberta and Peter Pond (1739/40-1807), in 1778,  would order the building a trading post forty miles up the Athabasca from its mouth.

Laurent Leroux, b-1759 Quebec, died 1854 and Cuthbert Grant, founders of competing trading posts at Fort Resolution visited the Great Slave Lake. 

Peter Pangman (1744-1819), a Dutchman, some say German, married at Fort of the Prairies (Alberta) on the Saskatchewan a Cree Indian girl.

(I)-Thomas Frobisher (1744-1788) was wintering at Ile a la Crosse this year.  Both Frobisher and Peter Pond (1740-1807) pushed into the Athabasca.  (I)-Joseph Frobisher (1740-1810) returned from the Saskatchewan to Grande Portage leaving their merchandise in the field and in the care of (I)-Thomas Frobisher (1744-1788).

(III)-Jean Baptiste Cadotte Sr. (1723-1803) went up the Saskatchewan with four canoes. 

Fort Sturgeon also called the Lower Settlement and later called Fort Saskatchewan contained Booty Graves, Charles McCormick, William Bruse, Peter Pond, (1740-1807),  Peter Pangeman (1744-1819), Nicholes, Mature (Montour) Bartw, and (IV)-Joseph Barthelemi Blondeau (1743-1790).   Joseph Frobisher (1740-1810) had departed for supplies.   Three peddlers working out of Fort Sturgeon are killed by the Indians because of bad treatment at the fort.  Fort Sturgeon or more correctly Sturgeon Creek Post aka Fort Saskatchewan was down river from Fort Edmonton.

1778

North Saskatchewan River, birth, Bastonnais Pangman, Metis son  Peter Pangman (1744-1819) and Cree woman

Seven free-trading partners including Alexander Henry Sr. (1739-1824) and (I)-Thomas Frobisher (1744-1788), at the mouth of the Sturgeon River, pooled their resources and agreed to hire Boston born Peter Pond (1739/40-1807), who was an officer of General Amhurst and who stormed Montreal in 1760), to trade the Athabasca.  With four canoes, he would be one of the first French to report on the Athabasca oil sands.  He wintered at Pine Lake.  On this trip, that lasted until 1779,  Peter Pond (1740-1807) virtually traded the shirt off his back and collected so many fine black beaver skins that he had to leave half his load behind.  Later,  Peter Pond (1739/40-1807) also produced the first known map of Alberta, scrawled in a Quebec bar while soliciting investment capital.  It was obvious he collected information from the natives rather than had any first hand  knowledge.

The following known traders are on the Saskatchewan River:  Blondeau with 6 canoes, McCormick of Ireland with 6 canoes, Gibush (Waden) with 3 canoes, Peter Pangman (1744-1819) a German, some say Dutch, with 5 canoes, Graves of Britain with 5 canoes, Homes of Ireland and Robert Grant of North Briton with 5 canoes between them.  This represents some 120-150 men, women, and children.

Laurent Leroux, b-1759 Quebec, died 1854 and Cuthbert Grant, built competing trading posts at Fort Resolution on the south shore of the Great Slave Lake. 

Peter Pond (1740-1807) established a trading post on the Athabasca River.

1779

A party of Ojibwa are trading at Sturgeon River and Hudson House on the north Saskatchewan River near what was later Fort Carlton.  The Ojibwa of Berens River claimed their ancestors lived west of Lake Winnipeg in the 1770's.

Peter Pond (1740-1807) and six men built a fort at Eagle Hills near Battle River and (I)-William Tomison in the field (1760-1811), an Orkney who replaced (I)-Samuel Hearne (1745-1792), sent (I)-Robert Longmoor up-river, twelve days paddle, against the current to build Hudson House above the Canadians. The H.B.C. were immediately joined by two sets of Canadian traders. (I)-William Tomison in the field (1760-1811), an Orkney that had arrived too late in the season and had to accept a poor unfinished house on loan from Peter Pangman (1744-1819) and the German or Dutch, who then continued to intercept all Native trade. The Indians were determined to direct the buffalo from Hudson House region. They reasoned the English would be unable to procure their own rations and they would acquire all the goods at famine prices. The Cree and Assiniboine set fire to the plains but they drove the buffalo so far a field that they entered into starvation and had to beg the forts for food. Or so reported (I)-Robert Longmoor. William Holmes, with eighteen men, was more blatant and used threat of force to ensure no natives traded with (I)-Robert Longmoor of Hudson Bay Company.  It is noteworthy that (I)-Robert Longmoor married an Indian woman.  (I)-William Tomison in the field (1760-1811), an Orkney, had instructions from London to build more trading posts.  He built his own house called Cumberland House, a thirty-seven by twenty-seven foot structure, including a garden of turnips and radishes.

Peter Pond (1740-1807) grew potatoes and other vegetables at Pond's Fort, 30 miles up the Athabasca River from Lake Athabasca.  Excluding unrecorded Metis efforts, this is believed the earliest effort of agriculture in Alberta.

Francois Xavier Finlay (1779-1859), Metis, is born Alberta, brother Jacques Raphael (Jacko & Jocko) Finlay, Metis (1768-1828) son James Finlay and Chippewa Woman

1780  

Michael Calihoo, a Metis,  two hundred and fifty Iroquois and Metis from Montreal, at the request of some merchants, traveled to the Rocky Mountains to trap and trade furs.  Some crossed the mountains, many married native women and some settled near Edmonton (Lac St. Anne alias Devil Lake) including Michael Calihoo's Group.

When Peter Pond (1740-1807), of the General Store Company of Michilimakinac, returned to Athabasca to his winter hut, it still contained over one hundred and forty packs of fur.  Not fully appreciating the basic honesty of the Natives he recorded his surprise that they are still intact .

Some contend Rocky Mountain House, aka Poste de la Montagne de Roches,  is home to three French trading posts and ten shacks of free traders.  Alec Kneau and Alphonse Bouchet are believed among the free traders.

The Pedlars aka Canadians have established fur trading posts on the Athabasca, Slave and Peace Rivers.

1781

 Peter Pond named Great Slave Lake after the Awonak or Slave People, so named by the Cree who considered them a servile people.

A smallpox epidemic, from last year, spread as far north as Saskatchewan River system and this year reached the Athabasca region and the Barren Ground, where ninety percent of the Chipewyan in the Barren Ground died. 

1782

Joseph Desjarlais, Metis, son Joseph Desjarlais, b-1754, Quebec and Okemakwe; married 1820 Josephte Suzette Cardinal, Metis, b-1800, Lac La Biche daughter Joseph Cardinal, b-1756, Quebec and Lizerre Maskegan a Native.  

October:  Louis Kwarakwentha Callihoo L'Iroquoise, born October 17, 1782 Quebec and Marie Tekanise Patenaude.  They are in Peace River in 1834.

1784  

Pierre Bonneau guided the Edward Umfreville party to Sturgeon Lake.  Edward Umfreville, Venance St. Germain, Jean Roy, Dubay and Raymond established Umfreville house on the Saskatchewan River, that remained in operation until 1787.

The Iroquois fur traders were penetrating into Alberta in small numbers working for the North West Company and by the 1790's they arrived by their 100's.  Most of the Iroquois were from Caughnawaga, Quebec.

1785  

Jacques Beauliev, a Metis living with his family on the Salt River, N.W. journeyed the Peace River.  James Gaddy wintered with the Piegan in Southern Alberta and spent the next three winters in the field taking others with him including (I)-David Thompson (1770-1857) in 1787, a lad of seventeen.

1787

Fort Carlton, west of Duck Lake on the North Saskatchewan River, is established by the Hudson Bay Company.  It is also known as the Crossing Place and Fort DuMonte.

The Hudson Bay Company began establishing posts up the Saskatchewan River, often setting down cheek-by-jowl with the North West Posts.  The Hudson Bay had forty- four men in the field, compared to the one hundred and eighty of the North West Company.  Peter Pond (1740-1807), back in the Athabasca country, got involved in another killing, a John Ross (d-1787) of the Gregory and MacLeod Trading Company.  Pond's associate is charged with murder but not convicted.

This winter season (I)- Alexander MacKenzie (1764-1820) was under the tutorage of Peter Pond (1739/40-1807) and was greatly influenced by Pond's conception of the region's geography.

1788 

(I)-James Bird Sr., aka James Curtis (d-1856), arrived in York Factory with the Hudson Bay Company from Middlesex County, England.  He worked here until 1792.  It would appear this was his second tour of duty, as children attributed to him were born 1781 and 1785, or there was another James Bird in the employ of HBC.  It is known that he had at least two Indian wives.  He would spend most of his assignment in the Saskatchewan River District, mostly Fort Edmonton and neighboring posts.

Roderick MacKenzie, of the North West Company and cousin of Alexander Mackenzie, built Fort Chipewyan on the south shore of Lake Athabasca.  They traveled and traded five hundred miles up the Peace River.  Red River Fort (Fort De La Riviere Rouge) is built by a Free Trader.  This fort is built at the junction of the Peace River and Mikna River (Little Red).

Peter Pangman (1744-1819) wintered near Fort Augustus (Edmonton).  He was considered  short-tempered, vigorous, and cantankerous.

Charles Boyer's Trading Post for the N.W.C. is established on the mouth of the Boyer River to Peace River at north of present day Fort Vermillion.  Boyer grew turnips, carrots and parsnips.  This fort was relocated in 1831 by the Hudson Bay Company to its present site.  Fort Vermillion is named after the red ochre deposits nearby that the natives used.  Fort Chipewyan was also establish this year by the North West Company's Roderick MacKenzie, a cousin of (II)-Alexander MacKenzie (1764-1820).  It was located at the hub of the Athabasca, Peace, and Slave Rivers.  This was the scene of a fierce struggle between the dominate North West Company, the XL Company and the Hudson Bay Company for this strategic trading location.

1789

Alexander MacKenzie with 12 men and their wives, guided by English Chief crossed the Great Slave Lake.  The Little Ice Age impeded their progress.  This global cooling period lasted until about 1850 but was especially severe this year.  

Fort Lac d'Original (Moose Lake Fort) is established by the North West Company at the southwest end of Moose Lake, (Alberta).  The North West Company builds a La Martre (Martins Lake) north of Great Slave Lake.

Edward Umfreville, an ex-Hudson Bay Company man, joined the North West Company and is working the Saskatchewan River.  He noted the Orkney are trading among the natives in small numbers.

1790

Jean Baptiste (Nechokapow) Desjarlais, Metis, b-1790, Lac La Biche des Metis, (Alberta) died 1871, Little Fork, Qu'Appelle Lakes, Saskatchewan son Joseph Desjarlais Sr., b-1754, Quebec and Okemakwe;  married about 1805 Lac La Biche des Metis, (Alberta) Lisette Cardinal, 2nd married 1825 Red River Charlotte Cardinal, b-1810..

Rocky Mountain House, aka Poste de la Montagne de Roches, (Alberta), birth, Lizzette Laval (Duval), Metis, who died February 12, 1861 Sault au Recollet, Quebec daughter Paul Laval (Duval) and Snare Shuswap woman; she married August 19, 1819 Fort William, Ontario, Daniel William Harmon born February 19, 1778, Bennington, Vermont, died April 1843 Sault au Recollet, Quebec. 

 Peter Pangman (1744-1819) wintered near Rocky Mountain House, aka Poste de la Montagne de Roches, where he carved his name and date in a spruce tree.

Frank Oliver in 1930 believes the first fort in Edmonton, Alberta was built by the XY company before 1792.

Some believe Alexander MacKenzie is the first Europen to describe the Athabasca Tar Sands.  It is noteworthy the natives used the tar sands to patch their canoe for years.

June 9, (I)-David Thompson (1770-1857) departed Cumberland House to survey the Saskatchewan River system.  He had learned surveying and mapmaking while recovering from a broken leg.  Some time between 1789 to 1792 Cumberland House was relocated about a mile and a quarter to its present location.  The North West Company also maintained a post nearby.

McCleod's Fort is built on the Peace River by the North West Company.

A severe drought occurred in southern Alberta this decade according to tree ring analysis. 

1791 

Isaac Batt, a free trader, is killed by the Blackfoot while hunting buffalo but his companion John Thompson was not harmed.

 John Finlay, of the North West Company, built Fort de Tremble forty miles north of Fort Vermilion and Archibald MacLeod built a fort at Whitemud Creek, thirty miles south of the Peace River Town site.

(I)-Peter Fidler (1769-1822) lived among the Chipewyans January to April.  He then journeyed from Buckingham House (near Lindberg, Alberta) to the Rocky Mountains on the North Saskatchewan River.

(I)-William Tomison in the field (1760-1811), an Orkney, Factor, constructed Buckingham House a short distance from the earlier constructed Canadian House Fort George, approximately 100 miles downstream from what was, later, Edmonton House (13 km southeast of Elk Point. The following spring it is nearly lost by fire.).  (I)-William Tomison claimed it was ordered set by Angus Shaw, the trader in charge of Fort George.  These forts remained side by side until 1800.

The North West Company built Fort Chesterfield 12 miles below present Empress, Alberta on the north bank of the South Saskatchewan River.

The Hudson Bay Company reported reaching the Athabasca to see for themselves the resources of the region and  the extent of the North Western Company activities.  They are in awe when they reach Fort Chipewyan on Lake Athabasca.  They discovered that the fort had supplies of trade goods to last two seasons.  The essence of this report appears to support the contention that earlier reports of Hudson Bay Company exploration maybe based on second hand Native reports and not first hand English reports.  The Hudson Bay Company also reported that 900 employees of the North West Company owed the Company more than the wages of 10-15 years employment.  This however could be propaganda, designed to discourage Hudson Bay men from entering the field.

August 31:  Fort Carleton, North Saskatchewan River, marriage Aratha Michel L'Iroquois daughter Louis Kwarakwentha Callihoo L;Iroquoise, born October 17, 1782 Chaugawaga, Montreal, Quebec and Marie Sekanaise Katis (Montagnals Nation); married Bazil Larence, B-1789, Quebec.

1792

John Finlay built the New Establishment, replacing Boyer's Post (The Old Establishment) and it was called Finlay's Post, Old Aspin Fort, and Fort Du Tremble north of Fort Vermilion (Alberta).

Jacques L'Hyrondelle married, 1792, Lesser Slave Lake des Metis (Alberta) Josephte Pilon.

The North West Company built Fort Fork on the Peace River 10 miles upriver from present day Peace River town..  The Hudson Bay Company built a fort at Peace River.  

The NWC abandoned Fort Lac d'orignal just north of the Saskatchewan river near Bonnyville to build Fort George.

Angus Shaw employed sixty men, mostly Metis in the spring, for the North West Company, to build Fort George on the North Saskatchewan River, near Elk Point on highway 41, on the north bank of the river in Eastern Alberta.  Archaeological evidence suggests that free traders had already previously established a trading post at this location.

Later in the summer, the Hudson Bay Company built Buckingham House, with mostly Orkney men, within three hundred yards of Fort George.  That both forts are built a quarter mile from the river is still puzzling.  The traders fanned out from these posts to live with the natives in their home territories.  Peter Fiddler, a surveyor and mapmaker, joined the Piegan at their homeland south of Calgary and met with the Kootenay peoples.

Mackenzie wintered at the Fort of the Forks, 6 miles up the Peace River from the mouth of the Smoky River.  At this time he was told of the Slave Lake 120 miles away.

1793

Peter Fidler observed coal near Drumheller.  John Garneau (1885-1949) in the mid 1920's worked these deposits.  Traveling with the Piikani (Peigan) People they showed him coal in the banks of Kneehills Creek not far from Carbon, Alberta 60 miles east of Calgary.  Fidler put some of the coal on the fire in the tent of the chief.  The People were upset as it was taboo to burn coal in a teepee.    Fidlers woman told him it was a heinous offence.  The chief would not enter his own tent and remained out in another tent, very much affronted.  Some suspect the People believed the burning coal released evil spirits that killed (carbon monoxide) in sealed teepees in the winter.

Jacques Raphael (Jacko & Jocko) Finlay, Metis (1768-1828) son James Finlay and Chippewa Woman married Alberta, a Chippewa? Cree? named St. Germain?

Catherine L'Hyrondelle is born 1793, Lesser Slave Lake des Metis (Alberta), daughter of Jacques L'Hyrondelle (L'Hirondelle) and Josephine Pilon; married in1808, a Joseph Belcourt Sr. d-1863.

(I)-Duncan McGillivray (1770-1808), brother (I)-William McGillivray (1764-1825), and nephew to (I)-Simon McTavish (1750-1804), spent most of his career (1793-1802) working the North Saskatchewan River. 

Frank Oliver believed George Sutherland and John Pruden of Edmonton, England built the first Edmonton trading post so named by Proden on the North Bank of the Saskatchewan River in 1793 near the present Fort Edmonton location.  This was a major misunderstanding as this Fort Edmonton was not built until 1819.  He also believed Fort Augustus was built on the south side of the river across from the Edmonton post.  He also contends the XY company built a fort in the general area before either the HBC or the NWC.  Edmonton was not considered an important trading location by the Hudson Bay Company.  Oliver contends the XY Company fort in Edmonton was the first in that location.  He suggests it was located on the south side below the high level bridge being better situated to the buffalo plains of the south.  Maybe he is confusing the XY Fort Meadows with the NWC Fort Augustus as others suggest the XY Fort Meadows was on the meadows where the parliament building are located.  At this time Fort Augustus was across the Saskatchewan River from Fort Saskatchewan.  Frank Oliver agrees there is much confusion in the establishment of Edmonton.

Battle River Settlement, alias Crossing alias Nonteen A Quee was named some time before this date.  

May 9: In Peace River(Alberta) (I)-Alexander Mackenzie (1764-1820), of the North West Company, expressed his determination to follow Peter Pond's (1739-1807)  second great river to the Pacific.  He expected to trade with the Russians who had a string of trading posts from Alaska to California. Alexander McKay and six Metis, Jacques Beauchamp, Francois Beaulieux, Baptiste Bisson, Francois Courtois, Charles Ducette,  Joseph Landry,  two natives as guides, interpreters, and hunters and a large dog left for the Pacific.  The Parsnip and Sekani helped direct (I)-Alexander Mackenzie (1764-1820) to the great river and stinking lake, the Pacific, where white-men arrived in ships.  The Sekani drew a map that suggested the stinking lake was a moon's journey away.  They met the Carrier and Bella Coola Natives.  (I)-Alexander Mackenzie (1764-1820) appears more fascinated with the native culture, their honesty, and architecture than with finding the Pacific Ocean.  It is noteworthy that at Bella Coola (before July 20) they encountered Natives with metal spearhead and European beads.  Had those Metis reached the Pacific before him?  They arrived near King Island, at the top of Fitz Hugh Sound, on July 23.  These Nor'westers returned to Fort Chipewyan having covered two thousand eight hundred and eleven miles.  It is worth noting that these Metis, Indians, and Mackenzie officially crossed the continent twelve years before Lewis and Clark.

May 11:  (I)-Alexander Mackenzie (1764-1820), of the North West Company, at Dunvegan (Alberta) is accosted by the Beaver Indians.

1794 

A large group of Ottawa/Ojibwa traders are in the Red River colony visiting their relatives before trading on the Saskatchewan.

Joseph Cardinal, b-1756 St. Laurent, Quebec, died September 1, 1854, Lac La Biche des Metis (Alberta), 1st married 1794 Rose Cree, N.W.; 2nd married 1798, Lizette Maskegan most likely Lac La Biche des Metis, (Alberta); 3rd marriage to unknown.  Joseph Cardinal may have had two wives at same time, maybe more?  Joseph was in Alberta and British Columbia in the 1790's.

Jacques Raphael (Jacko & Jocko) Finlay, Metis (1768-1828) is at Gardepui's crossing near Duck Lake, Alberta. 

Jacques Raphael (Jacko & Jocko) Finlay, Metis (1768-1828) is the chief factor of the Upper Bow Fort for the North West Company on the south fork of the Saskatchewan River.  The Hudson Bay Company had a fort nearby called the South Branch House.

James Finley (1794-1853/54), Metis, was born the Fort of the Upper Bow, Saskatchewan River, Alberta son Jacques Raphael (Jacko & Jocko) Finlay, Metis (1768-1828) and Indian woman.  James married May 7, 1844 Porte d'Enfer (Hell Gate) Montana a Susanna Matilda.

Duncan McGillivray reported three Iroquois traders are on the Saskatchewan near Prince Albert. 

June:  About 150 Indians, likely Gros Ventres or Dakota Sioux attacked the H.B.C. South Branch House killing 8-9 men.  Those killed included Magnus Annel, Hugh Brough, William Fea, a woman and two Metis children.  Two women  were carried off as slaves.  Jacques Raphael (Jacko & Jocko) Finlay, Metis (1768-1828), John McDonald of Garth and Cree Beau Parlez killed or wounded 14 Indians and escaped into the night having saved one H.B.C. Man named Vandereil.  They escaped down river to Chesterfield House at the Red Deer River. 

 1795

Betsy Ballindine is born in Cumberland House, daughter John Ballindine and Jani Indian, She would marry in1812, William Rowand.

Antoine Cardinal, Metis, b-1795 son Joseph Cardinal, (1756-1854) and Rose Cree; married Marie (Godin) Demontigny Comptois b-1795 daughter Comptois man and Suzette Godin.

Gabriel Dumont, Metis, b-1795 to 1801, Alberta son Jean Baptiste Dumont and Josette a Sarcee Native; married Suzanne Lussieur, Metis, daughter Francois Lussier and Cree or Metisse (Metis).

Marie Godin Demontigny Comptois, b-1795, daughter, a man called Comptois and Suzerre Godin; 1st married 1815 B.C. Peter Hogden; 2nd marriage 1820, Jasper house (Alberta), Antoine Cardinal, Metis, b-1795 son Joseph Cardinal, b-1756, Quebec and Rose Cree.; 3rd marriage 1855, Fort Edmonton (Alberta) Joseph Allard.

Thornburn Finlay b-1795 Fort Edmonton region son Jacques Raphael (Jacko & Jocko) Finlay, Metis (1768-1828) and Indian woman.

Bonhomme Finlay, Metis, b-1795-1821) Fort Edmonton region son Jacques Raphael (Jacko & Jocko) Finlay, Metis (1768-1828) and Indian woman.  He maybe same person as Thornburn or a different mother or the son of brother Xavier??

Duncan M'Gillivray, of the N.W.C., is stationed at Fort George on the North Saskatchewan River.

(I)-David Thompson (1770-1857) HBC reports the Piegan Indians, who live near the source of the Saskatchewan River, made a 1,500 mile journey on foot in a direct line, stole horses and mules from the Spaniards, then rode back.  

In the spring, the NWC built Fort Augustus at the mouth of the Sturgeon River on the north side of the North Saskatchewan River.  This site was called Birch Hills as it was a traditional manufacturing site for canoes.  Later this year the HBC built Edmonton House near the NWC Fort Augustus.  Two other independent trading posts settled nearby.  

Angus Shaw of the North West Company chose the Fort Saskatchewan location hoping to attract the Cree and Assiniboine.  He assumed the Blackfoot, Piegan, Blood, and Gros Ventre would continue to trade at Fort George.  (I)-Duncan McGillivray (1770-1808), brother of William and Simon of the North West Company, reported John MacDonald, James Hughes and twenty men built Fort Augustus on the west bank, two miles north of Fort Saskatchewan this summer.  This later would become Fort Edmonton, which means happy helmet.  (I)-William Tomison of South Ronaldsay, Orkney Island, working for the Hudson Bay Company, is away at York Factor and couldn't respond to the move until the fall.  Tomison, the Orkneyman, is the Inland Chief who constructed the original Edmonton House.  The 'XY' Company and Ogilvie Company also built Forts in the Fort Saskatchewan area.  The Indians abandoned Fort George for the closer Fort Augustus.  Twenty miles east of Edmonton was a place called Beaver Hills and it was loaded with beavers.

A band of Ottawa/Ojibwa traders are reported near Fort Augustus.  These likely represent some Metis free traders who are known to travel with the people.

May:   Beaubien, a long time free-trader, brought three canoes to the Saskatchewan River,  got 9 packs of furs at Nipawin and 3 at Fort Augustus/Edmonton House, facing opposition from the two large companies as well as from Peter Grant's men at both places.  It is noteworthy that two other independent trading posts where built in this area within a stones throw of the N.W.C. and Hudson Bay trading posts.

August:  A group of Ottawa (likely from among the Lake Superior Ojibwa) traders is reported at Edmonton House at Birch Hills and many more came to Red River Settlement last year with the new Company.

October 5:  William Tomison built Edmonton House near the mouth of the Sturgeon River (Alberta), within a musket shot of the the North West Company's, Fort Augustus.  This location would later be called Fort Saskatchewan.  As a teenage the author used to ride our bikes out to this area to hunt gophers and search for Indian arrow-heads.  Most arrow-heads were traded with friends for other articles of interest.

1796  

Paul Niyawekanis Durand, Metis, b-1796, Rocky Mountain House, aka Poste de la Montagne de Roches, son Paulette Durand and Sosephte (Josephte) a Sarces Indian;  `married 1816, Fort Edmonton, Marie Ahskekahmuahtaht; 2nd marriage 1846 Fort Pitt, Saskatchewan, Kewtchit.

The Lethargic Hudson Bay Company moved next to Fort Saskatchewan this year having been previously located one hundred and twenty five miles down river and called their post Edmonton House.  Some believe Edmonton was named by Tomison in honor of Edmonton Estates, ancestral home of the Deputy Governor of the Hudson Bay Company, James Winter Lake.  George Sutherland of Wick, Caltness, Orkney became Inland Chief at Edmonton House.  Lodgepole, of the Northwest Company, built Boggy Hill and Hudson Bay built Pembina House at Wabamum Creek mouth.  The North West Company built Whitemud and Hudson Bay built Nelson House.

Jacques Raphael (Jacko & Jocko) Finlay, Metis (1768-1828) was chief factor Fort des Prairies at Edmonton, (Alberta).  He was the highest paid man of the Northwest Company.  Some suggest this was the reason that (I)-David Thompson (1770-1857) took a dislike towards him.  At this time Finlay built a number of trading posts east of the Rocky Mountains.  It is believed he discovered Finley Pass a.k.a. Howse Pass and the headwaters of the Columbia River and maybe even the Pacific Ocean over the next 4 years.  He was also in Montana where there is a Jocko River, Jocko Valley and Jacko Mountain Range.

Emelie Finlay, Metis, (1796-1847) was born Fort des Prairies (Edmonton, Alberta) daughter Jacques Raphael (Jacko & Jocko) Finlay, Metis (1768-1828) and Indian Woman (may not be same mother or maybe brothers child?); she married Alberta 1st Pierre Antoine Bercier (1778-1833) and married 2nd April 8, 1839 Cowlitz Prairie, Washington, Simon Plpmondeau (1801-1900).

.

1797

Peter Fidler at Buckingham House reported the Iroquois traders are coming and going. 

Francois Gladu, born December 25, 1763 married about 1797, N.W.T.,  Josephte Cartrand, b-1773.

Louis Lacerte Sr. born December 27, 1782, NWT, son Louis Lacerte dit Vacher, b-1752, Quebec and Francoise Dienne Lacerte; married, February 19, 1927 Drummond Island, Michigan, Josette Marie Martin, Metis, born December 25, 1797, Athabasca District daughter Simon Martin and Lisette a Native.  

Simon Martin, b-1775, married 1797 Athabasca District, Lisette a Native.

Fort La Montee, three miles upstream from Fort Carlton, Alberta is established by the North West Company.

Fort Vermillion, (Alberta), birth, Mary Spencer, Metis, born 1797, Fort Vermillion (Alberta), died 1877, Victoria, (Alberta) located 90 km NE Fort Edmonton, (Alberta) daughter Magnus Spense Sr. and Christiana Cree; married 1820, Red River,  James Whitford, Metis b-1792 son James Peter Whitford, b-1771 and Sarah Native.  

December 25:  Athabasca District, birth, Marie Josette Martin, Metis, daughter Simon Martin, b-1775, married 1797 Athabasca District, Lisette a Native; married February 19, 1827 Drummond Island, Michigan, Louis Lacerte, born, December 27, 1782 N.W.

1798

Joseph Cardinal, b-1756 St. Laurent, Quebec, died September 1, 1854, Lac La Biche des Metis (Alberta) 1st married 1794 Rose Cree, 2nd married 1798 Lizette Maskegan both most likely Lac La Biche des Metis, (Alberta).  Joseph Cardinal had two wives at same time, maybe more?

Jacques Cardinal, Metis, b-1798, Moose Mountain, Pitt (Saskatchewan), son, Joseph Cardinal (1756-1854), born Quebec and Rose Cree; married, 1814, Lac La Biche, (Alberta), Josephte Tcikak, b-1780.

Louison Gladu, b-1798, N.W.T. son Francois Gladu, born December 25, 1763 married about 1797, N.W.T.,  Josephte Cartrand, b-1773.

Jean Baptiste La Fleur on the N.W.C. built La Fleur's Post to trade with the Beaver Indians up river from N.W.C. Fort Vermilion.  Native people powdered the red vermilion stone, mixed it with fish oil, and used it to decorate and dye deerskin cloths and snowshoes.  

David Thompson married Charlotte Small, a Metis daughter of an Irish trader and native woman.  He took his wife on most of his trips with such children as had arrived.  William Thomison, while working at Fort Edmonton, got stabbed in the leg and returned to England for three years to recover.

(I)-David Thompson (1770-1857) N.W.C. noted a large group of Iroquois Indians engaged in the fur trade, at least half of them Iroquois from Quebec. Part of them went up the Red River and about 250 of them came up the Saskatchewan, in company with the canoes of the Fur traders, to the upper post called Fort Augustus (Edmonton, Alberta) of the North West Company.  He completely mapped the fur trading territories east of the Rocky Mountains.  In 1806 he would commence the surveying of lands, west of the Rocky Mountains.

(I)-David Thompson (1770-1857) of the North West Company built a fort at Lac La Biche des Metis (Alberta).  The fur companies built and abandoned a number of trading posts in this area but the Metis built community, starting pre 1790.  This location was a traditional meeting place for the People to connect between the Saskatchewan and Athabasca river systems.  

James Hughes of the North West Company built Upper Fort des Prairies aka Fort Augustus on the site of the future Fort Edmonton (Alberta) but wasn't a fort it was more of a trading post.  Only the XY Company fort was considered a Fort the others were just out-posts.

The North West Territories at this time was more populated than we realize.  The following is a list of North West Company forts and trading posts operating this year:

Athabasca: (Alberta) commanded by John Finlay and clerks Simon Fraser, (1776-1862), James MacKenzie, Duncan Livingston, John Stewart, James Porter, John Thompson, James Macdougall, G.F. Wintzel and John Heinbrucks.

Peace River:(Alberta)

Beaver River: (Alberta)

Isle a la Coors:

Lac la Ronge: (Saskatchewan)

Lac du Carriboux:

Fort Augustus: (Alberta) see Upper Fort des Prairies aka Fort Edmonton

Fort George:

Fort Dauphin: (Manitoba) commanded by A.N. McLeod, and clerks Hugh McGillis, Michel Allary, Alexander Farguson, Edward Harrison, Joseph Grenon, Francois Nolin, and Nicholas Montour.

River Qu Appelle: (Saskatchewan)

River La Souris: (Saskatchewan)night

River au Pembina: (Manitoba)

Micabanishi:

Lac le Biche: (Alberta)

Upper English River: (Ontario) commanded by Angus Shaw, and Donald MacTavish and clerks Alexander MacKay, Antoine Tourangeau, Joseph Cartier and Simon Reaume. 

Lower English River:  (Ontario) commanded by Alexander Fraser, and clerks John Macgillivray, Robert Henry, Louis Versailles, Charles Messier, and Pierre Hurteau.

Rat River: (Mackenzie Delta, NWT)

Lower Fort des Prairies: (Saskatchewan River) clerks Pierre Belleau, Baptiste Roy, J.B. Filande and Baptiste Larose.

Upper Fort des Prairies and Rocky Mountains: (Alberta) commanded by Daniel Mackenzie, and commanded by John McDonald, and clerks James Hughes, Louis Chatellian, James King, Francois Decoigne, Pierre Charette, Pierre Jerome, Baptiste Bruno, David Thompson, J. Duncan Campbell, Alexander Stewart, Jacques Raphael and Francois Deschamps.

Swan River:

Fort Winipic: (Manitoba) commanded by William MsKay and clerks John Cameron, Donald Macintosh, Benj. Frobisher, Jac Dupont, Joseph Laurent, Gabriel Attina, and Francois Amoit. no problem

Upper Red River: (Manitoba) commanded by John MacDonell and clerks George MacKay, J. Macdonell. Jr., Joseph Auger, Pierre Falcon, Francois Mallette, William Munro and Andre Poitvin.

Lower Red River: (Manitoba) commanded by Charles Chaboillez, and clerks Alexander Henry, J.B. Desmaris, Francois Coleret, Antoine Dejarlet and Louis Giboche

Lac La Pluie: (Ontario) commanded by Peter Grant, and clerks Arch. MacLellan, Charles Latour and Michel Machard.

Nipigon: (Ontario) commanded by Duncan Cameron and clerks Ronald Cameron, Dugald Cameron, Jac. Adhemar, Jean Baptiste Chevalier, Allen MacFarliane, Jean Baptiste Pominville and Fred Shults. 

Pic & L. River: clerks Jean Baptiste Perrault and Augustin Roy.

Francois Roy, L'Anse:

Fond Du Lac: (Wisconsin) commanded by John Sayer and clerks Jean Baptiste Cadotte, Charles Bousquet, Jean Coton, Ignace Chenier, Joseph Reaume, Eustache Roussin and Vincent Roy.

M & M Cadotts:

Michepicotton and the Bay:  clerks Lemaire St-Germain, Baptiste St-Germain and Leon Chnier

Batchewoinan Bay:

Grande Portage: (Ontario) clerks Doctor Munro, Charles Hesse, Zacharie Clouthier, Antoine Colin, Jacques Vandreil, Francois Boileau, and Bruce. 

Sault and Sloop "Otter", clerks John Burns and John Bennet

South of Lake Superior: (USA) partner Michel Cadotte, partner Michel Cadotte, and clerks Simon Charrette, Charles Gauthier and Pierre Bejarge (Baillarge)

Other Companies with posts in the North West are:

1778 Forest Oaks

1778 Charles Chaboillez

1778 Ezekil Solomon

1778 John Askin

1784 John Askin and Thomas Wilkson and Company

1778 Perinault

1796 Todd & McGill

1786 Askin

1810 Michilimackinac Company

1795 John Sayers and Company Fon du Lac.

1798 Forsyth Richardson and Co.

1799 John Askin

The lands north of Great Slave Lake and Lake Athabasca was called 'The Land of Little Sticks'.

1799

The North West Company built Upper Fort Terra Blanche at White Mud Creek in Edmonton.  David Thompson of the North West Company re-established Rocky Mountain House, aka Poste de la Montagne de Roches, having been previously established years before by Metis free traders.  Others suggest Jacques Raphael (Jacko & Jocko) Finlay, Metis (1768-1828) chief factor Fort des Prairies  (Edmonton, Alberta), had built Fort Rocky Mountain House, aka Poste de la Montagne de Roches, that was used to stage his trips to the Columbia River system.   The Hudson Bay Company built a temporary Action House and by 1819 only the North West Company remained.  Rocky Mountain House, aka Poste de la Montagne de Roches, was located at the confines of the Clearwater River and Saskatchewan River because it had been in longtime use by the free traders.  Most of the supplies came from Fort Benton on the Missouri River, 400 miles south  overland.  Fort Edmonton was only 100 miles down river but the numerous rapids made it impractical.  Round trip to Fort Benton by red river cart took 60 Days.

Marie Godin Demontigny Comptois, b-1795, daughter of a man named Comptois who 1st, married Josephte Flagnant, Metis, b-1799; 2nd married Suzette Godin (Mother Marie); Marie married 1st. 1815 (British Columbia) Peter Hogden; 2nd married 1820, Jasper House (Alberta) Antoine Cardinal, Metis, b-1795 son Joseph Cardinal, b-1756, Quebec and Rose Cardinal a Cree.

(II)-James Curtis Bird (1773-1856), son (I)-James Bird aka James Curtis and Elizabeth Curtis, married Cumberland House Elizabeth Oo-menahomisk, is appointed to the Hudson Bay Company Edmonton shack 1799 to 1816.  Curtis Bird would retire to Red River in 1824.  Some suggest he was the one who gave 'Edmonton House' its name.

(I)-Peter Fidler (1769-1822) of the HBC is unable to persuade any Indian around Bolsover House at Meadow Lake to guide him to Lac La Biche des Metis (Alberta) because all the Indians in this quarter are frightened of the Bungees (Ojibwa) there.  The Ojibwa are trading medicines from Lake Superior to the Cree and Assiniboine.  However he eventually established Greenwich House near the NWC Lac La Biche des Metis (Alberta) post.

H Duncan McGillivray (1770-1808) is placed in charge of Fort Rocky Mountain (house), aka Poste de la Montagne de Roches (Alberta).  

Some attribute the discovery of Grouard's Lake (Lesser Slave Lake (Alberta)) to (I)-David Thompson (1770-1857), but this is a ridicules claim as the Metis were farming this area by 1771 or earlier.  The Lesser Slave Lake Town was formally called Sawridge.  It is noteworthy that there is no evidence the Slavey Indians occupied the area.   The Chipewyan, Beaver and Cree however did occupy the area.  Some claim Laderoute was in Lac La Biche before 1798 and Desjarlais before 1790.

The North West Company built a fort on Lesser Slave Lake.

April:  At Fort Augustus (Edmonton, Alberta) David Thompson, for the NWC, three men and 5 horses of the North West Company journeyed to Lesser Slave Lake des Metis, a long standing Indian and Metis settlement called Sawridge.  Others suggest there were 11 Ottaways and 5 Bungees who built the fort called Mirror Landing and wintered there.  The Indians and likely Metis build canoes for the expedition and stashed them at 54° 15' 4" N.  They followed the Peace River Trail also called the Slave Lake Trail.  Francois Decoigne was in this expedition to build the fort in May, at the mouth of the Slave River (Smith, Alberta).

June:  (I)-David Thompson (1770-1857) married (II)-Charlotte Small, Metis, b-1785 (age 14), daughter Patrick Small and Cree Woman.  It is noteworthy that (I)-Patrick Small had abandoned his family when he returned to England.

November 12:  Peter Pond (1740-1807) built Greenwich House at Lac La Biche (Alberta).

Back to Top

ALBERTA HISTORY 1800-1849