Experience Alberta’s History

Birthed in glacial waters, Alberta’s rivers have profoundly shaped the province’s geography carving valleys and creating passes. These watersheds nourish cities, agriculture and wildlife, and support industry before emptying into Hudson’s Bay or the Atlantic Ocean far away. Long ago, Alberta’s rivers supported human activity. First peoples used rivers for travel routes, as markers of tribal boundaries and as a hunting aid.

Overlooking the Oldman River is Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump World Heritage Site. For 6000 years plains peoples stampeded countless bison over cliffs to kill sites where the carcasses were butchered. This award winning centre is one of the oldest and best preserved examples of such hunting sites in the world; unveiling archaeological sites and the importance of buffalo to first peoples. history.alberta.ca/headsmashedin

Victoria Settlement Provincial Historic Site

Photo Courtesy of Alberta Culture and Tourism

With the arrival of European traders the traditional bison jumps ended in the 18th century. Manufactured goods (such as guns, knives, pots, fabrics and alcohol) came west on rivers. In return, the indigenous-supplied furs moved eastward and across the Atlantic to be made into fashion items including hats and clothing. Built upon the collaboration of the first peoples, the fur trade lasted for hundreds of years. Trading posts were built along indigenous trade routes. Aboriginal technology, the birch bark canoe, dog sled, snowshoe and bison pemmican, enabled a transcontinental trade network. The offspring of indigenous and European peoples, the Métis, developed their own distinct cultures. Thus, Canada was born in the process of the fur trade.

European trade items made life easier, but the fur trade had profound impacts on first peoples - stirring intertribal rivalries and increasing violence, traditional religions were displaced by Christianity, populations were decimated by smallpox, fur bearing animal numbers collapsed and bison were hunted to near extinction. Places of note include:

Victoria Settlement Provincial Historic Site

Photo Courtesy of Alberta Culture and Tourism

Fort George and Buckingham House Provincial Historic Site is the location of two rival trading posts established in the 1790’s by the Hudson’s Bay Company and the North West Company. Here archaeological remains are brought to life by dynamic presentations. history.alberta.ca/fortgeorge

Rocky Mountain House National Historic Site is located at the confluence of the North Saskatchewan and Clearwater rivers. Here, 5 trading posts across 75 years witnessed trade with plains peoples and served as a jumping-off point for trans-mountain exploration. pc.gc.ca/rockymountainhouse

By the 1830’s Christian missionaries had arrived in what is now Alberta. There was intense religious competition between the Protestant and Catholic missionaries.

Victoria Settlement Provincial Historic Site

Photo Courtesy of Alberta Culture and Tourism

Father Lacombe Chapel Provincial Historic Site: Father Albert Lacombe (1827-1916) travelled a vast area building an understanding and peacekeeping between the indigenous and Europeans while teaching Catholicism. He wrote several dictionaries in indigenous languages, and established settlements and missions. Father Lacombe Chapel became the basis for a mission in the community of Saint Albert. history.alberta.ca/fatherlacombe

Victoria Settlement Provincial Historic Site: This is where, on the bank of the North Saskatchewan river, Reverend George McDougall founded a Methodist Mission to the Cree in 1862 and where the HBC established the Fort Victoria trading post in 1864. The Mission and Fort became the nucleus for a once thriving Métis community. history.alberta.ca/Victoria

The Historic Dunvegan Provincial Historic Park: Above the Peace River, 4 original buildings remain of the 100 year old HBC trading post. Discover trade with the Dunne-za people and the St Charles Mission. history.alberta.ca/dunvegan

Victoria Settlement Provincial Historic Site

Photo Courtesy of Alberta Culture and Tourism

The rivalry between the competing Hudson’s Bay Company and North West Company ended with their merger in 1821. Although HBC ceased trading of alcohol, independent traders continued to trade copious quantities.

Fort Whoop-Up: Located near the Oldman River, is the infamous Fort Whoop-Up. American traders exchanged cheap whiskey and repeating rifles for buffalo robes. Such trade brought disease, instilled intertribal warfare between Blackfoot and Cree, contributed to the collapse of the bison herds and led to the establishment of the North West Mounted Police to curb the violence. fortwhoopup.com

Sit beside one of Alberta’s rivers. Listen, close your eyes and let history flow by. Behind the water’s murmur imagine the snort of drinking bison. Are those the voices of Cree and Blackfoot riders encouraging their mounts to cross the river? Do you hear the rhythmic splash of oars and paddles timed to the cadence of voyageur songs? Is that the squeak of Métis red river carts beside the waterway? Do you hear the crack of a musket or the voice of a French missionary? Alberta’s historic sites share the stories of the turbulent and important role that rivers have played.

By Ross MacDonald