By paNOW

Canada 150: The lasting legacy of Fort Carlton

Jun 28, 2017 | 1:00 PM

A hundred and fifty years ago, the City of Prince Albert had existed as Isbister’s Settlement. A small collection of farms founded by retired Hudson’s Bay Company employee James Isbister, the community could hardly be called a town at all in 1867. While the city was still in its early days, the real centre of commerce and activity in the region was located a few kilometres upriver at Fort Carlton.

Fort Carlton, a bustling provisioning post operated by the Hudson’s Bay Company between 1810 and 1885, was for many years the only place between Cumberland House and Edmonton where the local First Nations could trade. Fort Carlton Historical Interpreter Allan Friesen said this made the fort into one of the most important sites in the province 150 years ago.

“The Cree people would bring in buffalo meat, mainly in the form of pemmican or dried meat or even fresh meat, and would trade it for the goods that the [Hudson’s Bay] Company had brought from Europe,” Friesen said. “Because it was such a major centre at that time, and there were so few trading posts around, it also became a centre for taking in furs.”

In addition to the booming trade with local First Nations, Carlton acted as a provisioning post for European explorers as well, Friesen said. Several notable explorations stopped at the fort for provisions, including famous names like English navy officer Sir John Franklin.

“John Franklin’s first two expeditions came through Carlton, 1820 and 1826,” Friesen said, “and John Palliser’s expedition to find out if this part of the world was suitable for agriculture passed through Carlton as well… they actually spent a winter here.”

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Although Palliser described the surrounding area as perfect for agriculture, Friesen said the area surrounding the fort at the time was largely barren prairie which would be regularly wiped out by wildfires. While the Hudson’s Bay Company workers made early attempts to cultivate nearby lands, their seeds were European and largely unsuited to the Canadian climate, Friesen said. Even suitable building lumber was difficult to come by in the region, he said, which meant the logs used to construct the fort’s palisade walls had to be floated many kilometres downriver from other sites.

Friesen said the Hudson’s Bay Company had a long-standing and mutually-beneficial alliance with the local Cree people. Because the initial company settlers landed in Cree territory, the Cree were the first Indigenous group to be fully equipped with modern tools and weapons.

“Any trading that came to the company had to go through Cree territory, and that made the Cree very powerful during that period,” Friesen said. “Through that alliance, the Cree were able to expand their territory drastically.”

Although Fort Carlton was fortified against attack, and tensions sometimes ran high, Friesen said the strain never boiled over into outright hostilities.

“There were no police here, no military, and it’s pretty amazing that there was never a battle fought here,” he said.

Friesen said the local First Nations tribes camped outside the gates of Fort Carlton on a semi-permanent basis, largely while waiting for shipment supplies to be brought in on York boats so they would have first choice of goods. Because the boats were often delayed, Friesen said the Cree word for the area – Pēhowin –translated roughly into “the place of waiting.”

Treaty 6 was signed at Fort Carlton in 1876, Friesen said, after Chiefs Mistawasis and Ahtahkakoop pressured the Canadian government by blocking the construction of a proposed telegraph line meant to stretch through Cree territory all the way to Fort Edmonton.

“It changed everything,” Friesen said. “The buffalo had disappeared in what’s now Manitoba already in the 1850s, so hunters were coming from there to this area to hunt.”

Facing mounting population pressure as hunters entered their territory in pursuit of the remaining buffalo, Friesen said the First Nations leaders pushed for a treaty knowing they would have to end their reliance on the buffalo herds soon if they were to survive.

In the years following the treaty signing, Fort Carlton was gradually eclipsed by the rapidly-growing Prince Albert as the primary spot to settle and trade in the region.

“It’s Prince Albert’s fault,” Friesen said with a laugh. “James Isbister and then Reverend Nisbet settled down there, and that became a hub for settlement.”

In addition to the rapidly-growing town providing opportunities not found at the fort, Friesen said the area around Prince Albert had much better lumber which allowed for easier and cheaper construction.

“There was just less and less trade here,” Friesen said. “Once the buffalo disappeared it could no longer be a provisioning post…eventually the centre of the department was moved from here to Prince Albert as well.”

In 1885 the fort burned down during the North West Rebellion, Friesen said, and there was little value seen in rebuilding. As a result, while other trading posts became the foundations for cities such as Edmonton and Winnipeg, Fort Carlton was largely abandoned.

Today, the restored fort operates as a provincial park managed by the Saskatchewan Government. Friesen said staff have restored six of the original dozen buildings, and they maintain a collection of more than 1,000 furs. With as much attention to authentic detail as possible, the staff have ensured that you can travel back 150 years just by walking through the gate.

Taylor.macpherson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @TMacPhersonNews