Paint Creek House

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Paint Creek House and Fort Vermilion (not to be confused with the Fort Vermilion in Mackenzie County, Alberta) were a pair of fur-trading posts on the North Saskatchewan River in Alberta, Canada, approximately 13 km (8.1 mi) west of the Saskatchewan border. Paint Creek House belonged to the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) and Fort Vermilion to the North West Company (NWC). For background see Saskatchewan River fur trade.

North Saskatchewan River river in Alberta and Saskatchewan

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 another major river to make up the Saskatchewan River. Its water flows eventually into the Hudson Bay.

Alberta Province of Canada

Alberta is a western province of Canada. With an estimated population of 4,067,175 as of 2016 census, it is Canada's fourth most populous province and the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces. Its area is about 660,000 square kilometres (250,000 sq mi). Alberta and its neighbour Saskatchewan were districts of the Northwest Territories until they were established as provinces on September 1, 1905. The premier has been Rachel Notley since 2015.

Saskatchewan Province of Canada

Saskatchewan is a prairie and boreal province in western Canada, the only province without a natural border. It has an area of 651,900 square kilometres (251,700 sq mi), nearly 10 percent of which is fresh water, composed mostly of rivers, reservoirs, and the province's 100,000 lakes.

Contents

Usage

In use from 1802 to 1816, both forts were on the north bank of the river across from Lea Park, which is at the mouth of the Vermilion River. They were inside a common stockade for protection, with Paint Creek House on the east and Fort Vermilion on the west. The location on the north bank also provided some protection from the Plains Indians to the south. Fort Vermilion was also known as Lower Fort des Prairies.

Lea Park, Alberta human settlement in Alberta, Canada

Lea Park is an unincorporated community in Alberta, Canada. It is located in east-central Alberta, between Lloydminster and Bonnyville.

Vermilion River (Alberta) tributary of the North Saskatchewan River in Alberta, Canada

The Vermilion River is a tributary of the North Saskatchewan River in east-central Alberta, Canada. Its lower course flows through the County of Vermilion River, which is named after this river. It has been said that this river got its name from the distinctive red clay on the edge of the river banks.

Plains Indians Native Americans/First Nations peoples of the Great Plains of North America.

Plains Indians, Interior Plains Indians or Indigenous people of the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies are the Native American tribes and First Nation band governments who have traditionally lived on the greater Interior Plains in North America. Their historic nomadic culture and development of equestrian culture and resistance to domination by the government and military forces of Canada and the United States have made the Plains Indian culture groups an archetype in literature and art for American Indians everywhere.

History

The 1802 foundation date is not certain. In 1808, Alexander Henry 'The Younger' was in charge for the NWC and Henry Hallet for the HBC. Alexander Henry's journals indicated the post had 106 people (30 servants and their families). In September 1809, Henry returned from Fort William, Ontario, and found some 300 tents of Blackfoot waiting for his trade goods. While trading he kept a swivel gun pointed at their camp to ensure good behavior. In 1810, both companies decided to move upriver to Fort Edmonton #3 at the northernmost point on the river; Fort Edmonton #2 was moved downstream at the same time, while the NWC post of Fort Augustus was paired with Edmonton and moved with it. The move started that spring but the old forts remained open. When Gabriel Franchère arrived in 1814, he found some 90 people there but few provisions to buy. Both posts were closed permanently in May 1816.

Alexander Henry the younger Canadian fur trader

Alexander Henry 'The Younger', was an early Canadian fur trader, explorer and diarist. From 1799 until his premature death in 1814 he kept an extensive diary which is the most complete record ever printed of the daily life of a fur trader in the north. These journals cover everything that happened to him in a most matter-of-fact manner and have yielded much material for historians and other researchers of that time period in North American history.

Fort William, Ontario former city in Ontario, Canada, amalgamated with Port Arthur to form Thunder Bay in 1970

Fort William was a city in Northern Ontario, located on the Kaministiquia River, at its entrance to Lake Superior. It amalgamated with Port Arthur and the townships of Neebing and McIntyre to form the city of Thunder Bay in January 1970. Since then it has been the largest city in Northwestern Ontario. The city's Latin motto was A posse ad esse featured on its coat of arms designed in 1900 by town officials, "On one side of the shield stands an Indian dressed in the paint and feathers of the early days; on the other side is a French voyageur; the center contains an elevator, a steamship and a locomotive, while the beaver surmounts the whole."

Gabriel Franchère Canadian explorer

Gabriel Franchère (1786–1863) was a French Canadian author and explorer of the Pacific Northwest.

Around 1980, there were a few cellar holes in a clearing at the end of a dirt road east of the Alberta Highway 897 bridge.

Alberta Highway 897

Alberta Provincial Highway No. 897 is a highway in the province of Alberta, Canada. It runs south-north in two sections, from Highway 14 north of Edgerton to Highway 55 south of Cold Lake, then from Kingsway at the west CFB Cold Lake limits to where Township Road 651 would be, west of Cold Lake Provincial Park. The south section runs between Highway 17 and Highway 41, the north section offers a route to resorts and vacation spots north of Cold Lake.

The archeological site was designated a provincial historic resource in 1976. [1] [2]

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Rocky Mountain House Town in Alberta, Canada

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References

  1. ↑ Government of Alberta. "Fort Vermilion". Alberta Register of Historic Places. Government of Alberta.
  2. ↑ "House Paint". Saturday, 14 January 2017

Coordinates: 53°39′50″N110°20′05″W / 53.66389°N 110.33472°W / 53.66389; -110.33472

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