Footprint of old fur trading fort found in Canada's Rossdale Flats

Archeologists have uncovered a palisade trench on the Epcor grounds that for the first time pinpoints the location of one of the early Edmonton fur trading forts. 

A dig at the Epcor site by archeologist Nancy Saxberg in May 2012 [Credit: Edmonton Journal]

“That would make it one of the earliest non-native structures in the City of Edmonton,” said archeologist Nancy Saxberg, who excavated under the concrete floor of a 1950s machine shop in May and July as part of the expansion of the Epcor water offices and decommissioning of the power plant in the downtown river valley. 

What she found isn’t much to look at — a 50 centimetre-wide line of disturbed soil in a layer of silty, light-coloured sub soil that was ground level at the time of the fur traders. But it’s definitely a man-made trench and far too wide to be part of a house or other building, she said. It varied in depth from about 80 centimetres to one metre, with clear steps between them. 

“It may have been the trench that held the outer stockade. That’s really cool because we haven’t been able to put on a map exactly where the forts were,” she said. “That’s really an exciting find. We were really lucky to catch it.” 

Saxberg also found artifacts inside and along the west side of the trench, suggesting that’s the interior and the actual fort will be found in the 36 to 40 metres between her study site and the east side of the historic power plant. 

The old fort site is 200 metres from the known burial ground, on land that will be returned to the city for redevelopment once Epcor’s decommissioning process is complete. 

Archeologist Nancy Saxberg working at a dig on the Epcor site in May 2012 [Credit: Edmonton Journal]

“It’s not intact but I think there’s enough there. There would be something to see if you did excavate it out,” Saxberg said. 

The City of Edmonton grew out of those first fur-trading outposts. Archeologists have already excavated a fifth-generation version that was built higher up the bank, on what is now the lower legislature grounds. 

This new site of the early fort could be a “windfall” for the city as it develops West Rossdale into a unique and trendy area, said Sol Rolingher, River Valley Alliance past-chairman. 

The city is considering plans for a funicular or other mechanized access for pedestrians down 104th Street. Rolingher is working with staff from Stantec to develop a canal or water feature proposal. A historic interpretation could add yet another level of interest, Rolingher said. 

“This new site could be outlined and you could walk it,” he said. “There’s nothing that old in this city. This is a huge windfall for us.” 

Stone pipe found at a dig at the Epcor site by archeologist Nancy Saxberg in May 2012 [Credit: Edmonton Journal]

There’s definitely potential, Coun. Ed Gibbons said. “I’m for history. Let’s see what this is about. I’m curious to find out more.” 

Fur traders first arrived in the Edmonton area in about 1795, when the twin forts Edmonton House of the Hudson’s Bay Company and Fort Augustus of the Northwest Company, were built just across the river from what is now Fort Saskatchewan. 

The fur traders pulled up the stakes and moved both forts to the Rossdale flats at the beginning of the 1800s. Few details are known about the reasons for the move since the Hudson’s Bay Company journals for those years were lost, Saxberg said. 

They only stayed a few years before moving again. “In 1810, both the companies decided the trade wasn’t very good in the Edmonton area and they moved out, significantly east of the city, at the mouth of what’s called the White Earth River, and they built two more forts,” said Saxberg, a Calgary-based archeologist hired by Epcor. 

They stayed three years, then moved back to Edmonton’s Rossdale flats in 1813, before floods drove them up the bank to what’s now the lower legislature grounds. 

A dig at the Epcor site by archeologist Nancy Saxberg in May 2012 [Credit: Edmonton Journal]

The stockade wall Saxberg found might have surrounded both of the twin forts, she said. In addition to the trench, Saxberg found many artifacts of fort life, including many glass beads used in trading and rings and earrings. She found a plain brass button she’s hopping to date from the manufacturer, and hundreds of discarded rib bones from moose, elk and other wild game. Apparently, “they liked ribs,” she said, jokingly. 

She also found “lots of fragments of clay pipes because the old clay pipes had really long stems on them. They would break off, and people would just keep smoking them until their lips were burning. It was kind of like the well-preserved cigarette butts of the past.” 

Finally, she found an aboriginal artifact, a stone pipe decorated with a zigzag design. Ethnologists at the Royal Alberta Museum are studying photos to try to determine which tribe it came from. 

“It’s a beautiful piece, extraordinarily rare. A fabulous find,” said Jack Brink, curator at the Royal Alberta Museum. The zigzag design might indicate the pipe came from the Blackfoot since they have a story about a scout running a zigzag path down from a lookout to indicate he saw the enemy. That’s a pattern the Blackfoot, which traded at Fort Edmonton, often repeat. 

More study will be required, he said, but “the design (on this pipe) is quite distinctive and definitely made in a patterned style.” 

Author: Elise Stolte | Source: Edmonton Journal [August 09, 2012]