Canada 150 Roadtrip: Fort Saskatchewan Heritage Precinct

The City of Fort Saskatchewan is just northeast of Edmonton, Alberta, and was founded as an outpost for the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) in the 1870s. The NWMP are the precursors to the famous Royal Canadian Mounted Police, or Mounties. Fort Saskatchewan recently built a historical reconstruction of its original fort and I had the good fortune to visit it this evening. The museum display panels inside the stables of the fort are well-researched, well-written, and well-designed. You cannot access the site without a guide present, but when you do get the chance the fort is well worth it! The charming and knowledgeable interpretive guide Sally Scott showed us around and spoke to us of daily life in the fort, as well as one of the infamous people imprisoned there.

My favourite anecdote of the evening.

Taxidermy Ruffed Grouse hanging in the ice house.

My favouite artifact: a hatpin made from a NWMP button.

Bison hides on the beds in the men’s quarters. (I was playing a game of “spot the bison artifacts”.)

Mountie mannequin wearing a buffalo robe coat.

My favouite artifact: a hatpin made from a NWMP button.

The story of Swift Runner, the man possessed by the Windigo spirit who ate his family.

The engaging and ever-knowledgeable interpreter Ms. Scott.

The interpreter interpreting to my friend!

A beautiful model of what the fort’s stables would have looked like.

Behind one of the photographs of a mountie’s family were these racy images…

Further Reading

• Want to know more about the early days of the Mounties? I recommend Charles Wilkins, The Wild Ride: A History of the North West Mounted Police, 1873-1914.
• Want to know more about the most infamous man hanged in Fort Saskatchewan? Check out this previous blog post of mine: “‘Additional Information: Ate His Family’: Wendigos and Murder Trials in 19th Century Western Canada.”

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