Fort Pitt Provincial Park

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Fort Pitt Provincial Park is a provincial park in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It includes the site of Fort Pitt, a trading post built in 1829 by the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) on the North Saskatchewan River in Rupert's Land. It was built at the direction of Chief Factor John Rowand, previously of Fort Edmonton, to trade goods for bison hides, meat and pemmican. Pemmican, dried buffalo meat, was required as provisions for HBC's northern trading posts. In the 1870s the buffalo in the Fort Pitt area had been severely diminished through the overhunting necessary to meet the high demand from the HBC for pemmican. One academic journal states "with the disappearance of the buffalo, pork had replaced pemmican altogether", showing the drastic effects on the HBC of the depletion of the local buffalo population. Fort Pitt was built where the territories of the Cree, Assiniboine, and Blackfoot converged. It was located on a large bend in the river just east of the present day Alberta–Saskatchewan border and was the major post between Fort Edmonton and Fort Carlton. In 1876, it was one of the locations for signing Treaty 6. It was the scene of the Battle of Fort Pitt during the North...

See also: Saskatchewan River fur trade Fort Pitt (1829–1890) was a prairie trading post of the HBC on the North Saskatchewan River about 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) east of the present-day Alberta border. It was on the north bank of the river on a flat above a bluff. It traded mainly in pemmican and buffalo robes with the Blackfoot, Cree, and some Métis. There was a fair amount of agriculture and horse-rearing. It was named after Thomas Pitt, a member of the HBC governing board from 1810 to 1832.

Bison and the establishment of Fort Pitt

In 1690, Henry Kelsey from the HBC became the first European to walk the prairies of Rupert's Land and see the abundance of bison. For thousands of years dating back to the Western Archaic and the Avonlea Periods, First Nations have stalked, hunted, and followed the migration of bison along the prairies. Prior to European contact with North America, the bison was the most numerous of all grazing animals. Estimates of their numbers are only speculative, but may have ranged from 30,000,000 to 75,000,000. By the beginning of the nineteenth century, the production of pemmican on the plains had become an industrial-scale operation. For many years, prairie bison also provided pelts, hides, and other food. In the early 1800s, various fur-trading companies began strategically placing numerous trading posts on the maze of northern waterways. The Saskatchewan River provided access to the south-western area of Rupert's Land and to the Sturgeon-Weir River, which led to the Churchill River. These vast water highways spanned the future province from east to west. In 1830, Fort Pitt was established on the North Saskatchewan River by the HBC in what was at its time known as the heart of buffalo country. The fort was built by Chief Factor John Rowand to meet the provisions necessary for the HBC, such as buffalo meat, hides, and pemmican.

Fort Pitt was established in September 1829 by HBC company clerk Patrick Small, the son of North West Company (NWC) partner Patrick Small, the brother-in-law of David Thompson and John MacDonald and the son-in-law of David Hughes. During the first winter Small and his men lived in tents, and building was not completed until spring 1831. It was closed in 1832 for fear of attack by surrounding Cree and Blackfoot, though it reopened in fall 1833. [ citation needed ]

In 1843, John Rowand, the son of John Rowand of Fort Edmonton, became master. In 1854, the elder Rowand, on his way to retirement, visited his son. While breaking up a fight between two voyageurs, he had a heart attack and died. [ citation needed ]

In 1873, the bison market came to an abrupt end when Fort Pitt, once one of the most reliable sources of provisions in the Saskatchewan District, all but collapsed. The demands of numerous HBC and NWC trading companies along Saskatchewan waterways in the 1800s significantly depleted the once well established bison population. With completion of the US Union Pacific Railroad in 1869, between 1868 and 1881 an estimated 31,000,000 bison were killed, mostly as a result of trade in bison hide and sport hunting in the United States. Despite every exertion being made by the officer in charge of the post, who sent staff to follow up and traffic wherever Natives or buffalo could be found, parties returned empty handed from the South Branch territories. After the bison were gone, almost five-sixths of the provisions brought to the post arrived via independent parties who travelled long distances. Purchases of these crucial resources soon became "a heavy expense" on the post. Meanwhile, the rest of the upper Saskatchewan posts were satisfying the needs of HBC posts.

The economic and social impact the depletion of bison left on Indigenous tribes was devastating.

After the disappearance of bison in the lands surrounding Fort Pitt, Indigenous peoples attempted agriculture to provide food for their families. Their initial farming attempts failed because when choosing reserve land, chiefs had shown a decided preference for rolling, heavily wooded terrain that was better suited for traditional pursuits such as hunting and gathering than raising crops. Government authorities attributed this sorry outcome to "Indian idleness" rather than environmental circumstances. The agricultural aid promised in treaties such as implements, animals, and seeds was also slow in coming and inadequate. The government of Canada expected the Indian adoption of agriculture to be an overnight success on the Indian reserves and was more concerned with saving money than providing necessary assistance. As the trade and resources dwindled surrounding Fort Pitt, the federal government came to resent its existing treaty obligations. In particular, they came to resent the cost of feeding starving Indians and balked at assuming additional duties. Many even questioned why money should be spent on keeping a dying race alive. Canadian government officials adopted a "submit or starve" technique in an attempt to force Indigenous people into forfeiting rights, signing treaties, and moving onto reserves. Big Bear resisted signing the treaty, then moved his band onto a reserve near Fort Pitt.

The emergence of smallpox had devastating consequences on Fort Pitt and the surrounding area. The plague of illness further taxed the already diminished recourses at Fort Pitt. The depletion of the buffalo, a fundamental food source, paired with lack of knowledge surrounding the smallpox virus directly correlated to the 100 Cree lives lost in 1869-1870. The 100 dead Cree was the second-highest death toll due to smallpox of any recorded Cree population during this time. While these are recorded numbers some estimates are provided that the smallpox virus may have claimed the lives of half of all Cree. Some sources estimate upwards of 10,000 deaths were caused by the virus. "More than 100 infected Cree, forbidden from entering the fort, died outside the stockade. The dead laid [ sic ] for days until hungry wolves came from the forest and fought over the rotting bodies. Some sick Natives thought that if they could give the sickness back to the Canadians at Fort Pitt – where it had come from – they could stop the suffering themselves. So they hung around the fort, put their scarred faces against the pump handles and spat on the door knobs."

While smallpox had devastating effects on the population surrounding Fort Pitt its effects failed to penetrate the walls of the fort to any great extent. The Journal of the American Medical Association states that as few as three people were infected inside the fort itself. The author of the article said "I can only attribute this to the fact that Mr. John Sinclair had taken precaution early in the previous summer to vaccinate all of the persons residing there."

Fort Pitt provided hope to the many infected making the journey to seek aid at the fort. Many Cree set up temporary settlements in the surrounding area in hopes that the fort would be able to provide aid to the ill. The large congregation of Cree surrounding Fort Pitt may have been one of the reasons that accounts of death due to smallpox were so high in the surrounding areas.

As the relationship between Fort Pitt and the Cree began to grow, so did the tension between the Members of Fort Pitt and the Blackfoot. The Blackfoot's deemed any allies of the Cree to be enemies of the Blackfoot and thus open to exploitation and attack.

"The Blackfoot considered the Hudson's Bay Company to be in league with the Cree, so their relationship with the traders became tenuous. In 1863 the Blackfoot began to raid Fort Pitt itself." The fact that "Many Crees had intermarried with Hudson's Bay Company employees and were so friendly with them that the Blackfoot began to see the traders as their enemies as well."

Increased trading with the Woods and Plains Cree created fear amongst the HBC traders at Fort Pitt. The HBC worried that trading with the Cree would open the Cree as well as Fort Pitt itself up to raids by the Blackfoot. "The arrival of the Cree caused fear at the post that they would attract Blackfoot raiders and a possible attack on the post. Fort Pitt at the time was understaffed, both staff and the local Métis being away hunting on the plains or with the boat brigade." Blackfoot fighters made many attempts to intercept trading parties en route to the fort, as well as attempting raids on the fort itself.

Big Bear's presence and position within the Plains Cree was a defining factor in the relationship that Fort Pitt shared with the Cree nation. Big Bear was often described as an advocate for the peaceful negotiations between the Indigenous populations and the European settlers. Big Bear's presence in the area would have helped facilitate a less hostile environment, and would have been a significant factor in how the Plains Cree acted during the rebellion of 1885. "Despite their impoverished state and stinging sense of disillusionment and betrayal, Indians had made a solemn vow during the treaty negotiations to live in peace and were not prepared to break this pledge and plunge the region into war. Instead Big Bear and other senior Cree chiefs patiently sought a peaceful resolution to their grievances."

Fighters of Big Bear's band forced the surrender of Fort Pitt, letting the NWMP detachment there safely leave. After a second raid on the fort a couple weeks later, they burned down much of the fort.

The compassion that Big Bear showed for the value of human life was shown by his people's treatment of the HBC staff at Fort Pitt after the Cree takeover in 1885. "The absorption of the people of Fort Pitt into the camp, and of other people gathered from the surrounding countryside suggest that Big Bear and the other Woods Cree leaders saw this as essential in order to protect those whose lives might be in danger. Their goal was to keep them out of harm's way, not do harm to them. The great number of 'captives' or 'prisoners' had opted for the protection of the Cree camp upon the advice of aboriginal friends or leaders. This was difficult for the general non-Aboriginal public to comprehend." Many Fort Pitt inhabitants were so comfortable with the relationship between them and the Cree they would walk uncontested into the Cree camps even after the hostilities that took place at the fort.

Big Bear and 14 band members stood trial in Regina for their participation in the events of 1885 including the capturing of Fort Pitt. Even though Big Bear did not participate in the violence and spoke out against it, he was charged with treason, for not abandoning his band at the onset of the violence. He was ultimately convicted of treason and served three years at the Stony Mountain Penitentiary.

Even though Big Bear was a more powerful and recognized leader within the Crees and Saskatchewan area, Chief Sweet Grass played a large role in the securing of Treaty 6, as well as a leading role in dealing with the government. Due to Big Bear's predisposed bad reputation with McDougall, Alexander Morris had arrived to begin negotiations with a predetermined favouritism towards Chief Sweet Grass. Despite Chief Sweet Grass's holding only 25 lodges compared to Big Bear's 65, Sweet Grass was still seen as desirable because of the government belief in his ability to sway his fellow council members into signing. To try to secure his people's safety and well-being moving forward with the treaty, Chief Sweet Grass addressed the governors present as such: