Jasper Alberta Index
Alberta Basic History
1880
Caroline Adam, Metis, b-1880, St Albert, (Alberta), daughter Clarisse Paul, Metis, b-1857 and Ambroise Adam aka Fagnant b-1856.
Isabel Blandion, Metis, b-1880 St. Albert (Alberta), daughter Antoine Blandion, b-1833 and Josephte Klyne, b-1855, Red River.
Patrice Blandion, b-1880, St Albert (Alberta), son John Blandion and Olive L'Hyrondelle, b-1855 Lac Ste Anne (Alberta).
Michel Calehoue, b-1880 Lac Ste Anne (Alberta) son Joseph Callio b-1848 Lac Sre Anne (Alberta) and Elizabeth Plante, born MNay 12, 1858 Lac Ste Anne (Alberta); married A,elia b-1886.
Trail Creek des Metis, marriage Felix Blivan, Metis b-1856 Alberta married Ann Metis b-1864 Alberta, one child is recorded William F. b-1881 Alberta likely Trail Creek.
Rose Chalifoux, Metis b-1880 Lac La Nun (Alberta), son Joseph Chalifoux, Metis, b-1838, Lesser Slave Lake (Alberta), and Julie Campion, b-1841 Lake McLeod
Joseph Descheneaux, Metis, b-1880 Fort Saskatchewan son Charles Descheneaux, Metis, b-1852, married 1874 St. Albert, Anne Tanner, Metis b-1857.
(I)-Francis Jeffery Dickens (1844-1886) R.C.M.P. is again stationed Fort MacLeod.
Joseph Dumont, Metis, b-1880, Kootney Lake, (Alberta) son Jean Baptiste Dumont Jr. Metis, born June, 1852, Slave Lake (Alberta) and Philomene Vanesse Metis born October 1856..
Anson Ely, a United States army deserter, married Fort MacLeod, Susy, daughter Stokos Minnestokos, a Blood Indian.
Fort MacLeod, birth William Gladstone son William Gladstone Jr., (1845-1891), and Marie Samat Vandal, b-1855.
Justine L'Hyrondelle, Metis, b-1880, St. Albert (Alberta) son Euphrosine Beauregard, Metis, b-1851 and Magloire L'Hyrondelle, b-1850, Lac Ste Anne (Alberta).
Edouard L'Hirondelle, Metis b-1880, Lac La Nun ( Alberta), son Augustin L'Hyrondelle, Metis, b-1849, Fort Edmonton (Alberta) and Nancy Bellerose, b-1857.
Nancy L'Hyrondelle, Metiis, b-1880 St. Alberta (Alberta) daughter John L'Hyrondelle, b-1851 St. Albert (Alberta) and Angelique Callion, Metis, b-1865 Lac Ste Anne (Alberta).
Trail Creek des Metis, birth, Mary Whitford married Sam Todd. This family came many years early with 18 Red River carts hauled by oxen, except for two horses. Elizabeth Whitford is a daughter of Francis Whitford and Jane Anderson, Francis is brother of Donald Whitford, brother of Archie Whitford born 1877 and brother of Mary Whitford; Elizabeth married Anderson.
Mountain Mill, 60 miles west of Fort Macleod, was created to teach the Blood Indians of the area the lumbering trade. John Kean of Orillia, Ontario came out to set up the operation but it failed, some say, because John Kean could not work with the Indians. Others said it was because the Indians didn't want to work. One year after it was built Edgar Dewdney recommended it be sold. The enterprise was sold to Peter McLaren, of Perth, Ontario with W.R. Lees running the operation. Despite a change of management every year or so, the managers from Ontario treated their workers like slaves.
Some little known Metis settlements, which formed after the exodus from Red River include:
Sturgeon Lake east of Lac Ste Anne, Big Lake east of Lac Ste Anne near St. Albert, Flying Shot Lake west of Grande Prairie, Trail Creek des Metis at the Red Deer River and Buffalo Trail Creek and Kelly Lake near Pouce Coupe, B.C. on the Alberta, B.C border.
Boundry Creek about 12 miles west of hiway #2 between Cardston and Carway was a little known Metis settlement at its peak contained 55 houses and 182 people. It was a hunting/trading settlement but also attracted gold miners from Montana. Some suggest a gang of counterfeiters may have held up in the area. The RCMP suspected horse and cattle stealing and established a post at Police Lake.
Fort Calgary and vicinity hosted a population of 75 people.
Fort Normandeau (1880-1895) is built near Red Deer, (Alberta).
Trail Creek began to diminish in value as the buffalo became more scarce.
Dan Williams aka Nigger Dan, the first Black Man in the north arrived Fort Saskatchewan and is charged with attempted murder by James McKinlay. Banjo Mike acted as his counsel and said "Let me tell you this: I know as many miners know, that Dan Williams can take the eye out of a jackrabbit at every pop at a hundred yards. Gentlemen, had Dan William had the slightest intention of harming Mr. McKinley, he would not have been here today to tell you the amusing little story whereby he gives you credit from some sense of humor without paying you much of a compliment for intelligence." Williams beat the charge.
Frank Oliver bought a downtown Edmonton lot from Malcolm McLeod for twenty five dollars. Malcolm McLeod got twenty five dollars worth of job-printing from Frank's Bulletin printing press.
Coal was noted in the Drumheller (Alberta) area but no commercial activity would take place until the turn of the century.
March 13: Victoria, Alberta located 90 km NE Fort Edmonton, birth Maria Spence, daughter, Andrew Spence Sr., b-1842 and Nancy Whitford, b-1850.
Norman MacLeod arrived old Fort MacLeod, Alberta.
Crowfoot, the great Chief of the Blackfoot Confederation, gave permission for the CPR to cross Blackfoot land. They crossed between Medicine Hat and Calgary. The Chief received a life time pass, which he wore around his neck in a leather case. The CPR honored the pass that he used on occasion.
The naming of Whitehorse, Yukon is attributed to a unnamed poetic prospector who on descending the Yukon River this year thought the white-water rapids with their purling caps resembled the manes of white horses flying in the wind.
September 8: Imperial Oil Limited is incorporated at London, Ontario. Imperial Oil Limited would later become known as EXXON Corporation because neither Canada nor England could see any future in the Oil Business.
October 26: Egg Lake (Alberta), birth Auguste L'Hyrondelle, Metis, son Jean Baptiste L'Hrondelle, Metis b-1854 and Elizabeth Beaudry, b-1861.
November 21: Victoria, Alberta located 90 km NE Fort Edmonton, birth Edwin Whitford, Metis, son Simon Whiteford, Metis b-1849 Alberta and Elizabeth Anderson, Metis b-1859 Alberta, living Pakan, Alberta 1901, daughter John Anderson Jr. b-1827 and Christie Whitford, b-1833.
December 8: The Edmonton Bulletin began publishing, being owned by Frank Oliver (1853-1933), son Allen Bowsfield, and Alexander Taylor. The paper is five and one half by eight inches in size printed on a toy hand press, by Frank Oliver (1853-1933), son Allen Bowsfield.
1881
The population of Calgary is listed as 100 and Fort Edmonton as 263..
Egg Lake (Alberta), birth Louison Beaudry son Narcisse Beaudry, b-1845 and Lucie Breland, born February 22, 1848 Red River.
Margaret Blandion, Metis, b-1881, St. Albert (Alberta), daughter Antoine Blandion, b-1833 and Josephte Klyne, b-1855, Red River.
Agnas Cardinal, Metis, b-1881, Lac La Biche (Alberta), daughter Gabriel Cardinal dir Labatoche, b-1835 and Marie Bruneau, Metis b-1837.
Marcel Cardinal, b-1881, St. Paul des Metis (Alberta) son, Gabriel Cardinal dit Labatoche, b-1835 and Marie Bruneau, b-1837
Bill Cust near Sturgeon River (Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta) planted one hundred thirty acres to wheat, thirty six to barley and twenty to oats. This is likely (I)-William Cust, b-1825, of Ireland who homesteaded the Cut Bank Farm in St. Albert who this year harvested 130 acres, yielding 30 bushels to the acre, 12 acres of barley, yielding 36 bushels to the acre and 12 acres oats, yielding 25 bushels per acre. Its noteworthy that Sturgeon river starts at Big Lake, runs through St. Albert and enters the Saskatchewan River at Fort Saskatchewan.
(I)-Francis Jeffery Dickens (1844-1886) R.C.M.P. is stationed Blackfoot Crossing, Bow River (Alberta west of Fort Calgary).
Fort MacLeod, (Alberta), birth Madeleine Gladstone daughter William Gladstone Jr., (1845-1891), and Marie Samat Vandal, b-1855.
Veronique Gladu, b-1881, Lesser Slave Lake (Alberta) son Jean Baptiste Gladu, d-1881 and Mary Gaucher, born July 1849, Jasper House (Alberta); married 1895, Lesser Slave Lake, Bernard Giroux.
John Glen is at Fish Creek (south Calgary, Alberta).
Calgary, (Alberta), marriage Joseph Paquette, Metis, b-1858, Fort Pitt (Saskatchewan) son Henri Paquette born April 20, 1814, Quebec and Cecile Durand, b-1837, Fort Edmonton (Alberta), ; married Isabelle Anihanis.
Dick Steel and Billy Inglis arrived Beaver Lake (Alberta), and harvested their first crop in 1882 of wheat, oats and barley.
A Stony Indian showed John Healy of Fort Whoop Up (Alberta), a sample of copper-lead bearing ore from across the Bow River from Castle Mountain in Banff National Park (Alberta), . Healy is credited with creating a shack town called Silver City, (Alberta), which peaked at 3,000 people. However it was the CPR who created a scam in 1883 that created Silver City.
McKernan's cow of the south side of the Saskatchewan River (Strathconia) gave birth to two fine heifers calves, cow and calves doing fine.
Patrick, a geophysical surveyor, was sent out to the N.W. Territories by the Federal Government to search for oil in the west. He immediately recognized the potential in foothills ranching. No mention was made of oil.
A.P. Patrick brought in 200 head of cattle to Calgary (Alberta), from Winnipeg, Manitoba.
R. Pottewell homesteaded in the Clover Bar District (Alberta).
Edmonton, birth (II)-Olive (Dolly) Ross daughter (I)-Donald Ross (1840-1915) and (II)-Olive Blewitt born 1850
Trail Creek des Metis, (Alberta), marriage Louis Rushell, Metis b-1859 Alberta son Angelie Rushell, Metis b-1830 Alberta; married Julie Metis b-1865 Alberta. Three children are recorded, John b-1882 Alberta, William b-1889 Alberta, Louis b-1897 Alberta likely all at Trail Creek.
Trail Creek des Metis, marriage Andre Rushell, Metis b-1862 Alberta so Angelie Rushell, Metis b-1830 Alberta; married Magdelaine Metis b-1866 Alberta. Four children are recorded: Joseph b-1882 Alberta, Elizabeth b-1892 Alberta, Colin b-1893 Alberta, and Phelamine b-1899 Alberta likely all at Trail Creek.
Charles T. Russell founded the Jehovah witness movement in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
Fort Edmonton, marriage Godfrey McNeil Steele, to Julia Whitford, born October 11, 1863, Portage La Prairie, Manitoba.
Buck Smith is at High River south of Calgary.
The first settlers started to settle at Stony Plain, aka Dogrump Creek or Dog Creek, west of Fort Edmonton and were from Austria. Development was slow because Father Morin tried to discourage settlement in this area.
William Ust of St. Albert (Alberta) farmed 130 acres wheat, 12 acres of barley and 12 acres of oats. This appears to be an exaggeration for this time period.
Fort Edmonton, birth Maggie Vandal, Metis, daughter Norman Vandal, Metis, b-1857 and Julie Munroe, Metis, b-1859.
Edward Villeneuve Sr. married 1881, Lac La Biche, likely Lac La Biche, Alberta Adelaide Decoine, Metis, b-1860 Lac La Biche, daughter Francois Decoine Sr., married 1839, Lac La Biche and Josephte Desjarlais, Metis, b-1820.
Charlotte Whitford b-1881 Red River, living Assiniboia West 1891. Assiniboia could refer to southern Alberta, or south western Saskatchewan, at this time.
The LaBoucane Settlement, at Duhamel; on the banks of Battle River, Alberta; 20 miles east of Wetaskiwin (hills of peace) ,was begun by the Salois and LaBoucane, half-breed (Metis), families. By 1883, 10 families settled in the area, being engaged in transporting for the Hudson Bay.
In a census of South Edmonton, portion of treaty #6 records five hundred males and three hundred females; of which four hundred and eight speak French, two hundred and fifty speak English and ninety speak other languages.
The population of Calgary, likely only the immediate area, numbered 75 people.
The English suggest there are only 1,000 non-native settlers in Alberta. This likely excludes a few thousand Metis, who are not classified as settlers or non-native from a European perspective. It might be better to say that there are only 1,000 non-Canadians in Alberta. It is noteworthy that Trail Creek alone, in 1875, held 2,000 Metis, and greater Buffalo Lake to the North likely contained 2,000 to 3,000 more Metis in two communities. We must exercise extreme caution when we use European or Hudson Bay population counts, as they do not normally reflect reality. It is noteworthy that a few thousand Metis reside in Lac St. Anne, Big Lake, St. Albert and Lac La Biche; not counting lesser settlements.
The people who have taken up land, which was not surveyed in the region of Fort Edmonton, built on it and made there homes there, thinking they will receive the title. Whether they will or not remains to be seen.
Several settlers arrived Strathcona (Edmonton, Alberta) and made land claims. They had walked from Red River (Winnipeg, Manitoba) to Strathcona taking three months.
Cheap workers were required to build a railway across the Rockies and 17,000 Chinese responded for the brutally hard labor. They came as millhands, merchants, railway hands and gardeners.
The Dominion Government permitted the leasing of areas up to 100,000 acres to English ranchers for an annual rental of 1¢ per acre.
January 1: Fort MacLeod, birth Norman Minnestokoas MacLeod, Metis son Colonel MacLeod and Indian woman.
January 11: Calgary. birth, Patrick Scullen (Whiteman) Sr., son William Scullen (Whiteman) Sr., b-1878, Marguerite Ward b-1859 Red River.
January 13: The good citizens of Edmonton passed a resolution to relocate the Papaschase (Pap-Pa) Cree band in violation of Treaty #6. The Treaty is only signed twenty eight months earlier.
February 5: Lac La Biche, birth, James Edward Pruden son Charles Pruden Sr., b-1857, and, Rosalie Vandal, b-1859.
February 14, Pidgeon Lake, birth Elizabeth Whitford, daughter Francois Whitford Sr., b-1835 and Jane Anderson, b-1845.
March: Joseph Rabasca Deschamps, b-1881, Calgary (Alberta), son Jean Baptiste Rabasca Deschamps, b-1850 and Marguerite Berard, b-1856.
April 4: The population of the west is: Manitoba 62,260, B.C. 49,459 and NWT 56,446.
May 10: Lac La Biche (Alberta), birth Antoine Boucher son Narcisse Boucher Sr, b-1827 Quebec and Judith McCarthy, born December 10, 1935 Athabasca District; married Caroline, b-1883.
May 9: Nicholas Bird, Metis, b-1881, Strathcona (Edmonton, Alberta), died 1886, son William Robert Bird, Metis, b-1826 and Fanny Shirt, Metis, b-1856.
August: Fort Calgary (Alberta), birth (II)-William Glen, Metis, son (I)-John Glenn, born 1833 and Adelaide Belcourt, Metis born August, 1851.
November: birth Mary Ann Mary Bird, born November 1881, Red Deer River, North Swift Current, Assiniboine, died December 1882, in home of William Cromartie, South Branch of the Saskatchewan River, daughter Philip Bird and Mary Kipling.
December 31, Fort Edmonton, advertisement by Donald Ross, "A pig of the Shanghai pattern (female Gender) came to my premises two weeks ago. The owner better pay expenses and take it away, otherwise the pig will mysteriously disappear."