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A Fort is Built NWMP Fort, Fort Saskatchewan
1876
Fort Saskatchewan, Aberta

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Jarvis therefore sent his men east to a point very near the Sturgeon Creek, where they began to build a fort in April, 1875.

"We made our own shingles, raised the walls, put on the roof, a new experience to many; but a few of us had been bred in the rural districts in the east, where every boy in those days was supposed to have an axe in his hands within a few weeks of his birth," wrote Steele.

The police built a men's building, officers' quarters, a guard-room and stables. Despite the hard construction work, life remained somewhat easier than it had been on the trail.

"Our food at this time consisted of pemmican and mountain trout," Steele wrote. "The smallest trout weighted five and a half pounds, and many were over twelve pounds. These fish have a flavour quite equal to salmon, but one does not so soon tire of them.

As an addition to our larder large quantities of wild duck eggs were obtained from the shores of the lakes in the Beaver Hills, to the south of our post, and an old Indian moose-hunter, who lived in the hills, brought us quantities of game in exchange for flour and tea. The favourite was beaver, which when roasted is delicious food."