1

Construction for the headquarters started in the spring of 1875, with a contract for wood delivered to the chosen site. The police recruits built the fort from scratch with some assistance through contract labour from the settlement.

In 1885, the troop swelled from 20 to 100 in order to protect and serve the barracks and settlement community from the Métis uprising. This in turn, caused another discussion on the location of the headquarters, which again resulted in contention between Edmonton and Fort Saskatchewan. The latter prevailed.

2

Preliminary Beginnings

3

The March West NWMP Camp
1879
North-West Territories

4

On April 26, Sub-Inspector Gagnon departed Fort Edmonton to start work on a police farm at the new site by erecting a corral for the cattle that were boarded by settlers from Victoria. On May 5, the full detachment with Jarvis arrived on the scene and made camp.

5

Naming the Fort

6

The Arrival of the Mounted Force Trail to the Fort
1884
Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta

7

The new site for the Fort had been authorized and was thought to have been 'much more likely to be the centre of a settlement than Edmonton' and that the land was 'very good for farming' and more suitable for water transport with shallow river bank slopes.

The fort was built at a location referred to as the Sturgeon Creek Post. When the troops arrived, the Cree natives called the police fort, Si-ma-gan-is, meaning the Soldier's House.

Further, as early as 1876, the St. Albert mission referenced the fort as 'chez les soldats', meaning the place where the soldiers live. Thus, the first documented names for Fort Saskatchewan came from a St. Albert mission newspaper which referred to the police post as 'la fort de la Saskatchewan'. Eventually, it was called The Fort on the Saskatchewan, and finally became Fort Saskatchewan.

8

The Construction of the Fort

9

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

10

The buildings of the North-West Mounted Police Headquarters was conducted by its 20 police officers with the assistance of general contractors within the area. The wood materials were supplied by James Christie for $3,090.52. Smaller contracts for labour and materials were secured by the settlers.

11

The Arrival of the Mounted Force Sam Steele
1875
Fort Saskatchewan, Aberta

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"FORT SASKATCHEWAN WAS BUILT ON LOGS. IT WAS FOUR HUNDRED FEET LONG AND ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY FIVE FEET WIDE."

Recollection quote from Inspector William Griesbach's son, A.H. Griesbach:

"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 birth, and where, in the early days of our boyhood, retired army and navy officers might have been seen on the roof of their log barns, shingling them or hand-spiking at the log heaps to make home for their sons. So there were we teaching ex-graduates and Irish land agents' sons to place shingles."

13

The men at the Fort

14

The Arrival of the Mounted Force The Attestation List
3 November 1873
Lower Fort Gary