Fort Assiniboine

History

Local oral history tells of an early (possibly late 1700s) North West Company fur trading post south of Holmes Crossing (an early ferry crossing) on the Athabasca River. In 1821, the North West Company was merged with Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), who then undertook to reorganize its transportation routes, seeking out advantages and efficiencies in its operations. By then, trade on Lesser Slave Lake was in decline and the council adopted a resolution in 1823 calling for a fort further up the Athabasca River to reduce transport times. Under the new plan, Fort Assiniboine on the Athabasca River (the fort was originally named 'Athabaska River House') opened in 1824. The new route was used by the York Factory Express. The old canoe route involved going far north-northeast down the Athabasca to Fort Chipewyan and then southeast through Methye Portage to Lake Winnipeg. Though the fort never grew as large as some other Alberta forts, its role as a transportation hub and provision centre ensured its survival between the 1820s and 1880s. The fort burned to the ground after its abandonment by the HBC. No plans existed for its original layout, but, using clues from post administrators' log books and archaeological surveys, a replica was built on the site in 1980. It operates as a museum and friendship centre. In 1898, when the Chalmers, or Klondike Trail was cut through the Swan Hills, northwest of Fort Assiniboine to Lesser Slave Lake, the location again became a stopping point, with gold seekers crossing the river with a self-service ferry on their overland trek to the Yukon. The earliest homesteads in the area were filed in 1906 in the Holmes Crossing district (named for the ferryman William B. Holmes), across the Athabasca and downriver from Fort Assiniboine. Most came via…

Most-observed species

• Common Raven

  Corvus corax Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  27
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  23
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  23
• Canada Goose (canadensis Group)

  Branta canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  21
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  20
• Bald Eagle

  Haliaeetus leucocephalus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  13
• Yellow-rumped Warbler

  Setophaga coronata (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  13
• Black-billed Magpie

  Pica hudsonia (Sabine, 1823) · Aves
  11

Most recent

• M 4 — 2026-02-01
  40 km NW of Swan Hills, Canada