All Edmontonians know that getting around in the dead of
winter can be tricky business. Vehicles don't start, bicycles
slide out from beneath you and the snow and cold just make you want
to stay in bed for days on end. In Edmonton's past, however,
there was one very effective way of getting around during the
winter, even in the coldest weather. Snowshoeing was one way
to travel that was virtually fail-proof, as long as the snowshoer
was sufficiently bundled up in warm clothes!
Evidence has shown that the earliest form of snowshoes were
basic slabs of wood which were strapped onto the feet, existing as
early as 4000 BC in Central Asia. This basic invention
travelled with early humans as they migrated elsewhere, with the
idea developing into skis in Northern Europe and into snowshoes in
North America, similar to those we use today. This invention
allowed for easier hunting and travelling, and was used simply as a
mode of transportation until the late 1800's, when recreational
snowshoeing clubs became popular in Eastern Canada. These
clubs were initially only open to men, and their gatherings would
usually consist of a bit of snowshoeing and of much socializing and
gaiety.
In modern days, the popularity of snowshoeing is on the
rise. It provides a fun, safe form of winter exercise that
can range from taking a leisurely stroll to being an intense form
of exertion. Here at Fort Edmonton Park, we are lucky to be
located within Edmonton's beautiful River Valley, and each year we
collaborate with the John Janzen Nature Centre to offer snowshoe
tours to the public (falling on more of the "leisurely stroll" side
of things). These tours consist of training on snowshoeing
basics (learning how to fall and get back up is important!), a
guided lantern-lit walk along trails through the River Valley,
finding signs of animal life and learning about the nature of the
Edmonton area, and a short historical tour of our replica 1846 Fort
Edmonton, ending with cider by the fire and a horse-drawn wagon
ride back to where we started.
This year,
Snowshoe
Lantern Tours are offered four times: twice on the evening of
January 27th and twice on the evening of February 3rd. They
sell out quickly, so be sure to register for them early!
For more information or to register for these Snowshoe Lantern
Tours, call 311 or go to
http://ereg.edmonton.ca/Activities/ActivitiesDetails.asp?ProcessWait=N&aid=8912.
With the Anthony Henday ring road nearing completion in Edmonton,
we thought we'd share with you some of the history of the man
behind the name. This European explorer can largely be attributed
to setting the foundations of what would later become Fort
Edmonton, and later, the city we all call home. Join us, as we jump
back to a time to a place where there were no cars, no trains, no
electricity, and the North West was dotted with the tipis of the
Cree and Blackfoot, Nakoda and Tsu T'ina, and just beginning to
know the hoof prints of the horse and pony.
Born nearly 6,800 kilometers away in the Isle of Wight, UK, Anthony
Henday was a convicted smuggler who undertook a job as a labourer
and net-maker for the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort York (York
Factory) a fur trading post, on the southwestern shore of Hudson
Bay in what is now northeastern Manitoba, Canada. In 1754, Henday
agreed to accept a request from the governor of Fort York for
volunteers to travel west and explore the western interior of the
Company's fur trading domain.
The purpose of this expedition (shown in green above) was to
convince inland native trappers to bring their goods and furs to
Fort York on the Bay instead of dealing with French inland traders
or Cree middlemen. Henday left Fort York in the summer of 1754 with
a group of the post's Cree trading partners, led by "Conawapa," who
agreed to let Henday accompany them west in the summer of 1754.
Henday paddled west up the Saskatchewan River and was introduced to
numerous Assiniboine, Blackfoot and even some French traders along
the way, suggesting that while he was the first European to record
his journey to this part of the interior, Henday was preceded by
his French rivals. On the prairie south of present day Red Deer,
Henday began writing of the encounters between himself and a group
of people his Cree hosts called "
Archithinues", thought to
be a band of
Nitsitapii or Blackfoot-speaking peoples.
Despite Henday's efforts and promise of good powder, shot, cloth
and fine beads in return for furs and meat, the
Archithinue chief was unimpressed with the offer of trade.
The journey to the Bay was long, and they preferred to obtain
European goods through middlemen such as the Cree rather than alter
their lifestyle so significantly. This failure didn't sway Henday's
persistence as he continued to try to encourage the Hudson's Bay
Company to expand out west and the plains nations journey to the
east. This was one of his many trips Henday took around what is
present day Saskatchewan and Alberta. In 1765, Henday left the HBC,
as he felt that his efforts were largely unappreciated - with
French traders distracted by colonial war in the East, their
competition was reduced and Henday's employers felt no more need to
move inland.
Later that century, fur trading competition between the Hudson's
Bay Company and the North West Company heated up and finally helped
lead to the establishment of inland trading posts on the Western
Plains. In 1794, the North West company constructed Fort Augustus
near what is present day Fort Saskatchewan. One year later, not
wanting to be outdone, Henday's old masters, the Hudson's Bay
Company, built Edmonton House merely "a musket shot" away, which
served as the ancestor of the Fort Edmonton we know and love.
Forty years after their first meeting, the Achithinues'
descendants were finally trading directly with the HBC as Henday
had once hoped, but it was the Bay which ultimately had to come to
the plains, not the plains to the Bay.