Fort Victoria, near present-day Smoky Lake, Alberta, Alberta, was established by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1864 as a trading post with the local Cree Indians. Today, it is a historical museum. Smoky Lake is a town in northern Alberta located north of Edmonton at the junction of Highway 28 and Highway 855. ... Motto: Fortis et liber (Latin: Strong and free) Official languages English (see below) Flower Wild rose Tree Lodgepole Pine Bird Great Horned Owl Capital Edmonton Largest city Calgary Lieutenant-Governor Norman Kwong Premier Ed Stelmach (PC) Parliamentary representation - House seats - Senate seats 28 6 Area Total - Land - Water (% of total... The Hudsons Bay Company (HBC; Compagnie de la Baie dHudson in French) is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and is one of the oldest in the world. ... See also: 1863 in Canada, 1865 in Canada and the list of years in Canada. Events June 29 - An train of newly arrived immigrants fails to stop at the open swing span near Beloeil, Canada East. ... A trading post is a place where trading of goods takes place. ... The Cree are an indigenous people of North America whose people range from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean in both Canada and the United States. ...
The oldest building in Alberta still on its original foundations is the clerk's quarters at Fort Victoria, which dates from 1865. Later the site of the Fort became home fo the McDougall Presbyterian missionary family. Still later, the settlement served as a base for Methodist missionaries to the Ukrainian Canadians. See also: 1864 in Canada, 1866 in Canada and the Timeline of Canadian history. ... The Presbyterian Church in Canada is the name of a Christian church, of Protestant, of presbyterian, and reformed theology and polity, serving in Canada under this name since 1875. ... The Methodist Church of Canada was a united church formed in 1880 and comprising most former Methodist denominations in Canada. ... A Ukrainian Canadian is a person of Ukrainian descent or origin who was born in or immigrated to Canada. ...
The post was also a vital stop on the trail from Winnipeg to Edmonton. The section of the this trail currently within the eastern part of the city of Edmonton is a now a paved road called Victoria Trail in honour of the fort. The Carlton Trail was the primary land transportation route connecting the various parts of the Canadian Northwest for most of the 19th Century. ...
The Fort lies with the Kalyna Country ecomuseum. The Kalyna Country ecomuseum is a heritage and eco-tourism district in East Central Alberta, named after the highbush cranberry plant, pronounced (Ka-liin-na) in the Ukrainian language. ...
Alberta is the leading beekeeping province of Canada, with some beekeepers wintering hives indoors in specially designed barns in southern Alberta, then migrating north during the summer into the Peace River valley where the season is short but the working days are long for honeybees to produce honey from clover and fireweed.
Alberta also has a large Hutterite population, a communal Anabaptist sect similar to the Mennonites, and a significant population of Seventh-day Adventists in and around the Lacombe area due to the presence of the Canadian University College.
Central and northern Alberta and the region farther north is the nesting-ground of the migratory birds.
The defensive structures for the outpost are dealt with in Archaeological Investigations: FortVictoria, 1974, 1975, and 1976.
A special survey of the Victoria settlement was undertaken in July 1878 by W.F. King, D.L.S. His topographical traverse, however, is not very enlightening as far as the H.B.C. fort was concerned.
The archaeological remains of the fence are discussed in Archaeological Investigations: FortVictoria, 1975.