Village Squire, 1979-03, Page 23TRAVEL
Fort Edmonton Park
provides glimpses
of past eras
BY
PHIL O'REILLY
Let your imagination take over for a few
moments and visualize:
Chief Factor John Rowand, all spit and
polish. feet planted firmly and slightly
apart, hands clasped behind his back. He's
standing on the third storey balcony of his
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residence surveying, with critical eye his
domain.
In this case his domain is a place called
Fort Edmonton and the year is 1846. Not
that long ago in terms of history you might
suggest, but an era as different from today
as day is from night.
Fortunately, today, as a result of a
mammoth and superb reconstruction
project, You can stand on that same
balcony, strike the same pose and see the
same things that Rowand--the major domo
of this Hudson's Bay Company Fort --ob-
served over a century ago. Undoubtedly it
was a beehive of activity.
To the left, the clerks' quarters. Straight
ahead a large bustling courtyard. Beyond
the courtyard, to the left, a corral and
stable. Immediately in front at the extreme
end of the courtyard, the married men's
quarters, carpenter's shop and black-
smith's shop. And to the extreme right an
area set aside for the construction of the
famous York boats, the main means of
transportation during this golden age of
the fur trade.
However, to suggest that this enclosure
was the entire domain of Rowand, would
be to minimize the importance of such an
individual during those times. Fur was
king and so in essence, was the status of
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Rowand. History records that he was "of
fiery disposition and bold as a lion." He
probably had to be in order to deal
effectively with the rugged people who
surrounded him during this rugged time in
Canadian history.
Suffice to say that Rowand rose through
the ranks of the company to become chief
factor of this important fort and literally
controlled an area that took in the southern
half of the province of Alberta and the
southwestern quarter of the province of
Saskatchewan. You could stick a lot of
countries inside that kind of real estate.
Rowand was born in Montreal in 1789,
son of Alexander Rowand, a medical doctor
who came to Canada from Edinburgh,
Scotland. At 14 years he was out in the
world working for the North West
Company and rose through the ranks
rapidly, continuing his rise toward chief
factor after the NWC merged with the
Hudson's Bay Company.
In describing Fort Edmonton, in effect,
we're descibing the very beginnings of the
city of Edmonton, booming capital of the
province of Alberta. Much effort and skill
were put into the five -years of reconstruct-
ion that resulted in Fort Edmonton Park,
an on-going project on 158 acres of land
designed to preserve, for generations to
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1
March 1979. Village Squire 21