Fort Pitt | |
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Battle of Fort Pitt
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Location | Saskatchewan, Canada |
Governing body | Parks Canada |
Website | Parks Canada |
Fort Pitt | |
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North Saskatchewan River Saskatchewan Canada. | |
Coordinates | 53°34′19″N 109°47′31″W / 53.572°N 109.792°W |
Site information | |
Controlled by | King George III/Queen Victoria |
Site history | |
Built | 1830 |
In use | 1830-1870's |
Battles/wars | Battle of Fort Pitt |
Fort Pitt was a fort built in 1830 by the Hudson's Bay Company that also served as a trading post on the North Saskatchewan River in Canada. It was built at the direction of Chief Factor John Rowand, previously of Fort Edmonton, in order to trade for bison hides, meat and pemmican. Pemmican, dried buffalo meat, was required as provisions for HBC's northern trading posts.
Fort Pitt was built where the territories of the Cree, Assiniboine and Blackfoot converged. It was located on a large bend in the river just east of the present day Alberta-Saskatchewan border and was the major post between Fort Edmonton and Fort Carlton. In 1876, it was one of the locations for signing Treaty 6. It was the scene of the Battle of Fort Pitt during the Northwest Rebellion of 1885.
The site was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1954. It is now operated as the Fort Pitt Provincial Park.
Fort Pitt (1829–1890) was a prairie trading post of the Hudson's Bay Company on the North Saskatchewan River about 10 miles east of the Alberta border. It was on the north bank of the river on a flat above a bluff. It traded mainly in pemmican and buffalo robes with the Blackfoot, Cree and some Métis. There was a fair amount of agriculture and horse-rearing. It was named after Thomas Pitt, a member of the HBC governing board from 1810 to 1832.
The fort was established in September 1829 by HBC company clerk, Patrick Small, the son of North West Company partner, Patrick Small, the brother-in-law of David Thompson and John MacDonald and the son-in-law of David Hughes. During the first winter Small and his men had to live in tents, and building was not completed until the spring of 1831. It was closed in 1832 for fear of attack by surrounding Cree and Blackfoot, though it reopened in the fall of 1833.