Description
The Original Fort Road was little more than a dirt track. It was part of the fur trade trail system stretching east to
Lower Fort Garry (Winnipeg). Known as the Carleton Trail after Fort Carlton, located midway along the route, it was
established in the mid-1800s. By the 1880s, Fort Road had gained importance as the trail connecting the booming
communities of Fort Saskatchewan and Fort Edmonton. The journey was considered a difficult one, with lengthy diversions
to avoid swamps and other hazards. In 1883, a resting place for weary travellers, known as the Halfway House, was built
northeast of Fort Edmonton.
Fort Road was a crucial link between the two forts and traftic was heavy: on just one morning in 1905, 175 teams were
said to be on the trail. The route was grav- elled in 1926 and oiled in 1930.
It has also been known as Fort Saskatchewan Road,Fort Saskatchewan Trail and Fort Trail. Fort Road, as it is now known,
originally wound its way from Jasper Avenue through northeast Edmonton to Fort Saskatchewan. One of the earliest
published references to its existence is an 1884 report in the Edmonton Bulletin newspaper in which the roadway was
referred to as the “old” Fort Saskatchewan Trail.
Fort Saskatchewan is located about 35 kilometres northeast of Edmonton. The North West Mounted Police established Fort
Saskatchewan in 1875, making it the force’s second post (the first was Fort Macleod) and the first in the region. When
the national transcontinental railway was first surveyed in the 1870s, a more northerly route was being considered. For
a time it was thought that Fort Saskatchewan would become the major centre in the vicinity, much to the displeasure of
Fort Edmonton. In an attempt to ensure Canadian sovereignty north of the 49th Parallel, another path was chosen, and in
1883 the Canadian Pacific Railway’s route took it through Calgary to the south. Fort Saskatchewan became a town in 1904
and a city in 1985.
Feature Type
Road
Designation Year
1962