history
Alberta’s eastern slopes have been utilized for both resource extraction and recreation since the mid-1700s. In 1799 the Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company each established the Rocky Mountain House and Acton House fur trading posts. Trade with the local aboriginal peoples continued until 1821 when the companies merged and closed the Rocky Mountain House trading post. The name of the post remained, however. The following represents a timeline of the development of the eastern slopes:
1806 - Métis Jacques Raphael (Jacco) Findlay, along with MacMaster and two others blazed a trail through Findlay Pass (Howse Pass) and down the Blaeberry River. Findlay was hired by the North West Company to cut the trail for David Thompson’s expedition to the Columbia River.
1807 - David Thompson of the North West Company traveled through Howse Pass and built Fort Kootenay at Windermere Lake, B.C.
1810 - David Thompson, surveyor, makes first recorded visit to Alberta's Athabasca Valley.
1813 - North West Company built a supply depot on Brule Lake. When Jasper Haws took command of the post in 1815, it became known as “Jasper's House.” The name was adopted to avoid confusion with Rocky Mountain House on the North Saskatchewan River.
1819-1820 - "Tête Jaune" or "Yellowhead," also known as Pierre (Bostonnais) Hatsinaton, guided
Hudson's Bay employees in December 1819 when Ignace Giasson took charge of a push up the Smoky (River) and enlisted the help of Tête Jaune. The party traveled across the mountains to make friends with the Indians who lived on the Fraser River, upstream from the present-day Prince George.
1835-1850 - Colin Fraser manned the second Jasper House for fifteen years from 1835 to 1850. He entertained some of the first tourists such as the famous artist Paul Kane who came to paint the region. Father P.J. deSmet visited Colin Fraser in 1845. He was a Jesuit missionary.
1859 - The Earl of Southesk, one of the earliest eastern slopes "tourists," visited what is now Jasper National Park. He was a on a hunting trip seeking to bag wildlife trophies.
1859-1861- Henry John Moberly set out for Jasper from Edmonton in the fall of 1858. He left the Jasper post in 1861, leaving his wife and two young sons behind.
1862 - The Overlanders were made up of 150 adventurers who traveled over Leather (Yellowhead) Pass and suffered many hardships. They were prospectors who were seeking fortunes in the B.C. goldfields.
1898 – The Columbia Icefield was discovered.
1907 - Dominion Government established Jasper Forest Park, setting aside an area of 13,000 km,
without consulting the seven families that were living in the Athabasca Valley.
1909 – Isadore Findlay’s family leaves Jasper after guns were seized and it was impossible to feed his
family.
1910 – Ewan Moberly, Bill Moberly, Adolphus Moberly, John Moberly, and Adam Joachim’s families leave Jasper after guns were seized, and it was impossible to feed their families.
1911 - Grand Trunk Pacific Railway reaches Fitzhugh (now Jasper, Alberta) Station.
1913 - Embarras was founded in 1913 by the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (GTP) when that company built its "Coal Branch Line" south from Edson on the Edmonton-Prince Rupert mainline. The Coal Branch Line was constructed by the Grand Trunk Pacific Branch Lines Company from the mainline at Bickerdike south to Coalspur and Lovett. Coal mines were opened by GTP subsidiaries at Mercoal, Cadomin and
Mountain Park.
1924 - One of the earliest oil wells in the Alberta foothills was drilled near Coalspur. In 1924 Imperial Oil sank a test well near the town, and discovered a significant flow of natural gas that was used to heat boilers in the camp. No commercial quantity of petroleum was found, however, and drilling ceased in the area.
1928 - The Jasper-Edmonton road opens.
1930 - Jasper officially established as a National Park in Canada.
1959 - Norman Willmore was instrumental in getting legislation passed in 1959, which is now known as the Willmore Wilderness Park Act, to preserve traditional activities of hunting, trapping and horses use on the eastern slopes.
1969 – Town of Grande Cache is created on the edge of Willmore Wilderness Park and McIntyre Coal Mine begins production.