A Hudson's Bay Co. post (HBC records cover 1793 - 1912) that was headquarters for the Swan River District. Also known as Indian Elbow Post. Rebuilt after destroyed by a flood in 1825. Rebuilt again in 1842 after a fire. Fort Pelly Site #1 PHS. Rebuilt entirely in 1856 0.4 km southeast of the original site. Fort Pelly Site #2 NHS. Later used by the North West Mounted Police. The abandoned post was sold and dismantled in 1921
Description of Historic Place
The Fort Pelly #1 Provincial Historic Site comprises 9.25 hectares of hay fields and wooded land near the Assiniboine River, approximately 13 kilometres southeast of the Town of Norquay. The property features the archaeological remains of a nineteenth-century Hudson’s Bay Company trading post.
Heritage Value
The
heritage value of the Fort Pelly #1 Provincial Historic Site lies in
its association with the Hudson’s Bay Company in the period following
its 1821 union with the North West Company, and in the information the
site’s archaeological remains reveal regarding life at the post.
Between 1791 and 1821, at least 16 posts belonging to the Hudson’s
Bay Company, the North West Company and various independent traders had
operated on the upper Assiniboine River. In some seasons, as many as
five competed simultaneously. Following the 1821 union, the Hudson’s
Bay Company began rationalizing its operations by closing posts and
amalgamating administrative units. The two surviving posts on the upper
Assiniboine were closed and the Swan River and Upper Red (Assiniboine)
River Departments were combined. In 1824, Fort Pelly, named for
Hudson’s Bay Company Governor J. H. Pelly, was built at the “Elbow” of
the Assiniboine as the principal post of the newly enlarged Swan River
Department. Although returns from the fur-depleted region were less
than satisfactory, Fort Pelly was maintained, even expanded over the
years, to discourage First Nations trappers from trading with American,
Métis and other competitors. Fort Pelly operated on this site until
1856, when it was relocated to avoid periodic flooding of the
Assiniboine River.
Archaeological excavations in the early 1970s uncovered structural
remains that showed how the post was built, expanded over time, and
rebuilt after a fire in 1843. The structural remains and over 15,000
recovered artifacts reflect the personal and domestic lives of the
post’s inhabitants, the business of trading and transporting furs, and
other important post industries and activities that included the
manufacture and repair of trade goods, boat building, livestock raising,
and gardening.
Source:
Province of Saskatchewan, Order in Council 870/86, August 21, 1986.