Lieu historique provincial de Fort Carlton

Highway 212 west-northwest gives access to Fort Carlton Provincial Park. The park comprises 114 hectares of land in the North Saskatchewan River Valley. The archaeological remains of a 19th-century Hudson's Bay Company trading post and a partially reconstructed version of the post as it existed in the late 1870s are still visible. The reconstruction includes five buildings and the palisade of the post. The park also showcases remnants of the historic Carlton Trail, the trading post garden, and groves of maple trees logged for sugar and used to dry buffalo meat. 

Fort Carlton operated for 75 years with minor location changes and several phases of reconstruction. Its location on the buffalo winter range allowed the fort to become the Company's most important source of pemmican and related supplies. The fort was also a vital transportation hub. People and goods travelled from Hudson Bay, up the Saskatchewan River to Fort Carlton, then to posts further inland by river and trail. Furs moved to European markets in the opposite direction. 

Fort Garry, on the site of present-day Winnipeg, became the Company's primary gateway to the interior after rail and sea connections were developed through St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1859. Red River Carts now carried most of the Company's trade on the "Carlton Trail," which connected Fort Garry to Fort Edmonton via Fort Carlton. Fort Carlton was an essential stop due to its location at a critical crossroads of river and land routes. Notable visitors included explorers Sir John Franklin and John Palliser, artist Paul Kane and Samuel Steele of the North West Mounted Police. 

Heritage value also resides in Fort Carlton's associations with the Northwest's changing social and political landscape in the late 19th century. In 1875, a detachment of the North-West Mounted Police was stationed at the post before negotiations for Treaty 6. It was later signed near the fort on August 23, 1876. On March 26, 1885, a force of police and militia, led by L. N. F. Crozier, confronted a group of Metis at Duck Lake during the first armed engagement of the North West Resistance. Crozier suffered heavy casualties and retreated to Fort Carlton, which he abandoned two days later. A fire accidentally broke out during the evacuation, destroying the fort. The Cree chief Big Bear (mistahi-maskwa) went near the burned fort on July 2, 1885, a month after participating in the last Resistance battles at Loon Lake. 

Saskatchewan people also hold the park in high regard for its association with the signing of Treaty 6 in 1876. The park has significant cultural and spiritual value and is still a place of gatherings and ceremonies.

The park opened in 1967 and recreated features of the 1880 Fort Carlton. The four buildings reconstructed in the palisade illustrate Red River frame construction. It used to be the predominant construction method of the fur trade in which squared and horizontally stacked logs were inserted into grooved and close vertical posts. This technique made it possible to use short logs to construct large buildings that were easy to dismantle, reconfigure or move. The layout of the palisade and the location of its bastions are also typical. The concrete-covered foundations of the archaeological structures show the arrangement of the ancient buildings within the palisade. Outside the palisade, the visitor center replicates the exterior of the Principal Factor's residence. The house was built in 1879 when Prince Albert's sawn timber became available. The participation of First Nations in the programs offered at the park ensures an authentic interpretation of First Nations culture and history.

https://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=4168