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This clip views from the northeast of Protestant Hill over the Edison Settlement area to the west at the height of land on Protestant Hill. The clip is intended to pause rather than view straight through.

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Pembina River
September, 2003
Pembina River, Rossington near Westlock, Alberta, Canada

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The Pembina River in early fall. This river is characterized by a broad surrounding flood plain with rich animal and vegetation resources.

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Representative Projectile Points from the Area
June, 2004
In an undefined or unknown area near the present Westlock, Alberta, Canada

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Earliest occupants People of the First Nations
After the glaciers retreated from the area -10000 years ago, the fertile lake and river basins were bounded by sand hills to the east, and extensive forests on moraine deposits to the north. The chief hydrologic features of the area are the Pembina River, the tributaries to it and their basins. There are no major lakes, but pothole sloughs and reedy lakes are frequent and often connected by sluggish or temporary streams.
There is little formal or physical record of aboriginal passing, and a few references to the area in fur trade history. The very earliest records of indigent people are the subject of archaeological research in likely locations throughout Alberta, but not actively in the Edison-Westlock area.
As the environment had been boreal forest for the past 8000 years, scientists speculate that the original inhabitants may have been incursions from the plains peoples.
Similar migration of people from the northern barren land, or the northern forests may have been another source of the early First Nations people. However, there are archaeological sites in Central and Southern America predating these, so the homelands of the western Canadian First Nations peoples may have been from that region.
After the original peoples established through the boreal forest, they appear to have become the Athapaskan speaking Beaver tribes with origins in the northwest boreal forest. The Beaver were replaced by the Algonkian speaking Cree.
The record of the First Nations is now being retrieved as their oral history was severely interrupted by the government policies of enculturation, and by the ethnocentric view of history taken by many descendants of settlers. There are some records available from the fur trading era, and from recent efforts by First Nations people to record their history in print.

Settlers and farmers have located many projectile points as they prepared the land for seeding, and samples of these are in the Westlock & District Museum. It seems the most numerous and best defined examples of these points were found in close proximity to the Pembina River and its tributaries.

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Bison skull found in area.
November, 2004
In an undefined or unknown area near the present Westlock, Alberta, Canada

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Fur Trade, First Nations and the Métis People

During the fur trade era, one finds records referring to groups of First Nations people in the area prior to the arrival of homesteaders. The main fur trade routes were by rivers in the Canadian west, and the traders established the shortest portages between adjacent water routes (Petty, 1962 p. 97). Between the North Saskatchewan River and the Athabasca River was a lengthy portage.

The Pembina River meanders dramatically, intermittently floods and then retracts to scant flow for much of the summer and fall season. It is not likely that it was useful as a water transportation corridor for either First Nations or other travelers., The larger, straighter and more predictable flows of the Athabasca to the north and the North Saskatchewan River to the south were much more preferable.

There is evidence that David Thompson traveled from Fort Augustus to the mouth of the Pembina on the Athabasca in 1799 A G. Franchere was a member of a large party reaching the Pembina mouth at the Athabasca River on June 1, 1814. He recorded that his group then followed a trail to Lac la Biche which was very rough and populated by scattered Métis families.

Hudson's Bay Company factors, traders and management had traversed the area in 1823 1824. John Rowand had traveled north from Edmonton to Fort Assiniboine some time prior to George Simpson. Simpson arrived in Fort Assiniboine in October of that year via a route from Lac la Biche and the Beaver River to the east.. He returned to Edmonton in the spring by a route overland established between the Athabasca and Saskatchewan rivers by a man called Cardinal. Simpson noted (Métis) Half-breeds on the route from Lac la Biche and the Athabasca source. He noted that the (Métis) half breed was a cart maker and user, which suggests that trails were becoming more important in the regions.

The fur trade likely flourished in the area, with trapping groups sending their harvest to Victoria settlement, Fort Assiniboine, and Fort Edmonton.

The Cree entered the area at the same time as the fur trade opened up, some time after 1750. They lived as mobile bands of 50-100 people who hunted, fished and gathered; using stone and bone tools. Related groups or bands of bands would gather when food supplies permitted. In the Westlock-Edison area, the nomadic hunter- gatherer groups of Cree found much big game, productive lakes and rivers, and a variety of edible vegetation. Bison skulls and remains have been found in the area during land clearing. The story of the Alexander Nation contains a reference that the bison had been eradicated from this area by 1885.

The fur trade likely flourished in the area, with trapping groups sending their harvest to Victoria settlement, Fort Assiniboine, and Fort Edmonton.

The Cree entered the area at the same time as the fur trade opened up, some time after 1750. They lived as mobile bands of 50-100 people who hunted, fished and gathered; using stone and bone tools. Related groups or bands of bands would gather when food supplies permitted. In the Westlock-Edison area, the nomadic hunter- gatherer groups of Cree found much big game, productive lakes and rivers, and a variety of edible vegetation. Bison skulls and remains have been found in the area during land clearing. The story of the Alexander Nation contains a reference that the bison had been eradicated from this area by 1885.

The bison skull was found near Edison settlement - date unknown.

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Alexander First Nation reserve Kipohtakow
October, 2004
Alexander First Nation Reserve

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Treaty 6

Treaty Six and the Indian Act of 1876 changed the relationship of the First Nations with the land and thus changed their traditional lifestyle. The treaty was formalized for this area on August 21, 1877. An intent of the treaty was to support peaceful and orderly entry of settlers from other lands and regions. True understanding of the way the treaty was negotiated and interpreted continues as a subject of passion and study.

Canadian treaties assigned First Nations people to specific reserves of defined land. The closest of these to the Edison-Westlock area are the Cree reserves of the Alexander First Nation (Kipohtakow) west of Morinville, and Alexis First Nation near Gunn.

The Cree who had traded for many years through Fort Assiniboine had relocated to Lac la Nonne, southeast of Edison-Westlock in 1868 -1869. When Treaty Six came into effect, this First Nation had three possibilities for reserve lands and they moved to the present Alexander First Nation Reserve after 1880. The hope was to have the Alexander First Nation succeed at agriculture, and to depend less upon hunting, trapping and gathering.

The story of the local Cree people is drawn from ______________(~1983) Alexander Band Provincial Funding Submissions:(Unpublished) and ___________ (1992) Kayas Kipohtakow, Morinville Ab: Kipohtakow Education Centre

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Main road through Kipohtakow (Alexander First Nation Reserve).
October, 2004
Alexander First Nation Reserve

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Report of Surveyor George A.Simpson on the characteristics of the Kipohtakow site.

The area of the reserve is 41 square miles, about 16 of which is rolling prairie, soil excellent, and suitable in the highest degree for agricultural purposes.

...There are several spruce swamps, two of which are very extensive, and contain timber of a large size and excellent quality...

Sandy Lake, on the southwest corner, is a beautiful sheet of water...The shore...is densely wooded with spruce and poplar...underlaying (the sand)...is a bed of sandstone extending into the lake...A great deal of this sandstone can be easily obtained, and will make excellent building material.

Pike, or jack-fish, appear to be very numerous, as we saw numbers jumping out of the water (of Sandy Lake) and along its shores.

Cited in ________ (1992) Kayas Kipohtakow, Morinville Ab: Kipohtakow Education Centre page 8

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Mystery Carvings found Near Westlock Edison
November, 2004
In an undefined or unknown area near the present Westlock, Alberta, Canada

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"My father Dios Smith bought the quarter of land south of his farm which had been the homestead of Mr. & Mrs. H. G. Berry, along with their son Lloyd and Mrs. Berry¹s mother, Mrs Custard came to the area in 1905. Mr. Berry who according to information procured from the Book "Edison as it was" (sic) written by Daphne Garrison was a well skilled carpenter of some financial means. He built a fine two story log home with lovely windows and several rooms which I suspect was the envy of many a hard working homesteader.
The Berry home was often the stop place for travellers. One such was a timber inspector who on his tours of duty took him out along the Pembina River, of the exact locale I am not sure. He came upon these carvings standing amongst the forest. Intrigued by them he cut them down and brought them back to the Berry¹s home. There they stayed until Dad brought them to our farm. Bob (her husband) and I took them in to the Provincial Museum and left them there while they researched the history as best they could. This is the information they gave us

There was a history of such carvings being found, except for a similar set found in the Sangoudo (sic) area. It was known that Iroquois paddlers came with fur traders to the Fort Assiniboine and camped in the area. The Iroquois are known for carving and it is also a fact that there are descendents of these people living along the Berland River between Hinton and Grande Prairie. Whatever the origin was or who the carver really was will always remain a mystery. We do know they were found near the turn of the century thus they are probably around one hundred years old." Marion (Smith) Sutherland, writing for the Westlock & District Historical Society ~ 1980

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The Dominion Land Survey settlement grid around Westlock and Edison.
1900
Edison, Westlock, Alberta, Canada