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European involvement with the area that was to become Peace River Crossing began in the late 18th century with the arrival of the fur trade in the form of the North West Company. The area was to become part of the fur rich region known as "Athabasca" and to be a focal point in the battle between the North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company in the period 1815-1821. Permanent European presence did not arrive until the 1870s and the re-establishment of the Hudson's Bay Company at what was called Peace River Landing on the east side of the Peace River within the present site of the Town of Peace River. This was at the same time as limited settlement was beginning on the other side of the river in what was called the Shaftesbury Settlement. The latter was to be the site of an Anglican mission in the 1880s and a Roman Catholic mission in the 1890s. Another significant early event was the decision of the North West Mounted Police to establish a detachment at Peace River Crossing in 1898.

Peace River Crossing and the Shaftesbury Settlement were to function as significant centres for the Peace River area but large scale development was not to occur until after 1910. The Canada Census for 1911 shows only 60 residents in Shaftesbury and 70 in Peace River Crossing. Maps and photographs for that time show few buildings and narrow dirt roads serving as streets in Peace River Crossing.

By 1914 there had been tremendous change with a huge influx of settlers, investors, businesses, institutions, a newspaper and technology such as the steamboat. Peace River Crossing had over 700 residents and a growing commercial area. Growth was such that Peace River Crossing became incorporated as a village. It had evolved from a trading centre for the Hudson's Bay Company and Revillon Freres into a commercial centre and "jumping off" point for a wave of settlers looking for land in what was called the "Last Great West".

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A view (from the east) of Main Street in Peace River Crossing.
circa 1918
Peace River Crossing, Alberta


Credits:
PRMA/MC 72.484.a3