Tidbits

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• The Clearwater river begins in Broach Lake, Saskatchewan and heads southwest eventually connecting to the Athabasca River at Fort McMurray
• The Clearwater river is 295 km long
• The Clearwater River area is regarded by historians as an important site. It is believed that many Aboriginal Peoples from the upper northern region and the northern plains made contact in this area. The Athabascan speaking Beaver peoples were the original inhabitants who were eventually displaced due to the fur trade by Cree and Dene peoples
• European explorer Peter Pond was the first to reach the region, and opened up the area by recognizing a land bridge between the Churchill and Saskatchewan Rivers that drained into the Hudson's Bay. His discovery led to the development of the Fort Chipewyan trading community
• Most of the social and economic history of the fur trade took place in Alberta where approximately 100 fur trading Forts were created
• The first posts were established in the Athabasca region
• Fort Edmonton was established in 1795
• Trade and trade relationships were the most important aspects of the fur trade era. Traders had a standard quality of beaver pelts known as the 'made beaver' to which they compared other goods. In Eastern Canada, all pelts coming into the trading post were judged against the quality of the made beaver. If the trapper's pelt was of excellent quality, it was equal to one made beaver. On the other hand, if the trapper's pelt was of lesser quality, the trapper would have to trade two pelts to equal the quality of a made beaver. This sometimes created trouble and misunderstanding between the traders and the trappers
• Fort Chipewyan moved twice from its original location, finally residing in its permanent residence in 1803. Access to Fort Chipewyan is either by air from December to March only, or winter road or canoe

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