May 29. Fort Edmonton !

A visit to Fort Edmonton, a historical fur traiding post from 1846. In this picture the train station and entrance to the 158 acres park, with the 1919 Baldwin Steam Train. The train takes one to the fort, which was recreated in the seventies from original, very detailed plans. Fort Edmonton was an important traiding post out West for the Hudson Bay company. They traded mostly beaver furs for the top hat fashion in Europe in the 19th century. The goods were loaded onto york boats and went on river and lake routes all the way to Eastern Canada to the Hudson Bay, then on ships on to England. To see the fort was impressive, going on a Stagecoach ride was a great experience, to ride the steam train and 1920 ies street car was fun. People in periode correct costumes were wonderful to talk to, a wealth of information about the fort's and pioneer's history.
For us it was an almost three hours drive from the ranch. The days are so long, the sun sets after nine, we had plenty of time back at the ranch to feed the bulls in the corral, to fill up the water for the cattle and check on the calves.