Joseph Boucher de Niverville may have been the organizer of an expedition by New France soldiers into what is today's Alberta.
This was in 1751.
The location of the fort they built -- Fort La Jonquière -- is unknown.
Some place it in Saskatchewan at the Forks of the Saskatchewan where the North and South Saskatchewan join, 50 kms east of Prince Albert, SK.
This would put it in the vicinity of Nipawin, SK today.
others say it may have been as far west as the present site of Edmonton or Calgary.
If it was Calgary, they likely saw the Rockies.
If it was either Calgary or Edmonton, they were the first people of European stock to visit Alberta (that we know of anyway),
not Anthony Henday who came three years later.)
later arrivals at Calgary and Edmonton cira 1870s/1880s found ruins of early forts or trading posts at both those locations. But there was no information on who had built them.
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from DCB online:
Joseph Boucher de Niverville (1715-1804)
...
Shortly after his return to Montreal [1749/1750], he was ordered by Governor Jacques-Pierre de Taffanel* de La Jonquière to join an expedition set up under Jacques Legardeur* de Saint-Pierre to search for the western sea. The party left Montreal early in June 1750 and reached Fort La Reine (Portage la Prairie, Man.) that autumn.
Niverville was to establish a new post west of Fort Paskoya (Le Pas, Man.) to serve as a base for an expedition west towards the Rockies, and he set out again almost immediately.
On 29 May 1751 he dispatched two canoes with ten men from Fort Paskoya; he became seriously ill, however, and was unable to join them as he had intended.
His men built Fort La Jonquière (probably in the vicinity of Nipawin, SK), [and waited for him to come, then] returned to Paskoya, [finding] Niverville was still in critical condition.
It was not until spring 1753 that he was able to leave the fort.
[he immediately set off to go back to Montreal]
He succeeded in overtaking Legardeur’s party just before it arrived at Lake Superior, and the expedition reached Montreal near the end of the summer without having found the western sea. [but possibly getting as far as Alberta.]
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see Wikipedia: Joseph Boucher de Niverville for more information on this fellow.
Montopedia has an article on Anthony Henday.
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