[work in progress]
Riverlot 28 runs from river to 118th Avenue
from today's Gretsky Drive at north bank of river to 67th Street (likely)
north end takes in part of Edmonton Northlands
The Kinnaird Park / Rat Creek ravine
it is near or contains Rat Creek/Kinnard ravine and the bridge that carries a road over the ravine.
for more info on the construction of the bridge, built in 1932, see blog at Forgotten Edmonton
Kinnaird ravine is named after George Johnston Kinnaird (1857-1922), a one-time HBC employee and early Edmonton civil servant. he arrived in Edmonton in 1885.
later a town clerk and city commissioner.
1915 appointed auditor for the city.
City acquired the ravine land in early 1900s and made it into a park in 1916.
a refuse dump at one point
part of the ravine was used as a site for the Commonwealth Stadium in 1977/1978.
mouth of the ravine near the river held the above-ground machines of a coal mine that operated from 1905 to 1923. (details below)
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John Fraser, son of Colin Fraser
first registered landowner of Riverlot 28 (1882) was John Fraser, son of Colin Fraser.
also owner of partial East half-15-53-24-4.
His father was prominent man in the Hudson's Bay Compnay and through the 1850s and 1860s, came to Edmonton each Christmas to play the bagpipes.
At this time, buffalo was the common meat, the nearest railway was at St. Paul, Minnesota; technology was primitive - no cars, trains, steamboat, electricity, radio, TV, electric appliances, modern conveniences.
buffalo meat was more common than baked bread.
after Colin's death in 1867, the family, Including John, his mother and siblings), moved to Long Lake, near St. Albert, and raised their own food on a farm. (which some historians say is real start of Edmonton).
Like others of the Long Lake settlement, John moved to what is now Edmonton, settling at the "Lower Settlement" prior to the 1882 survey.
his land was eventually surveyed as Riverlot 28.
he had many siblings and they married locally.
Some of his eight sisters married his neighbours, becoming Mrs. William Borwick, Mrs. Wm. Lennie, Mrs. James Gullion, Mrs. Fred Rowland , Mrs. P. Tate, and Mrs. Jos. McDonald on the southside.)
(see Montopedia blog "Joe McDonald..." for info on Joe and Margaret)
see below for more details.
Riverlot 30 -- John Borwick
John Fraser's neighbour on east was John Borwick. John Borwick, with Andrew Whitford, helped found Andrew, Alberta and Whitford, Alberta, both east of Edmonton.
His neighbour on west was James Kirkness, who like John Fraser, was a HBC man and colourful pioneer.
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James Kirkness married Sarah, daughter of Ojibway missionary Henry Bird Steinhauer.
Ralph Steinhauer, lt.-gov. of Alberta in 1970s, was Henry Bird's great-grandson.
James worked for the HBC for many years.
before 1882, when he was young worker for HBC, he and Sarah had five children, Henry James (1873), John (1875), William (1878), Robert (1880), and George (1882).
They settled on Riverlot 26 in 1882, just before the survey.
(Sons John, William, Robert George died in 1886 of diphtheria, at age of 11, 8, 6, and 4.
Kirkness farm suffered from a hailstorm one year and a prairie fire the next year.
1888 a man called Kirkness (perhaps James?) and a man called Macdonald ran a coal mine in section 10-53-24-W4.
James and Sarah and children moved to Fort Dunvegan, where James, Sarah and older children worked for HBC for three years, from 1890 to 1893. Two children were born up north, but both died in infancy.
Life was hard, and of their ten children, only three lived to adulthood.
then they returned to Riverlot 26.
Part of their land was used for a coal mine starting in 1905.
J.R. Brenton pioneered a mine there and gathered an old friend, an engineer, to manage the mine. (highlights of his life can be found below)
the mine became City Coal Co., then Standard.
in operation from 1905-1923.
one of deepest mines in Edmonton.
hoist shaft was 90 feet deep, far below level of river. It was located about 30 metres from N. Sask and a meter or so "up the right bank of Rat Creek." according to a mine historian.
workings expanded in 1914.
Edmonton's great flood of 1915 filled the shafts with water.
mine switched to slope workings, and then they flooded in spring 1916. (the cause of this flooding is unknown).
workings may have extended right up to 112th Avenue and 77th Street.
From 1905-1923 approx. 370,000 tons of coal were taken out. some caving in did occur.
the coal was bituminous, unusually hard for the Edmonton area.
coal seam was about 2-metre thick, and its location close into the city meant its delivery costs were low. (Taylor, Atlas of coal mine working in Edmonton area, p. 9)
(details below)
Premier Mine also on Kirkness land but don't know location.
(plan of the mine is available at the City of Edmonton Archives, "coal" file)
operated 1924-1936
city bought much of the riverlot in 1906
Feb. 1, 1906 Edmonton Bulletin announced city had bought Riverlots 24 and 26 for $175 an acre, a total of $24,500. to be used as parkland
(the Brenton coal claim not included.)
some of land became neighbourhood of Virginia Park.
Developments at East End Park and Virginia Park, and the Premier Coal Mining Co. (1924-1936) were all part of the Kirkness's original holdings.
James died in 1911.
Sarah died in 1929 and was remembered fondly as one of the “oldest of the old-timers.”
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John Fraser also sold most of his land during the pre-WWI boom but kept an acreage for himself (his house was at 7330 Jasper Avenue).
He lived there until his death in 1919, at age of 79.
(info on his life, and the lives of his father and his brother Colin (Jr.) can be found below)
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John Fraser was born at Jasper in 1840, when it was just a small trading post in the mountain fastness.
John's father, Colin Fraser (1807-1867) was important personage in Alberta in the late 1800s.
He was the man in charge of the Jasper trading post, and piper for George Simpson, governor of the Hudson's Bay Company in western Canada.
John's mother was Cree and he spoke Cree at an early age.
Many travellers came through Jasper when Colin Fraser Sr. was in charge there, or through Lac Ste. Anne after Colin (Sr.) was transferred there, and he is mentioned in the works of Father DeSmet, Paul Kane, Earl of Southesk and in Milton and Cheadle's book North West Passage by Land.
[another account said the family lived at Lesser Slave Lake for some years] (Edmonton Bulletin, Feb. 4, 1919)
John Fraser was 27 when his father Colin died.
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life of John's brother Colin
(after Colin(Sr.)'s death in 1867, the family - the widow, Colin Jr. and younger children "went to Long Lake, six miles west of Edmonton, where we built a log house and lived upon such produce as we raised ourselves."
They were one of the first families of European descent (even if only partially) to live outside the fort walls in the Edmonton area.
Colin eventually moved into Edmonton to work at Fort Edmonton.
he was a skilled dog team driver and once raced an independent fur trader to Rocky Mountain House, Colin arrive so quickly that the man got just remnants. If the order of arrival had been reversed, Colin would have gotten little as the trader had whiskey to trade.
He recalled a fight between Blackfoot and Cree outside the palisades of Fort Edmonton, The Cree killed two and wounded two others. Mr. Brazeau and Mr. Cunningham eventually stopped the violence. (Brazeau is likely the namesake of the Brazeau dam.)
in old accounts of pioneer life in Edmonton, some old-timers recalled seeing scalps hanging on tree branches near the site today of the Safeway on 82nd Avenue.
Colin Fraser eventually bought land at the intersection of Jasper Avenue and Fraser Avenue and built a log house there.
He eventually sold the land for $10,000, (this sale is described in the Edmonton Bulletin Feb. 18, 1882)
Eventually he moved to Lake Athabasca/Fort Chipweyan where he lived for 40 years, trading for furs.
reminiscences of Colin Fraser (Jr.) online at:
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John Fraser
born in 1840 at Jasper.
the Edmonton Bulletin in 1919 noted that John Fraser grew up at a time when the nearest railway was St. Paul, at Minneapolis, Minnesota,
(the Minnesota and Pacific Railroad was constructed in 1856)
when buffalo were the chief support for the population of the west, both white and Native,
(they were so common and plentiful that travellers sometimes had to wait hours for the huge herds to pass by. they were over-hunted and were on verge of extinction in the 1870s)
last wild one seen in Edmonton area was prior to the Edmonton Bulletin first being printed in 1880.
(by 1882 Natives at Bear's Hill (Maskwacis) near Wetaskiwin and along Battle River were seeing none and having to subsist on jackfish and rabbits. (Edmonton Bulletin, Feb. 18, 1882, p.3)
eight bison were seen at Tramping Lake, SE of Lloydminster. (Edmonton Bulletin, Oct. 7, 1882, p. 2)
in Calgary area, the tracks of a herd of them were seen in 1883 but otherwise no sign of them. (Edmonton Bulletin, April 7, 1883)
when Fort Edmonton was the transfer point from riverboats to pack horses on the HBC's great transcontinental trade route from the Bay to the mouth of the Columbia on the Pacific coast.
at 12 years of age (1852) John fraser was apprenticed as a boat builder
he built boats at Athabasca for many years, to be used to go downstream to Fort Chip or upstream to Lesser Slave Lake.
and also farmed
he was a dog team driver and once took a HBC official from Edmonton to Lac Ste. Anne and back in one day, between sunup and sundown, 80 kms each way, and remember that the dog team driver only rode on the sled when going downhill.
after his father's death in 1867, the family, including John, settled on a farm at Long Lake (near today's St. Albert).
then John established a farm in the Lower Settlement in 1871 (he was then 31 years old)
this was eventually surveyed as Riverlot 28 (1882) and partial East half-15-53-24-4.
(some of his eight sisters married his neighbours, becoming Mrs. W. Borwick, Mrs. Wm. Lennie, Mrs. James Gullion, Mrs. Fred Rowland , Mrs. P. Tate, and Mrs. Jos. McDonald on the southside.)
===
details of John's sisters and their husbands
Mrs. W. Borwick, William Borwick see William Borwick obit Ed. Bulletin, May 25, 1899
Mrs. Wm. Lennie
Mrs. James Gullion,
Mrs. Fred Rowland
Mrs. P. Tate,
Mrs. Jos. McDonald on the southside.)
(see Montopedia blog "Joe McDonald..." for info on Joe and Margaret)
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John Fraser married Sarah Jane Vincent (of Red River), and they had 12 children.
(One son was wounded in WWI and was still under hospital care when John died in 1919.
A grandson -- Harry Luted -- was killed in the war.)
Before any public school was established, four families of the Lower Settlement -- Kirkness, John Fraser, James Sullivan and George Gullion -- hired a private teacher to instruct their children. likely this was in the late 1870s. (This was before the Edmonton Bulletin, the first newspaper in Alberta, went into publication so there is little documentation about this arrangement.)
1885 Rebellion John rendered important service as captain of scouts (local men who guided the militia troops who came from Ontario and Quebec)
He sold most of his land during the pre-WWI boom but kept an acreage for himself (his house was at 7330 Jasper Avenue).
He lived there until his death in 1919, at age of 79.
(above info taken from "Late John Fraser was link with early days of Edmonton", Edmonton Bulletin, Feb. 4, 1919, p. 3)
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Riverlot 30 -- John Borwick
John Fraser's neighbour on east was John Borwick. John Borwick, with Andrew Whitford, helped found Andrew, Alberta and Whitford, Alberta, both east of Edmonton.
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Riverlot 26 -- James Kirkness
John Fraser's neighbour on west was James Kirkness.
James Kirkness's life
James Kirkness was born in the Birsay Parish of Orkney Island, Scotland in 1837. He was the sixth child and third son of Robert Kirkness and Christiana (nee Sinclair) who were married in 1827 in Harray Parsh. He grew up in a farming and fishing community and was listed as a farmer in the 1861 Scottish census. He entered in the Hudson’s Bay Company service in 1864 at the age of 27 years, taking the path of many Orkney men. After an eventful voyage on the Prince of Wales from Stromness, he landed at York Factory, Canada.
Steinhauer Family
The Ojibway minister, Henry Bird Steinhauer was the first Steinhauer in his family. Born ca. 1818 in Ontario near the present day Rama Indian Reserve, Sowengisik [Shauwanegezhick] was the oldest son of Bigwind and Mary Kachenooting. The young Sowengisik converted to Methodism during a mass baptism conducted by William Case and Peter Jones in 1828. It was at this time that he adopted the surname Steinhauer, the surname of the American who sponsored his education. He attended the Grape Island School from 1829 to 1832 and the Cazenovia Seminary in Cazenovia, NY from 1832-1835. Following that, he taught for two years at the Credit River mission on Lake Ontario. He studied at the Upper Canada Academy in Cobourg, Ontario starting in 1836. Despite taking a year off to teach at the Alderville mission school in Northumberland County, Steinhauer graduated in 1839 at the head of his class.
Steinhauer started missionary work at Lac La Pluie before moving to Norway House.
There he met his future wife, Jessie Joyful [Erasmus?] (Seeseeb Mamanuwartum). Jessie was born in 1818 to a Swampy Cree family. Jessie was considered a strong woman with a sphere of influence separate from her husband’s.
She and Steinhauer married on 5 August 1846 and went on to have eleven children together:
William (who died in infancy);
Abigail (married John McDougall);
Eliza Ann;
Samuel;
Arthur;
Sarah Jane (b. 1855, Norway House);
Evangeline;
Egerton (became a missionary);
Robert (became a missionary);
Morley; and
Augustine.
Steinhauer travelled to England with Egerton Ryerson to raise awareness of missionary work in the West. He returned to begin work at Whitefish Lake in what would become Alberta. In his later years, Steinhauer became more involved in addressing issues related to First Nations people. He never changed his religious beliefs or discontinued his religious work as he asserted his First Nations identity. Steinhauer died 30 December 1884 from influenza. Jessie died in 1910 at the age of 92.
Henry and Jessie’s daughter, Sarah Jane, married James Kirkness ca. 1873 or 1874.
James was almost 40 years old; Sarah was almost 20.
Kirkness-Steinhauer Family
James Kirkness married Sarah Jane Steinhauer, daughter of the prominent Ojibway Methodist minister, Henry Bird Steinhauer, sometime during 1873 or 1874.
Up until 1882, while James still worked for the HBC, their first five children, Henry James (1873), John (1875), William (1878), Robert (1880), and George (1882), were born. (John, William, Robert George died in 1886 of diphtheria, at age of 11, 8, 6, and 4.)
In 1882, James and Sarah moved to their River Lot 26 and began homesteading. They cleared and cultivated the land, growing crops like potatoes and raising chickens.
These were not auspicious years for the family. While three more children were born here – Mary Jane (1885), Edith (1887, m. John Heron approx. 1920), and Charles (1890) – five died. John, William, Robert, and George died in May 1886 during a diphtheria outbreak. Mary Jane died the next year.
In 1890, James acquired the land titles for River Lot 26 (now part of Virginia Park) and also for two westerly chains of River Lot 24 (now part of Cromdale).
James and Sarah moved the family to Fort Dunvegan where he, Sarah, and oldest son Henry, worked for the HBC as labourers and stock keepers in the White Mountain area.
During the three years they lived there, son Samuel and daughter Jessie were born (1891 and 1893 respectively). Sadly, they both died during this period – Samuel in 1892 and Jessie in 1893.
Of their ten children, only Henry, Edith and Charles lived to adulthood.
James and Sarah returned to their Edmonton riverlots with Edith and Charles in 1893. Henry stayed behind at Dunvegan and later homesteaded in the area.
James and Sarah, together and separately after James’ death in 1911, sold portions of their property to the City of Edmonton.
(The old Fraser acreage, the site of the old Fraser farmhouse, is now the location of the Concordia College.)
Developments at East End Park and Virginia Park, and the Premier Coal Mining Co. (1924-1936) were all part of their original holdings. Sarah died in 1929 and was remembered fondly as one of the “oldest of the old-timers.”
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James Kirkness
born in Scotland in date not recorded
came to Edmonton in early 1870s
settled in Lower Settlement.
the Kirkness house was said to be built in 1871. burned down in 1913.
pioneer in "Lower Settlement"
his house was used as school for the Lower Settlement in 1882. 17 in attendance. (Edmonton Bulletin, April 22, 1882)
General news
Hailstorm
1883 hailstorm hit Lower Settlement. Hailstones the size of pigeon's eggs, with some larger than that, strong winds and rain destroyed the harvest on about 300 acres spread over about 14 riverlots, and killed 16 chickens belonging to J. Kirkness, as well as breaking many glass panes. (Edmonton Bulletin, July 28, 1883.
Fire
1885 J. Kirkness and W. Borwick lost large quantity of hay to a prairie fire that spread from Fort Sask. area to the Lower Settlement. Lamoureaux [the founding family of Fort Saskatchewan] lost their house. Fort Sask. itself would have been burned to the ground entirely but luckily wind did not turn westward so fire's westward progress on southside of river was slow. (Edmonton Bulletin, Nov. 12, 1885)
1885 J. Kirkness reported that he planted one sack of potatoes and harvested 60 sacks full. (Edmonton Bulletin, Dec. 19, 1885, p. 1)
1886 Belmont School was built and Belmont replaced "Lower Settlement" as name for community/area.
by 1897 J. Kirkness was reported to be a resident of Belmont, hailed from Scotland, 15 years resident in Alberta, 15 years experience farming. (Edmonton Bulletin, April 8, 1897)
died in 1911 (Naming Edmonton)
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things named after James Kirkness
Kirkness Lake was filled in for the Northlands race track and gounds, according to Highland Walking guide
Kirkness road (82nd Street) named after him in old Town of Edmonton
Kirkness School named after him
Kirkness neighbourhood, north of 144th Avenue, is named after him.
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Brenton coal mine on Kirkness land 1905-1923 under various names
"The City Coal Co. of which J.R. Brenton is the moving spirit, have sunk a shaft on the Kirkness estate at the mouth of the Rat Creek about a mile and half eastward from the post office. They sank a six-foot shaft 53 feet deep, six feet of which was through sandstone and gas rock. On Oct. 14, they struck a six-foot seam of coal of a very fine quality and are going to work it at once. A steam double hoist will be put in that will have a capacity of one hundred tons a day. The property is especially valuable, being inside the the city limits greatly reducing the expense of putting the coal on the market. The Mays Coal Co. will handle the coal for the present." (Edmonton Bulletin, Oct. 7, 1905)
Jan. 2 1906 "city coal opens lower seam"
Feb. 15, 1906 city coal stands steaming test
"City Coal Co." shaft deeper than any other in Edmonton area, found bituminous coal clean and bright, with even better coal found 30 feet deeper.
by easy 1906 $10,000 had been invested and 100 tons was being extracted each day, using steam drill, 15 men and two engineers.
it was expected that soon air drills and air compressors would be used to bring daily output to 1000 tons.
president J.R. Brenton
A.P. Coe as manager
J.R. Harper (of Ross Brothers) as sec-treasurer. (Edmonton Bulletin, March 3, 1906)
city coal mine operated 1906-1907. mine #049
Feb. 1, 1906 Edmonton Bulletin announced city had bought riverlots 24 and 26 for $175 an acre, a total of $24,500. to be used as parkland
the Brenton coal claim not included.
March 2, 1907 Edmonton Bulletin Standard coal took over Brenton mine and Parkdale mine. plans to upgrade and produce 500 to 1000 tons daily.
June 8, 1907 Edmonton Bulletin "J.R. Brenton is in Winnipeg in interview he predicts coal shortage this coming winter"
mentions timber- rich Leaoure valley [no idea where that is]
Dec. 9, 1907 Edmonton Bulletin "the Brenton charges"
Greisbach defended himself of charges of graft
Gleichen Call, Dec. 2, 1909 miners at three mines - the Standard Coal Company, who operate the old city mine, sometimes known as the Brenton, the Parkdale, and the Ritchie Coal Co. at Fraser Flats - are out on strike.
1914 Dad Brenton to do gold panning, like he did 25 years earlier. said there is no reason for unemployment in Edmonton. Edmonton Capital Sept. 4, 1914)
possibly last reference to Brenton in newspapers until his death in 1922
March 30, 1922 (p. 3) Edmonton Bulletin announced that John Riley Brenton had died at Elko, BC on March 23, 1922.
funeral to be held at family residence at Good Hope, AB
Edmonton Bulletin Aug. 19, 1920 H.B. Brenton, former captain in Royal Air Force during WWI, flying died in crash at English Bay
last of three brothers, his two brothers had been killed in WWI
perhaps J.R.'s kids
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The Kinnaird Park / Rat Creek ravine
Kinnaird ravine is named after George Johnston Kinnaird (1857-1922), a one-time HBC employee and early Edmonton civil servant. he arrived in Edmonton in 1885.
later a town clerk and city commissioner.
1915 appointed auditor for the city.
City acquired the ravine land in early 1900s and made it into a park in 1916.
a refuse dump at one point
part of the ravine was used as a site for the Commonwealth Stadium in 1977/1978.
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Bellevue and Virginia Park neighbourhoods
just east of the ravine is the neighbourhood of Bellevue and part of Virginai Park.
Bellevue ("beautiful view") was founded in 1906 by the Magrath-Holgate real estate firm. that firm is most famous for Highlands and Ada Boulevard area.
Edmonton Bulletin Sept. 13, 1906 (p. 8) describes how Bellevue ("Bellevue Addition," but likely that is the same area) has scenic views and a grand driveway along the crest of the river valley and another along the river 10 metres above river level.
extends from Alberta Avenue (118th Avenue) to the river at a point where river sweeps in a broad curve, producing an opportunity for a shingle beach.
a large box ad on page 9 of the same newspaper says lots in Bellevue were available from $90 and up.
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Virginia Park
first mention of Virgina Park in Edmonton Bulletin is in 1911 saying that the owners of Virgina Park (not yet subdivided and sold apparently) were Mssrs. Dorroch and Blesell.
They sent a legal appeal to the city council saying that Pine Avenue was on their land. That street was soon to be the route of the streetcar that would run to Highalnds. They said they were prepared to sell that part of their land to the city for $1500. (Edmonton Bulletin, Oct. 2, 1911, p. 10)
origin of the name Virginia Park is unknown.
Apparently Virginia Park School has an exhibit giving info on a person named Virgina Park, for whom the area is named.
the Virginia Park Gardens greenhouse is said to start at about same time (1912)
The greenhouse (said to be at 7534 110th Avenue, inside Riverlot 26) was a local landmark for decades, being purchased by the Marius Granstraum in 1928 and then operated by he and other family members, until being finally moving to the Ellerslie Road area in 1981, just prior to City of Edmonton annexation of the Ellerslie area in 1982.
[search in old newspapers did not find any reference to "Virginia Park Gardens" until June 7, 1920]
With general economic downturn starting around 1912, Virginia Park was slow to develop...
in 1913 residents complained that they had no graded streets, no lights, no sidewalks, no telephones, no water, no sewage service. (Edmonton Bulletin, Aug. 9, 1913)
August 25, 1913 one of oldest landmarks in city -- the Kirkness house -- burned to the ground.
built in 1871, and being used as stop-gap home for the St. Mary's Anglican Church.
The house was outside the water system in Virgina Park so "making the work of the firemen practically useless as they could get no water to fight the blaze." (Edmonton Capital, August 25, 1913)
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City of Edmonton Neighbourhood description
Virginia Park is a small, centrally located residential neighbourhood just northeast of downtown Edmonton along the North Saskatchewan River Valley. The residential portion of the neighbourhood is bounded by 112th Avenue to the north [likely this is Pine Street as mentioned above], Wayne Gretzky Drive to the east, Ada Boulevard to the south and 76th Street to the west. The northern half of the neighbourhood is dedicated to recreational land use and is home to Borden Park [this was likely known as City Park in 1912]
Virginia Park was one of many areas subdivided during the pre-World War I land boom.
Despite the fact that the Highlands streetcar line (no longer in operation) passed through the neighbourhood, it was an area that developed relatively slowly.
Approximately three-quarters of the original structures within the neighbourhood were built before 1950. Virginia Park has also experienced sustained redevelopment and infill over the years. As a result, the neighbourhood contains residential structures from both the very early and very late 1900s. Approximately half of the housing units are low-density single and semidetached homes, and the other half of dwelling units are located in low-rise apartment buildings in the northwest corner of the neighbourhood. The neighbourhood contains two prominent landmarks, Concordia College to the west and Borden Park to the north. As well, Edmonton Northlands is located directly north of the neighbourhood and the Light Rail Transit (LRT) line runs down 80th Street.
With the North Saskatchewan River Valley immediately to the south and Borden Park to the north, many recreational opportunities are located nearby.
The origin of the neighbourhood name is not known, but the neighbourhood was home to the former Virginia Park Greenhouse, established in 1912, which was located right in the middle of the neighbourhood. The greenhouse continued to operate in its original location until 1981 when it was moved to Ellerslie Road and 111th Street.
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