PORT VERMILLION
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PORT VERMILLION |
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NAME: Port Vermillion COUNTY: N/A ROADS: 4WD GRID: 2 CLIMATE: Mild summer,cold winter BEST TIME TO VISIT: Summer |
COMMENTS:
Northern Alberta REMAINS: A few current residents. |
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There is some controversy why the Hudson Bay Company built its trading
post at the present site of Fort Vermillion and how the village got the
name it did. No one seems to know for sure if it was established in 1788
or 1798. What is known however is that it functioned as both a trading
post and an agriculture center for many years. It wasn’t until
over a century later that the first steamboat arrived in 1903 and the
first post office opened in 1905. By 1930, the population became a little
more diverse when the first Mennonite settlers arrived. Previously, the
populace was composed largely of British and French Canadian stock with
a good sprinkling of Metis and native Indians. When, in 1947, a gravel
road, Highway 58, reached the district it lost some of its uniqueness
for it no longer was the only major farming area in the Peace River Country
without a road. It’s a place well worth visiting for it is one
of the earliest settlements in the province. H.B. Chenoweth |
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