Fort Pitt National Historic Site of Canada

Fort Pitt was designated a national historic site because:

• the Hudson’s Bay Company built this post to trade in buffalo hides, meat and pemmican;
• it was a site of the signing of Treaty No. 6 in 1876; and,
• it was burned during the 1885 rebellion by Big Bear’s followers after the police had withdrawn to

Battleford.

In the winter of 1829-30 Chief Factor John Rowand of the Hudson's Bay Company established Fort Pitt as a provision post for travellers. Fort Pitt also served as a trading post for the local Cree, Assiniboine and Blackfoot. In 1873 a new post was established approximately 100 metres southwest of the original site which was subsequently abandoned. In 1876 Fort Pitt was the site of the signing of Treaty No. 6 and that same year a North West Mounted Police base was established on the site. As a result of several skirmishes during the 1885 rebellion Big Bear’s followers burned several of the fort’s buildings to the ground after the police had withdrawn. The Hudson’s Bay Company rebuilt some of the buildings but the area was no longer profitable so they abandoned the fort by 1890.