Key Number:	HS 23805
Site Name:	Hudson's Bay Company Factor's House
Other Names:	Old Bay House
Site Type:	0101 - Residential: Single Dwelling

Location

ATS Legal Description:

			Twp	Rge	Mer
			108	13	5

Address:	Fort Vermilion Settlement
Number:
Street:
Avenue:
Other:
Town:	Fort Vermilion
Near Town:

Media

Type	Number	Date	View
Digital scan of Negative Digital scan of Negative Digital scan of Negative	68-R0011-09A 68-R0011-10A 68-R0011-11A	1970/07/21 1970/07/21 1970/07/21	SW ELEVATION N ELEVATION N/A

Architectural

Style:
Plan Shape:	T
Storeys:	Storeys: 2
Foundation:	Basement/Foundation Wall Material: Stone
Superstructure:	Nailed Frame
Superstructure Cover:
Roof Structure:
Roof Cover:
Exterior Codes:	Main Porch - Type: Open Verandah
Exterior:	Two storey, T-shaped, frame building covered with wood siding and shakes, verandah around two sides of one section of the house.
Interior:	N/A
Environment:	This house overlooks the Peace River. Across road from river bank on site of other Hudson Bay Company Buildings (Fort vermilion II).
Condition:	Structure apparently sound. Interior much altered.
Alterations:	Interior has been altered.

Historical

Construction:	Construction Date:
Approximate construction date.	1900/01/01
Usage:	Usage Date:
Summer home Residence Not in use (Jun-20-1978)	1900/01/01
Owner:	Owner Date:
Hudson Bay Company Maureen Pritchard James Wayne Filipek & Sharon Margrete Filipek The Friends of the Old Bay House Society	1900/01/01 1970/01/29 1982/07/19 1988/12/22

Architect:	N/A
Builder:	N/A
Craftsman:	N/A
History:	Fort Vermilion, a trading post as early as 1788, was in 1900 the real granary of the region, thanks largely to the efforts of the Lawrences who had originally come in 1879 and 1885 to establish the Anglican (Irene Training) school and farm. Both Erastus Lawrence with his son, Sheridan, later became independent farmers and ranchers. Over the years they rafted in prodigious amounts of stock and farm equipment to this isolated place, including small steam engines to operated their grist mills and sawmills. The Oblate mission promoted agriculture too, and had a water driven grist mill operating in 1900 when Sisters of Providence arrived to staff the Oblate boarding school. The H.B.Co. had long looked to Fort Vermilion as a source of supply for its Mackenzie district posts and over the years its establishment at Fort Vermilion, now managed by F.D. Wilson, produced grain, cattle and pigs, the company also purchased these products from the Lawrences and a number of small native operators on both sides of the river. Observers around the turn of the century marvelled at the productivity and sophistication of this remote settlement, one of whom was Sgt. Anderson in 1901: "Many thousands of bushels of wheat are grown in that country every year, the acreage increasing as the years roll by. Eggs can be procured for 25 cts. a doz. Farm machinery is as plentiful there as it is around Edmonton, and one would almost forget the distance from civilization, were it not for the tracking line which eventually takes you there." The H.B.Co. did not remain idle. In 1902 the company set up a modern steam roller-process flour mill, with an auxiliary sawmill and planer, at Fort Vermilion at a cost of $45,000, in a determined bid to supply their Mackenzie district posts with Peace River flour and cured meat. The company offered $1.50 a bushel for all No.1 hard wheat delivered to Fort Vermilion, and to encourage wheat farming offered a variety of farm implements at cost. By 1905 the company steamers 'Peace River' and 'Messenger' were covering the Peace River from Hudson's Hope to the Vermilion chutes, and had opened a winter road from Form Vermilion to the Vermilion chutes, and had opened a winter road from Fort Vermilion to Red River Post below the chutes where flour could be stock-piled during winter for delivery during the navigation season. The company hired Sheridan Lawrence on both the steamer and road projects, and Lawrence subsequently became one of their major wheat suppliers. H.B. Co. posts were now able to sell flour at $6 for a hundred pound sack, a reduction of $4 on flour imported from Edmonton. Although Peace River wheat producers now had an excellent market and price for their crop, old rivalries appear to have intruded into the marketing process: in 1903 Allie Brick refused to sell his 1000 bushels of Shaftesbury wheat to the H.B. Co for less than $2 a bushel, a price the company would not meet. Site History: Built around the turn-of-the-century, as the residence of the chief factor of Hudson's Bay Company post, this building served in this capacity until the 1930's. It was then a private residence, and, a short time in the 1950's, a summer home and stop-off point for visitors to the Caribou Mountains. In recent years it was the local Alberta Vocational Centre. It is presently not in use. (1978). Heritage Significance: Fur trade provisioning was Fort Vermillion's 'raison d'être'. Fur trade posts existed in the area as early as 1788. This Fort, established around 1830, became the H.B.Co.'s chief post on the Peace River, until 1878, and a major supplier to the Mackenzie River district. This house is of historical significance to Northern Alberta as it is the last remaining on-site structure form this formerly important H.B.Co. establishment and, therefore, reminiscent of the community's beginnings. It was, for many years, a focal point for the community and surrounding districts. The Bay, together with private and church concerns, was instrumental in the development of agriculture in this district. Historical Importance: Built around the turn-of-the-century. Between 1830 and 1878, Fort Vermilion was the Hudson's Bay Company's chief post on the Peace River. The company buildings were located in a group near the Old Bay House. This latter building is of historical importance to the Province because it is the only extant Hudson's Bay Company building on its original site in Fort Vermilion. As the factor's residence and for many years one of the largest local homes, it was the social centre of the community and guest home for many visitors, including a Canadian Governor-General. Architectural Importance: This building is a typical example of this type of house (T-type). It appears as though this type was employed in a number of Hudson's Bay Company residences, the significance of the use of this style by the Company cannot be assess at this time.

Internal

Designation Status:	Designation Date:
Provincial Historic Resource	2005/04/25

Register:

Links

Internet:
Alberta Register of Historic Places:	4665-0160