Key Number:	HS 81390
Site Name:	RL 3, Victoria Settlement - Free Trader's House
Other Names:
Site Type:	0417 - Mercantile/Commercial: Fur Trading Post 1808 - Settlement

Location

ATS Legal Description:

			Twp	Rge	Mer
			58	17	4

Address:	N/A
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Street:	N/A
Avenue:	N/A
Other:
Town:	Victoria Settlement
Near Town:

Media

Type	Number	Date	View	Source

Architectural

Style:
Plan Shape:	Rectangular
Storeys:
Foundation:
Superstructure:
Superstructure Cover:
Roof Structure:	High Gable
Roof Cover:
Exterior Codes:
Exterior:	N/A
Interior:	N/A
Environment:	River lot 3, Provincial Historic Resource, consists of Free Trader's House, storage house, barn and foundation of an early 1880's structure, together with the land legally described...
Condition:	N/A
Alterations:	N/A

Historical

Construction:	Construction Date:
Usage:	Usage Date:
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Owner:	Owner Date:
N/A

Architect:	N/A
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Craftsman:	N/A
History:	RESOURCE River Lot 3, Victoria Settlement ADDRESS Victoria Settlement BUILT circa 1882 DESIGNATION STATUS Provincial Historic Resource HERITAGE SIGNIFICANCE Four log structures (house, summer kitchen, barn storehouse) represent an intact homestead configuration of Metis settlement at Victoria Settlement. Occupation of the lot dates to the arrival of Metis settlers from Red River in 1865. The house, dating from ca. 1882 was erected by fur trader Edward McGillivray and relocated from its original location at Lot 7 to Lot 3. McGillivray, grandson of William McGillivray, one of the chief partners of the North West Company served the Hudson’s Bay Company at various posts, including Cumberland, Peace River and Lesser Slave Lake before retiring at Victoria Settlement. During the early years of the 1900s the ownership of the River Lot 3 passed to James Alexander Kennedy the son of George Kennedy – the last clerk for Fort Victoria. The store house and possibly the barn on the site date from this period and represent the transition period at Victoria Settlement when it shifted from being an outpost of the fur trade to an emerging agricultural community. This relatively complete homestead configuration is not only unique for Victoria Settlement but possibly for all river lot communities in the province. The River Lot 3 building inventory is an important historical resource relating in particular to Victoria Settlement and early Metis settlement in general. The research undertaken by the applicant augments the extensive research which has been undertaken on the settlement in the past and will not doubt serve as an important case study for the preservation of what remains of the province’s remaining river lot system. The restoration of the structural resources of River Lot 3 would reinforce significantly those resources currently preserved at the Victoria Settlement Provincial Historic Site, and enhance the entire character of Victoria Settlement. ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE The River Lot Three site consists of four related structures forming a homestead site: a house, a summer kitchen, a barn and a storage building. The latter three building were apparently constructed in about 1903. The one and one-half storey hewn log house my have been originally built between 1872 and 1896, and would thus be one of the oldest in the district. A feature which tends to support this theory is the decorative bead on ceiling joists, which resembles those in the rectory at Dunvegan. It is theorized that this house was reconstructed on this site from a much older house some time around 1903. The buildings were last used in the late 1940s, for storage, and have since been abandoned. Exterior chinking, mud plaster, and whitewash have long since vanished from the structures, as have interior finishes of similar but finer type. The site is in close proximity to the Fort Victoria site, and has been proposed for designation under the Historical Resources Act. * * * RIVER LOT 3 AND THE FREE TRADER'S HOUSE Edward McGillivray was the free trader who built this house. He was born in 1816, and entered the service of the Hudson's Bay Company in 1836. After retiring in 1874, McGillivray settled at Victoria, on land that later became river lot 7. He was awarded a pension by the HBV on the condition that he not compete with the Company. Despite warnings from HBC officials, who threatened to withdraw his pension, McGillivray became quite wealthy buying furs and selling merchandise at Victoria. He died at St. Albert in 1896. This house is thought to have been McGillivray's original home on river lot 7, west of the HBC post. The date of construction is presumed to be about 1874. McGillivray built two houses on river lot 7 in 1882, and another man was trading from the "old McGillivray House" in 1887. At some point - possibly in 1903 - the house was moved here, to river lot 3. After 1949, its condition deteriorating and its functions superseded by a new house, it was used mainly for storage. The Free Trader's House has been extensively restored and was designated a Provincial Historical Resource in 2001. River lot 3 was one of the original nine Victoria Settlement lots surveyed in 1884. At 181 acres, it is the second larges, after river lot 2 (414 acres). Among other interesting people, Joseph Favell, a riverboat pilot for the Hudson's Bay Company lived on this land. He sold his claim at Victoria in 1882 and staked a new one upriver at what later became the Lobstick Settlement.

Internal

Designation Status:	Designation Date:
Provincial Historic Resource	2001/05/03

Register:	N/A

Links

Internet:
Alberta Register of Historic Places:	4665-0971