Attachment 2
Executive Summary with Report Recommendations Concerning the Rossdale Historic
Land Use Study by Commonwealth Historic Resource Management Ltd.
Executive Summary
The Rossdale Historical Land Use Study examines the many uses that have occurred, and
continue to occur, within Edmonton’s Rossdale neighbourhood, particularly within a designated
17.1-hectare study area. The present study is one of several parallel initiatives being undertaken
by the City of Edmonton that are intended to compile information about the area because of its
historical and archaeological significance, to commemorate the former Fort Edmonton burial
ground, and to relocate a portion of Rossdale Road that crosses the burial ground site.
The History of Rossdale
The second chapter reviews essays on historiography, which is the study of the writing of
history. This literature review enabled the authors to identify approaches and sources that helped
them write the narrative history of Rossdale.
The narrative begins with the natural history of the Rossdale area. It presents an overview of the
region’s geological history, flood events, flora, and fauna to provide a better understanding of the
context for Rossdale’s long history of human use, occupation, and settlement. In prehistoric and
early historic times the North Saskatchewan River was the principal transportation corridor
through the region. It was these natural features, including the river and its valley, that made the
future site of Edmonton attractive to early Aboriginal peoples and fur-traders alike, and which
made the Hudson’s Bay Company’s Fort Edmonton prominent as a trading post and later also as
a regional centre. The flats by the river were highly valued by their users and were seen as being
the centre of that segment of the universe.
Things changed in the late nineteenth century with the arrival of the railway. Economic
development focussed on the high land at either side of the river – first Strathcona to the south
and later downtown Edmonton to the north. The river and the flats were no longer the focus of
all activity. Indeed, the river began to be seen as a barrier and no longer as an artery. The flats
gradually diminished in importance and became land with relatively little economic value. For
several decades after Fort Edmonton closed its doors, the Hudson’s Bay Company retained the
idea of selling its land in the flats for a tidy profit, but over time found that the market showed
little interest in it and it was barely sellable for low-cost housing.
As the ownership of much of the land was gradually transferred from the HBC to the City over
the years, Rossdale became a place for utilities and transportation routes – the power plant, the
water treatment plant, a gravel pit, roads, railway lines, bridges, and very nearly also a manure
depot, an incinerator, and an expressway. In the 1920s the HBC grazed its horses here and
unused land was cultivated for market gardens. An example of the attitude shown to the Rossdale
flats by municipal authorities was the dismissal of a roadway traversing them as a ‘cross-valley
road,’ with no reference to the land over which it passed.
Report 2004PDP047 - Attachment 2 - Page 1 of 5
Attachment 2
Executive Summary with Report Recommendations Concerning the Rossdale Historic
Land Use Study by Commonwealth Historic Resource Management Ltd.
Civic amenities developed here as well, again taking advantage of the low land values. The
Edmonton Industrial Exhibition was held here from 1899 to 1909. A number of parks appeared,
the Rossdale Recreation Ground and Renfrew Park attracted many Edmontonians, and a largescale river-corridor park was planned. Recreational uses remain today, most noticeably at Telus
Field.
All this time a community was settling in Rossdale. Development included residences and
industries, with most private activity occurring east of 101 Street, outside the study area. The
flood of 1915 had a bad impact on Rossdale, as many flooded industries were never reestablished and the population declined. In the middle of the twentieth century the character of
Rossdale was established as a small, lower-income neighbourhood with an ethnically-diverse
population that had very little clout in civic decision-making.
The Fort Edmonton Burial Ground
A key focus of interest in the present study is the former Fort Edmonton burial ground (or
‘graveyard’ or ‘cemetery’), which is situated within the study area.
The first burial recorded in ‘Rossdale flat’ was associated with the North West Company in
1801. This, however, was likely to have described a different place along the North
Saskatchewan River from today’s Rossdale Flats. Deaths at Edmonton House IV (which was
probably located at the north end of the present 105 Street Bridge) were recorded in the records
of the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) from 1814 onwards, but initially had no reference to
where the deceased were buried. The first recorded burial at what is now known as the Fort
Edmonton burial ground was in 1823, and the graveyard was cited 27 times in the HBC post
journals between 1824 and 1879.
Based on archaeological evidence, Lifeways of Canada Ltd. has concluded that the cemetery was
used for burials of all ethnic groups represented at the post and during three distinct time periods,
although the evidence does not enable providing dates for those periods.
Other cemeteries began to replace the Fort Edmonton burial ground after mid-century. Roman
Catholics began to be buried at St. Albert from 1864 and Protestants at the Methodist Burial
Ground from 1871. Edmonton Cemetery opened as a non-denominational burial ground in 1886.
The extent to which the Fort Edmonton burial ground continued to be used in this period is
uncertain.
The Aldous survey of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s Reserve Lands (1882) demarcates the
‘Burial Ground’ southwest of the intersection of 95 Avenue and 104 Street. This is the area at the
western edge of the EPCOR power plant, now largely covered by Rossdale Road, where a
number of burials have been exposed over the years. A survey done under the authority of City
Engineer A.D. Haddow in 1919 confirms this location, although its demarcated area is slightly
different.
Report 2004PDP047 - Attachment 2 - Page 2 of 5
Attachment 2
Executive Summary with Report Recommendations Concerning the Rossdale Historic
Land Use Study by Commonwealth Historic Resource Management Ltd.
The area around (and including) the burial ground was leased by the HBC for cultivation by
market gardeners in the 1920s. The City of Edmonton purchased Block C, which includes the
demarcated burial ground, from the HBC in 1930 and has owned it since that time.
The alignment of Rossdale Road has changed several times through the twentieth century. The
eastern portion of the 105 Street rotary, constructed in 1958 and removed in the 1980s, was built
over the demarcated burial ground. A portion of the present Rossdale Road covers the graveyard.
Archaeological investigations of the area have been conducted at several times since 1966,
mostly in response to the accidental disinterment of human remains. The most recent and
comprehensive of these, undertaken by Lifeways of Canada, was reported in January 2003.
Burials have been located both within the boundaries shown in the Aldous and Haddow suveys
and outside those boundaries.
Scattered documentary evidence also points to the possibility of there having been a second
burial ground in Rossdale, an Aboriginal graveyard on the ‘upper flat’ west of 106 Street, east or
northeast of Fort Edmonton V (just south of the Legislature). No burials or physical evidence
have ever been recovered from this area and the likelihood of locating it with any accuracy is
slim. Other documentary and archaeological evidence suggests that there may have been either a
separate burial ground, or an extension of the principal one, to the east, on present EPCOR
property. Geophysical investigations were undertaken with the intention of locating burials, but
the results are inconclusive.
Neither documentary, archaeological, nor geophysical investigation done to date can indicate the
exact limits of the area containing burials. The boundaries remain uncertain. The likelihood of
finding human remains diminishes as the distance from the burial ground demarcated in the
Aldous survey increases.
Recommendations
The final chapter contains, in part, a long-term management plan for archaeological resources.
The most important component of the strategy is to undertake effective consultation with respect
to proposed activities that have the potential to disturb archaeological resources. Alberta
Community Development is the regulator and must be consulted in the event of proposed
substantial interventions. Other stakeholders may be identified through processes already well
established by the City of Edmonton.
A primary management recommendation is the avoidance of any additional disturbances to the
areas that have been considered as highly sensitive in the Lifeways of Canada report (2003). Predevelopment assessments by a qualified archaeologist will be required as a response to proposed
developments. Certain areas in the study area with relatively limited prior disturbance have been
identified; consideration may be given to undertaking archaeological investigations there on a
proactive basis, in consultation with community stakeholders.
Report 2004PDP047 - Attachment 2 - Page 3 of 5
Attachment 2
Executive Summary with Report Recommendations Concerning the Rossdale Historic
Land Use Study by Commonwealth Historic Resource Management Ltd.
The Rossdale Historical Land Use Study concludes with 14 recommendations:
1. For all proposed activities that would have the potential to affect archaeological resources,
undertake effective consultation with stakeholders at an early stage in planning. Alberta
Community Development (ACD) is the regulator; stakeholders should be identified through
processes already well established by the City of Edmonton. These processes should be
inclusive and transparent and sufficient time must be allocated to ensure they are completed
before plans are finalized.
2. Through planning, avoid any additional surface disturbance to the area believed to contain
the traditional burial ground. No additional subsurface utilities or other forms of
disturbance below current grades should be planned for this area.
3. Any proposed maintenance or repairs to existing utilities in archaeologically sensitive areas
should be discussed with Alberta Community Development. A protocol should be
developed with ACD to anticipate future interventions that will be required for maintenance
and repairs.
4. Should industrial use of the EPCOR lands immediately east of the burial ground cease at
some time in the future, a protocol for mitigation should be developed in consultation with
ACD.
5. Where concerns are known to exist, issues emerge from the consultation process, or
uncertainties with respect to the potential for conflicts are present, it is important to
complete advance studies, including Historical Resources Impact Assessments, to clarify
and resolve these issues. It is essential that sufficient lead time be allocated to allow the
necessary investigations to take place, including contingencies for further delays in the
event that potential conflicts are identified.
6. Adopt preservation (i.e. non-intervention) as the preferred course of action to mitigate
potential conflicts where this is feasible.
7. In areas subject to previous residential or transportation infrastructure development, no
prior assessment for archaeological resources is considered necessary, except where deep
excavations are required for new developments.
8. Prior assessment for archaeological resources should be required for any proposed
development in the Rossdale Historic Land Use Study Area that occurs within the areas
shown as having highest archaeological sensitivity (coloured red) or areas shown to contain
historic material (coloured orange) on the Plan of Areas of Archaeological Sensitivity
reproduced as Figure 44 of Nancy Saxberg et al., ‘Fort Edmonton Burial Ground: An
Archaeological and Historical Study’ (January 2003), reproduced in this report as Appendix
5, Map 8.
Report 2004PDP047 - Attachment 2 - Page 4 of 5
Attachment 2
Executive Summary with Report Recommendations Concerning the Rossdale Historic
Land Use Study by Commonwealth Historic Resource Management Ltd.
9. Archaeological investigations may be undertaken on a proactive basis on areas that have
been subject to very little prior development, most notably the parking areas north and east
of Telus Field and, to a lesser extent, the small area north of 97 Avenue and south of the
Ortona Armory, and the base of the 105 Street hill.
10. The terms of reference for any development / land sales contracts that may be issued and
for any road or bridge construction should include clauses requiring contractors to cease
operations and immediately contact Alberta Community Development if bones or artifacts
are encountered during soil-stripping or in foundation or utility excavations.
11. Since previous geophysical investigations of the Fort Edmonton burial ground have been
inconclusive, because of extensive site disturbance and insufficient testing within the
known cemetery context, consideration should be given to undertaking further geophysical
investigations extended outward in an attempt to establish the limits of the burials.
12. Efforts to commemorate the Fort Edmonton burial ground, currently underway, should be
continued and encouraged with all the relevant stakeholders. Care should be taken to ensure
that any structures or landscape work that are produced do not disturb the archaeological
remains that they are intended to commemorate. Avoiding disturbance may require creative
and innovative design.
13. Consideration should be given to defining the commemorative area through the community
consultation process (which has been ongoing since 2001), which in turn should be
informed by historical and archaeological research. Research confirms that the focus of the
commemorative area should be on the burial ground that is demarcated in the Aldous
survey of 1882. The commemoration will mark both the physical remains and the
traditional use of the site and adjacent lands for burial purposes.
14. Initiatives should be taken to commemorate and interpret all the significant history of
Rossdale flats, including the many uses during the fur-trade era and the variety of other
uses that have occurred before and after that era. Commemoration and interpretation should
recognize the achievements of the many cultures who lived and worked here for millennia,
and who collectively were instrumental in creating the City of Edmonton. Indeed, the area
is of major municipal and provincial historic significance.
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