TheAthabasca Landing Trail was a long-distanceportage route that linkedFort Edmonton (modern dayEdmonton, Alberta) on theNorth Saskatchewan River withAthabasca Landing (modern dayAthabasca, Alberta) on theAthabasca River.[1] The distance of the trail between Fort Edmonton and Athabasca Landing was 100 miles (160 km), giving the trail the nickname "The 100 Mile Portage."[2]
The Saskatchewan flows east and joins theNelson River which then drains intoHudson Bay.[3] The Athabasca flows north and joins theSlave River, which itself joins theMackenzie River which drains into the Arctic Ocean.[4] The portage, therefore, had local economic significance but was also part of a widertrade network that linked theArctic andsub-arctic tothe rest of North America.[1]
Various portage routes between the two rivers had been used by theIndigenous peoples of the region for centuries beforethe arrival of British and Canadianfur traders in region in the late eighteenth century. Once fur trading posts were established in the region, the same simple trails were also used to move freight between the posts. They linkedEdmonton House (in all of its various incarnations over the years), the centre of theSaskatchewan District, to posts in theAthabasca District (including thePeace River Country) such asDunvegan,Fort St. Mary's,Fort Chipewyan, andFort Vermilion. The mainpackroute northwards from Edmonton from 1824 to 1876 was that toFort Assiniboine, well to the west of the later Athabasca Landing Trail. It was due toHudson's Bay Company scouts seeking an alternative to the Fort Assiniboine route that Athabasca Landing was founded in 1876.
TheNorth-West Mounted Police stationed nine officers at Athabasca Landing in 1893.[5]
In 2010, a conceptual master plan for the modern version of the Athabasca Landing Trail was completed. The plan is to build a 150 km (93-mile) non-motorized recreational trail, which runs betweenFort Saskatchewan and Athabasca, and highlights the region's historic and natural features. The route is also designated as part of theTrans Canada Trail; it links to theRiver Valley Alliance Trail in the south and to both the land and water routes north to the Arctic Ocean.[6]
In 1892 the first summer detachment of the NWMP began operating at Athabasca Landing, and in 1893, Inspector D.M. Howard, with eight constables, established a permanent outpost at Athabasca Landing to regulate the rapidly increasing northward traffic.