With the arrival of the Catholic missionaries, during the
19th century, several communities created by the early fur trade
voyageurs and their Métis descendants, were well established,
such as Lac La Biche and Lac St. Anne. Other Métis communities
came and went, as is the case for the colony of Lac-La-Vache,
which existed for only a few years as a wintering camp for the
processing of buffalo hides for the robe trade. Both the trade
and the fashion came to an abrupt halt in 1876 with the
extermination of the buffalo, and almost at once, the community
was abandoned. Straddling the border of present-day Alberta and
Saskatchewan, the Cypress Hills were also the site of a Métis
settlement. The Laboucane Settlement (now Duhamel) is another
example; in this case, a small group of Métis settled on the
crest of the south side of the valley of the Battle River. Most
were freighters and their source of work ceased with the arrival
of the railroad. Their land was divided into strips during the
scrip settlement, but without a source of income, many decided
to leave the area.
In this little community, the Laboucane family had
considerable herds of cattle, but the family decided to move on
following the arrival of settlers who took homesteads. The
Laboucanes headed for Saint-Paul-des-Métis in 1896 (where Métis
settlers were in demand), taking with them their large herd of
1,200 cattle and several hundred head of horses which they put
to pasture on both Crown and unsettled lands. In 1896, Laurent
Garneau left Strathcona for the Métis colony, as well. He too
brought his considerable livestock holdings. Nevertheless, the
colony proved to be too much of a challenge and was eventually
dissolved. The town of St. Paul grew in its place.
There had been a considerable French-speaking Métis
population in the Fort Edmonton area, but many left following
the decline of the fur trade in central Alberta, heading
northwest towards Lesser Slave Lake, Grande Prairie and even
further. As for the colony established at St. Albert, many Métis
moved there from Lac St. Anne, although for a long time a small
colony persisted there. St. Albert became a very prosperous
town. As for Lac La Biche, there was always a Métis community,
but settlers (many of whom were French Canadian) came and took
homesteads only to find the soil was not very good and frost
came early, a discouraging discovery.
|