Peace River, Alberta


Peace River is a town in northwest Alberta, Canada. It is along the banks of the Peace River at its confluence with the Smoky River, the Heart River and Pat's Creek. It is approximately northwest of Edmonton and northeast of Grande Prairie on Highway 2. It was known as the Village of Peace River Crossing between 1914 and 1916.
The Peace River townsite is nearly below the relatively flat terrain surrounding it. Pat's Creek used to be an open channel through the town but is now channelled through a culvert under the town streets, re-emerging at the mouth on the Peace River at the Riverfront Park.
The population in the Town of Peace River was 6,729 in 2011, a 6.6% increase over its 2006 population. There are significant nodal settlements and subdivisions in the vicinity of the town on acreages along Highway 2 to the west, Highways 684 and 743 as well as the southwest portion of Northern Sunrise County. Regionally, there are various First Nation communities to the northeast, French-Canadian farming communities to the south and to the east, and Mennonite and Hutterite German-Canadian farming communities to the north and northwest of the town.
Peace River was the site of the 2004 Alberta Winter Games. In 2010, Peace River, in conjunction with Grimshaw and surrounding municipalities, jointly hosted the 2010 Alberta Summer Games.

History

After the last glacial ice sheets melted from the northern parts of the Canadian prairies, an ice-free corridor allowed people from Asia to make a way deep into the Americas. When the Ice Age ended, many of these groups moved back north following the large herds of grazing animals which were, in turn, following the grasses northward in the warming climate. In the Peace River area, the two major language groups were the Athapaskan and the Algonquian.
In 1670, following the arrival of the Hudson's Bay Company in Eastern Canada, guns began making their way westward as trade goods and the Algonquian speaking Cree began pushing the Athapaskan speakers Dunne-za or Beaver further west. The Beaver in turn pushed the Sekani deep into the Rocky Mountain Trench in the mid-18th century. A truce was eventually agreed to by the Cree and the Beaver and the great river they called Unchagah became the boundary between their hunting territories.
The North West Company pushed westward in the late 18th century in an attempt to reach the Pacific Ocean, creating rivalry with the other major fur-trading company, the Hudson's Bay Company.

Timeline

  • 1792: Alexander MacKenzie established Fort Fork on the eastern bank of Peace River just south of its confluence with the Smoky River.
  • 1818, the HBC opens the first Fort St. Mary's at the forks of the Peace and the Smoky, it lasted for only one season
  • 1820, the HBC built Fort St. Mary's III on the west side of the Peace River, directly across from the mouth of the Heart River. This was the third and final relocation of Fort St. Mary's
  • 1886: The Anglican Church sets up the first mission on Shaftesbury Trail.
  • 1888: The Roman Catholic Church sets up St. Augustine mission on Shaftesbury Trail.
  • 1898: The North-West Mounted Police make a permanent post at Peace River Crossing.
  • 1909: The townsite of Peace River is first surveyed.
  • 1914: Peace River Landing Settlement is incorporated as the Village of Peace River Crossing on 2 June.
  • 1914: Peace River's first hospital, the Irene Cottage Hospital, opens
  • 1910-1916: Railway reaches the area and settlers begin colonizing the valley.
  • 1916: Village of Peace River Crossing is renamed the Village of Peace River on 22 May.
  • 1919: Village of Peace River is incorporated as the Town of Peace River on 1 December.
  • 1926-1931: The population continues to grow as the Great Depression took hold of Saskatchewan and Southern Alberta.

    Historical sites and architecture

The Northern Alberta Railway station was built in 1916 by the Central Canada Railway. It served as a major hub of activity from 1916 to 1956 for passengers. The station was continued for use for freight until the station was closed in 1981. The NAR station suffered a fire in 1986. It was restored back to its former state in 1991, costing nearly $300,000 to complete. It currently houses the Tourist Information Centre in Peace River. It is located on 94 Avenue block of 100 Street next to the railway tracks that cross through Peace River.
The NAR station was used again as a railway station for first time in about 30 years by passengers when the Alberta Prairie Steam Tours, owners of the passenger cars, sent eight coaches to Peace River in September 2006, thereby enabling riders to travel like the pioneers of the area did in the 1920s. It involved short trips to DMI, a pulp mill 20 kilometres north of the Town of Peace River, and to Grimshaw. The train ride also included on-board entertainment.
The Catholic St. Augustine Mission located along Shaftesbury Trail on River Lot 22 was established in 1888 when the missionaries first came to the Peace country to evangelize and educate the First Nations people. Alongside the mission is an old cemetery. This site is located within the Peace River Provincial Correctional Centre which was built in 1968.
Third Mission Heritage Suites located at 100 Avenue block of 98 Street adjacent to Riverfront Park and across from the original Hudson's Bay Factor's House. was formerly the priests’ house that was moved by CAT over the ice to Peace River in 1958 and functioned as residential apartments before being renovated into a hotel suite.
Anglican Mission Site was established on River Lot 11 on Shaftesbury Trail in 1886, all that remains now is a small cemetery.
The St. James Anglican Cathedral Church was built in 1936. The parish also erected Athabasca Hall around the same time adjacent to it. With the Athabasca Hall being the largest facility in town at that time, the hall bookings became too much for the parish decided to lease it to the Peace River Recreation Board in 1972 for 20 years. In 1979, the parish's first dean emeritus sold it to the Town of Peace River and used the proceeds to add a new church hall connected to the cathedral.
The McNamara Hotel was built in 1921 by Martin Joseph McNamara. It has burnt down twice in the past; once in 1926 and 1993, and rebuilt both times.
Fort Fork site, located in the Peace River Wildland Provincial Park is a national historic site. The fort was erected in 1792 by the North West Company. Alexander Mackenzie wintered at Fort Fork in 1792 as did David Thompson in 1802. The fort was abandoned in 1805 and has since been almost completed eroded by the Peace River. A flag planted at Fort Fork's former site is all that remains. Mackenzie Cairn was erected on River Lot 19 in the Municipal District of Peace No. 135 in 1929 to commemorate Fort Fork.
A wooden statue stands at the Riverfront Park in Peace River to commemorate Henry Fuller Davis, one of the most famous figures in the Town of Peace River's history. His “Twelve-Foot Davis” nickname stems from the 12-foot land claim during the Cariboo Country gold rush in British Columbia which netted him almost $30,000 worth of gold. He took these profits and staked it all on a trading post close to where the Town of Peace River stands today. It is for this reason that the Town of Peace River is sometimes referred to as the Land of Twelve-Foot Davis. Twelve-Foot Davis' gravesite is designated a park and is located on the top of Grouard Hill just east of the town.
Dr. Greene Cairn located in Greene Valley Provincial Park is a historical fixture that remembers Dr. William Greene for his contributions to the community and to the organizations to which he belonged to. Born and raised in San Francisco, Dr. Greene was a medical doctor and dentist in addition to being among first eight men to fly, according to a 1910 edition of New York Sun.

Geography

Physiographically, the Town of Peace River lies within the Peace River Formation, a stratigraphical unit of middle Albian age in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. The area developed on sediments of the former lake bottom of Glacial Lake Peace, which covered most of the areas in the region that were below 610 m in elevation.
The specific landform in which the town is situated is the Peace River Lowland which was incised by the Peace River and its tributaries right through the area's former glacial lake sediments and into the Cretaceous bedrock. The Peace River Lowlands is flanked by the Buffalo Head Hills to the east and the Whitemud and Clear Hills to the west.
The general area is categorized ecologically as aspen parkland with mixedwood stands understory. There is a variety of wetland habitats in the area with several being quite marshy with shallow water, soft bottoms, and abundant aquatic vegetation. Some of the lakes and sloughs are used by various waterfowls, both migrating and resident, for nesting. The parkland also supports a host of terrestrial and aquatic animals. It is also Canada's most northerly agricultural region.
The Greene Valley Provincial Park lies just east of the town in the Northern Sunrise County and the Peace River Wildland Provincial Park is to the south on the east bank of the Peace River. These parks and the rest of the river valley, including some river islands, provide habitat for wildlife such as moose, deer, bear, coyotes, bats, reptiles, birds and numerous fish species. Maintaining natural areas in the river valley and limiting use to suitable recreational use has minimized impacts to wildlife habitat.
Historically, the town has been the subject of flooding. However, the town has developed a continuous dike system to prevent flood damage from to 1:100 year flood events and protect against ice-jam floods. As a result, the risk of flooding has been significantly reduced and no longer poses the same threat to the town.
On 30 November 2022, starting at 16:55 local time, a series of seismic events occurred to the southeast of Peace River. At 17:55, a 5.59-magnitude earthquake at an approximate depth of struck the area. Researchers at Stanford University later said the seismic event was likely to have been caused by human activities linked to the local gas-and-oil extraction industry. No damage or injuries were reported. On 16 March 2023, three slightly smaller tremors occurred less than away from the site of the original event.