Fort Pitt Provincial Park

Fort Pitt was a fort built in 1829 by the Hudson's Bay Company that also served as a trading post on the North Saskatchewan River in Rupert's Land. It was built at the direction of Chief Factor John Rowand, previously of Fort Edmonton, in order to trade for bison hides, meat and pemmican. Pemmican, dried buffalo meat, was required as provisions for HBC's northern trading posts.

In the 1870s the abundance of buffalo in the area had been severely diminished through the overhunting necessary to meet the growing demand from the HBC for both furs and pemmican. One academic journal states "with the disappearance of the buffalo, pork had replaced pemmican altogether", showing the drastic effects of the HBC on the local buffalo population.