Editing Fort Edmonton (section)

==Fourth Fort Edmonton (1812–1830) ==
<small>Coordinates: {{Coord|53|31|44|N|113|29|53|W|type:landmark_region:CA-AB}}</small>

Fort Edmonton and Fort Augustus moved back to the second site at the Rossdale flats, it having proven to be a site more amenable for Natives to visit. This was the start of recorded permanent human occupancy in the present city of Edmonton.

A crew of workers was sent from Fort Edmonton at White Earth to begin construction of a new post at the Rossdale location on October 6, 1812. Post Factor James Bird marked out the layout of the new post on October 10.<ref>Edmonton House Journals, Correspondence and Reports, 1806-1821 (published by the Historical Society of Alberta), p. 182</ref> James Bird's son William Bird was born at Fort Edmonton and later played a role in the naming of today's Mill Creek.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://historicedmonton.ca/edhs-special/william-bird-and-mill-creek-the-northern-alberta-pioneers-descendants-association/|title=William Bird and Mill Creek; the Northern Alberta Pioneers & Descendants Association}}</ref> 

In the years immediately succeeding that move, the two furtrading companies, the HBC and the NWC, had a strong and violent rivalry, peaking with the [[Battle of Seven Oaks (1816)|Battle of Seven Oaks]] at Winnipeg.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Canadian Encyclopedia}}</ref>

Violence broke out at Edmonton in 1826 when fort staff fought off an attempt by several Nakoda to steal some of the fort's horses. Six Nakoda were killed and five Bay men wounded in a brisk exchange of gunfire and arrow-flight.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Battle+at+Fort+Edmonton%3A+fur+traders+under+siege.-a0249869585#:~:text=In%201826%2C%20six%20Indians%20were%20killed%20outside%20the,briefly%20extended%20to%20the%20Hudson%27s%20Bay%20Company%20itself.|title = Battle at Fort Edmonton: Fur traders under siege. - Free Online Library}}</ref> Already by that time, horses were being kept at [[Horse Hill, Edmonton|Horse Hill]] in what is now northeast Edmonton.<ref>Binnema and Enns, Edmonton House Journal, 1821-1826</ref>

The Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company [[North West Company#Forced merger|merged]] in 1821. After the amalgamation, the companies used the Hudson's Bay Company name. The name Fort Augustus was dropped, and John Rowand, the former NWC factor, became chief trader of the HBC's Fort Edmonton. Fort Edmonton became the headquarters for the Saskatchewan District of Rupert's Land, which stretched from the [[Canadian Rockies|Canadian Rocky Mountains]] in the west to [[Fort Carlton]] in the east; from the [[49th parallel north|49th parallel]] in the south to [[Lesser Slave Lake]] in the north.{{citation needed|date=January 2016|reason=regions appear differently in HBC Heritage}} In 1823, Rowand was promoted to chief factor. Rowand managed Saskatchewan District from Fort Edmonton until his death in 1854.