Methodist missionary
George McDougall, and his family, established a missionary site at the site in 1862–63. This site was chosen because of its popularity as a hunting area and Cree settlement (there were always 10 to 100 Native tents present according to Mcdougall). It was also adjacent to the
North Saskatchewan River and the
Carlton Trail, at the time busy transportation routes. McDougall chose the name Victoria to honor
Queen Victoria, queen at the time. The McDougall family relocated to Edmonton in 1871. A Hudson's Bay Co. fort was established there in 1864. Fort Victoria (Victoria Settlement) was located along Victoria Trail/Carlton Trail between Edmonton and
Fort Pitt and served as a stopping house on the overland route between the two as well as a waystation for travellers moving up or down the river. The fur trading post at Victoria was minor compared to Edmonton but it gradually attracted a small agricultural settlement, as occurred near other Hudson's Bay Company posts in those pioneer days Land in the settlement was used according to the customary
French-Quebec riverlot system, and a mixed community of First Nations, Métis, and Europeans developed. For several miles on each side of the present-day museum the riverlot system is still in use, the official survey reflecting the fact that farms and land usage predated the Dominion Land Survey of the 1880s. (The DLS in most cases carved up large, square tracts as per
Dominion Lands Act). Fort Victoria shifted from subsistence on wildlife—specifically bison—and trade in furs to agriculture (crops and livestock). In 1864
George Flett was given the job of opening a Hudson's Bay Company trading post at Fort Victoria. Flett was of Orkney and
Cree descent. As clerk in charge of the post until 1866, Flett was responsible for arranging for construction of the buildings and for opening up trade with the local Indians. Flett quickly obtained a supply of good-quality furs, which Flett and his assistants took by horse and dog train to
Fort Edmonton for shipment downriver to Hudsons Bay. The fort closed in 1883 but was re-opened in 1887. It operated until 1897–98. Later the site of the fort became a hub for the early settlement of East-
Central Alberta. It came to be called the
Victoria Settlement and later,
Pakan, after the Cree chief Pakannuk. Chief Pakan's name was sometimes given as "Peccan or Seenum". Still later, the settlement served as a Methodist mission to
Ukrainian Canadian settlers in the region. The fort lies within the larger Victoria District, as well as the
Kalyna Country ecomuseum. It has been designated a
national historic site of Canada, == Victoria Park Cemetery ==