HBC Steamer North West Edmonton 1896

Before highways and rail lines connected the prairies, the North Saskatchewan River was Edmonton’s lifeline, a busy transportation corridor linking prairie communities to the wider world. This 1896 photograph captures the Hudson’s Bay Company steamer North West docked along the riverbank, its paddle wheels and towering smokestacks ready to carry people, mail, and essential goods across vast distances. With onlookers gathered at the shore and thick forest rising beyond the bend, the scene reflects a frontier city on the edge of transformation, still rooted in river travel, yet on the verge of rapid expansion.

This striking print preserves a moment from the final years of the great steamboat era that helped shape Edmonton’s early growth and connection across the West.