Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, City, pop 14 957 (2006 census), 13 121 (2001 census), inc 1985. Fort Saskatchewan is located adjacent to northeast EDMONTON on the prairie parklands along to the North SASKATCHEWAN RIVER. While the fur trade flowed through the region as early as the 1790s, and pioneering French Canadians began farming in the area in 1872, the community really started with the establishment of a NORTH-WEST MOUNTED POLICE post in 1875. Inspector William D. Jarvis, who lead the secondary group to FORT EDMONTON during the force's "March West" , was said to have chosen the spot over competing Fort Edmonton because of its gentler banks for a future railway crossing and avoidance of Hudson's Bay Co lands. Although the fort was originally known as Sturgeon Creek Post, it was later renamed Fort Saskatchewan.

During the 1880s, extensive surveying took place for both the expanding urban settlement and surrounding river lot farmlands. A year after being incorporated as a town (1904), the Canadian National Railway line reached Fort Saskatchewan and built the bridge Jarvis had envisaged years earlier. The town remained a small rural farming centre until afterWorld War II.

In 1954, Sherritt Gordon Mines Ltd (now Sherritt International Corp) completed the community's first major industry, a multimillion-dollar nickel refinery. Over the succeeding years, the town experienced steady growth with PETROCHEMICAL INDUSTRIES moving into the area. In 1966 Sherritt began producing coins and medallions , which later included the blank for the Canadian $1 coin (the "Loonie"). The company has since sold its interest in this coinage operation.

There are now over 20 complexes located in and around the city including Dow Chemical Canada Company, Praxair and Agrium. Today, these industries, a provincial jail - here since 1914 - and a thriving service component support one of Alberta's oldest settlements.