User:BradGallant/sandbox

Article Evaluation
-The article I chose to evaluate was on the Red River Rebellion (Red River Rebellion)

- The article was extremely relevant to the topic and explained in detail the different aspects of the rebellion without going off track.

-The article appeared to be relatively neutral, slight bias towards Louis Riel and the Metis people due to the language used throughout the piece. Regardless, the article was informative and was an accurate portrayal of the events.

- There is a large amount of background information present about the topic allowing the reader to get a good understanding of the events that took place without too much repetition and leaving the reader with few questions

- All of the links for the citations work, the only issue being that there is not a link to follow for reference number 21. Other than that, all of the citations are done properly and are appropriate for the article.

- In the talk section, readers are mostly discussing the need for in text citations and the need for the writer to avoid plagiarism and make use of paraphrasing instead.

-The paper is generally highly rated, given b-class ratings and is a part of a WikiProject, which gave it a high performance/B-class rating.

Draft Article - Fort Pitt Provincial Park
Fort Pitt was a fort built in 1830 by the Hudson's Bay Company that also served as a trading post on the North Saskatchewan River in Canada. 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 on the Hudson Bay Company, 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 Hudson Bay Company on the local buffalo population.

Fort Pitt was built where the territories of the Cree, Assiniboine and Blackfoot converged. It was located on a large bend in the river just east of the present day Alberta-Saskatchewan border and was the major post between Fort Edmonton and Fort Carlton. In 1876, it was one of the locations for signing Treaty 6. It was the scene of the Battle of Fort Pitt during the Northwest Rebellion of 1885.

The site was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1954. It is now operated as the Fort Pitt Provincial Park.

Fort Pitt is currently listed as a National Historic Site of Canada. The site today includes the remains of two separate forts, as well as plaques and panels including historical details about the sites past. It also has washrooms, a picnic area and water access for guests. (Saskatewan Tourism website)

History
Fort Pitt (1829–1890) was a prairie trading post of the Hudson's Bay Company on the North Saskatchewan River about 10 miles east of the Alberta border. It was on the north bank of the river on a flat above a bluff. It traded mainly in pemmican and buffalo robes with the Blackfoot, Cree and some Métis. There was a fair amount of agriculture and horse-rearing. It was named after Thomas Pitt, a member of the HBC governing board from 1810 to 1832.

The fort was established in September 1829 by HBC company clerk, Patrick Small, the son of North West Company partner, Patrick Small, the brother-in-law of David Thompson and John MacDonald and the son-in-law of David Hughes. During the first winter Small and his men had to live in tents, and building was not completed until the spring of 1831. It was closed in 1832 for fear of attack by surrounding Cree and Blackfoot, though it reopened in the fall of 1833.

In 1843, John Rowand, the son of John Rowand of Fort Edmonton, became master. In 1854 the elder Rowand, on his way to retirement, visited his son. While attempting to break up a fight between two voyageurs, he had a heart attack and died. Artist Paul Kane visited the fort in 1848.

In 1870, a large smallpox epidemic struck the North Saskatchewan. In 1872 it was said that there were more horses kept at Fort Pitt than any place on the Saskatchewan. 1873 was the last year that large Buffalo herds were seen at the fort. Treaty 6 was signed here in 1876.

Fort Pitt was designated a national historic site in 1954.

Battle of Fort Pitt
In 1883, 25 North-West Mounted Police were sent to Fort Pitt under the command of Francis Dickens, the son of the novelist Charles Dickens. In 1885, the fort was raided by Big Bear's Crees, though, among the inhabitants, only a single officer was killed. When Dickens agreed to negotiate with the attackers, Big Bear released the remaining police officers and destroyed the fort.

Closure
The next September, the fort was rebuilt by Angus McKay. In 1887, a branch post was built at Onion Lake about 20 mi to the northwest. In 1890 everything was moved to Onion Lake, and Fort Pitt was closed.

[Original article copied from: Fort Pitt Provincial Park]

We will be continuing to add to the article about Fort Pitt. The wikipedia page currently has minimal general information, and lacks depth in describing the complex and volatile relationship between the Hudson Bay Company outpost and the aboriginals of the area. The additions to this article will also illustrate the effects of large scale hunting and trapping on the animal population in the area and more specifically the the buffalo population. In an article within the Western Historical Quarterly George Colpitts states, “In 1873 the bison market came to an abrupt end when Fort Pitt, once one of the most reliable sources of provisions in the Saskatchewan District, all but collapsed. Despite every exertion being made by the officer in charge of the post, who sent staff to follow up and traffic wherever Indians or Buffalo could be found, parties returned from the South Branch territories empty handed” (Colpitts, 2012). This article also mentions that after the bison were gone, almost five-sixths of the provisions brought to the post had to come from the hands of independent parties who were forced to travel staggering distances to obtain such resources. Purchases of these crucial resources soon became “a heavy expense” on the post. Meanwhile the rest of the upper Saskatchewan posts were still able to meet the demands of the HBC.The update to the article will also include more information regarding the demise of Fort Pitt as well as its transformation to its current state and status as a National Park.

As food supplies and wildlife dwindled many of the HBC leaders adapted commissioner dewdney’s “submit or starve” technique as an attempt to force the indigenous peoples into signing treaties that heavily favored the Hudson Bay Company. This caused animosity between Fort Pitt and indigenous leaders such as Big Bear. Eventually many of the indigenous leaders were willing to forfeit certain rights and policies in order to have food rations restored. It could be speculated that this not only had substantial effects on the signing of treaty 6 at Fort Pitt, but also motivated the battle at Fort Pitt.

Current Status

Fort Pitt is currently listed as a National Historic Site of Canada. The site today includes the remains of two separate forts, as well as plaques and panels including historical details about the sites past. It also has washrooms, a picnic area and water access for guests. (Saskatewan Tourism website)