"It calls back, its pull is stronger than ever -- it whispers its fairy magic to the ears and its memory disturbs the mind."
- Jawaharlal Nehru, 1st Prime Minister of India
Nehru was speaking about Kashmir (a province in India); it could just as easily be said of the area along the Athabasca Landing Trail.
Those who have been blessed with a knowledge of the area believe that there is a magic to be found here. Given that my wife and I live on Fairydale Road and less than 3 kilometres from Fairydale Creek with the Fairydale wetlands a little further to the north, it might be that there is a little 'fairy magic' at work in the area.
At whatever point you enter into this 100-mile portage, that's where the world ends and paradise begins. From the landing at Ft. Saskatchewan to the landing at Athabasca everything is magical. The natural and human history is so interwoven that one is incomplete without the other. If we are talking about the beauty of nature that exists on the land then we must also talk about the Trail for it is the Trail that brings us to the view of God's creations. If we talk about the Trail then we must talk about the people that traveled the Trail, past and present.
No better place to start than with the ghosts of the Redwater Bridge. Personally I do not believe in ghosts; I have never seen one or felt one's presence. That aside, I have neighbours that swear they do exist and that they have seen them. What I do know is that there are several unmarked gravemounds along the sides of the old Athabasca Landing Trail. As for the ghosts of the Redwater Bridge, they are said to be the wife and youngest daughter of Joseph Delorme.
Old Joe was a Métis freighter who had squatted on some land just north of the Redwater Bridge. Legend has it that Joe held the last spike for Lord Strathcona at the dedication of the CPRs rail-line to Edmonton. Joe would leave on some long freight hauls, loading in Edmonton, stopping off at home before proceeding to Athabasca Landing and beyond. Joe was in the habit of arriving back home around dusk. Often his wife and youngest daughter would walk down to the bridge at that time of day in hopes of meeting him and riding back in the wagon.
One early summer day while Joe was away on a haul, tragedy struck. A wildfire swept through the area (just like the Opal wildfire of 2010). The older children reached the river in time but the mother and youngest daughter were overcome by smoke and died on the Trail. Nobody knows whether these two spirits are even yet trying to reach the river for safety or whether it is just Mom & daughter walking down to meet old Joe but through the years stories persist of sightings of the ghostly pair down by the bridge that crosses the Redwater River.
As I said, I don't believe in ghosts but just in case I'm wrong, I hope that the new bridge that looks like the old bridge of Joe Delorme's time is pleasing to these two.
This is the story as told to me by the man who married old Joe's granddaughter.
The following pictures show a little of the 'fairy magic' along the Athabasca Landing Trail and in the Ghost Horse Hills.
Thanks.
Richard
The Redwater River as seen through the timbers of the new bridge.
Looking north over the new bridge towards the site where the Delorme family had lived.
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