Ella May Walker: The Author

Edmonton and its history were very important to Ella May Walker. She used her creative talents to tell Edmonton's stories and to encourage others to learn more. From painting history, she began writing articles and the novel, "Fortress North" about Edmonton's history.

The Cover for the Novel "Fortress North", featuring an illustration of houses in the snow, with chimney smoke rising into a dark blue sky.

"Fortress North" Book Cover

Journalist

Ella wrote articles for several newspapers, including the Edmonton Journal and The People's Weekly. She regularly wrote about music¹, as well as Edmontonians from the past and present.

The City of Edmonton Archives has several of her articles: both working drafts and the final published versions. An example is the attached draft and published version of a story that Ella wrote for a newsletter for Brownies and Guides called Woodsmoke.

Ella was inspired to write a book during a 1942 exhibition of her paintings of historic Edmonton buildings. Mayor John Wesley Fry suggested that she write articles on the history of the buildings "as a contribution to the city archives." ²

Ella took this idea and ran with it. The novel, Fortress North, is a series of short stories covering Edmonton from the first Fort to the heyday of the City Centre Airport in the 1940s.

Research

In order to create a picture that was as accurate as possible throughout her various work, Ella conducted extensive research. Her research ranged from interviewing surviving pioneers and Indigenous people (as well as their descendants), to searching through records at the Provincial Archives of Alberta. She also wrote to anyone she thought might be able to answer her questions, including the Federal Government and the Prime Minister of Canada.

"Woodsmoke" Article

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Draft of "Woodsmoke" article on Muchias

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Novelist

The first page of the thirteenth chapter of a novel, featuring an illustration of houses.

Fortress North — chapter 13, first page
[MS-52 Fortress North 229]
The first page of Chapter 13 of the novel, Fortress North. This chapter is titled "A Scourging Prairie Fire."

Manuscript

The Archives have a manuscript of Ella's novel. Despite it being mostly complete, it still has some of her edits which make it interesting to see the novel as a work in progress. The sequence of the chapters and some of the chapter titles changed from the manuscript to the published novel. Chapter 12, "A Scourging Prairie Fire" of the manuscript kept the same name but became chapter 13 in the novel.

Copies of "Fortress North" are available in the City of Edmonton Archives non-lending library, as well as through the Edmonton Public Library. Ella's book raises an issue facing all institutions that provide access to material written in the past. In many ways, people in the past had different values, language, and norms from ours today. Although they were acceptable when they were written, some of the themes and terms used in older novels are offensive now.

Manuscript Page of Chapter 12: "A Scourging Prairie Fire"

[MS-52]

Disclaimer: The City of Edmonton Archives recognizes that the novel "Fortress North" contains certain themes and some language that may offend some readers today. Providing access to these materials does not mean an endorsement of those themes and terms.

Footnotes