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Located in the northeastern region of Alberta, Fort McMurray is a place immersed in natural beauty where land, sky and water meet to provide unparalleled vacation possibilities. Canoe the historic travel and trade routes followed by early trappers and explorers, explore the sand dunes, hike the trails, fish the pristine clear waters of Northern Alberta, gaze in awe at the Aurora Borealis or join a learning tour of the Athabasca Oil Sands – a natural resource that has been spoken of as the “eighth wonder of the world”.
 At a Glance:
- Location: 435 Km northeast of Edmonton on Highway 63
- Population: 61,000 - city and 73,000 - Municipality
- Average Temperature: January -19.8 C July +16.6
- Annual Rainfall: 334.5 mm
- Annual Snowfall: 172.0 cm
- Hours of Sunshine/Year 2108.9
- Elevation: 370 m
- Industries: Oil sands, natural gas and pipeline sectors, forestry, tourism, retail
Getting to Fort McMurray, Alberta:
Direct airline service, charter flights, efficient bus transportation, well maintained and well traveled highways make getting to Fort McMurray and area easy. Fort McMurray is a comfortable 4.5 hour road trip from Edmonton, Alberta. An efficient public transportation system, cabs and rental car services make getting around the city a snap. River travel is still an option for business or pleasure, as it was in the days of the voyageurs.
Access to Fort Chipewyan is limited to air or river travel during the summer months and is an adventurous 280 km trip by winter road during the colder months. The History of Fort McMurray, Alberta: A fur trader by the name of Peter Pond is credited as the first white man to travel through this region in 1778 in search of furs. In 1870, Henry "John" Moberly was dispatched by the Hudson's Bay Company to open a trading post here. He named the post Fort McMurray after William McMurray, the chief factor for the Hudson's Bay Company in the region. While the fur trade dwindled, Fort McMurray remained the most significant transportation terminus to the Arctic.
Before 1921 Fort McMurray was accessible only by river, travelling on scows - uncomfortable, wide, flat-bottom boats. In 1968, the MacKenzie Highway and Great Slave Railway became the preferred routing. Mixed passenger and freight rail service came to a halt when the Canadian National railway closed the line in 1989. The history of Fort McMurray is a tribute to the rogues, fortune hunters, idealists and adventurers who helped to open up the Canadian North; a celebration of those rugged souls who carved out a life for themselves in surroundings that were as inhospitable as they were beautiful.
Today, Fort McMurray's oil sands industry is a prosperous one and continues to grow. It promises success well into the new millennium.
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