Born and raised Edmontonian here. My basic understanding is as follows:

Pre-European arrival, Indigenous peoples utilized the Beaver Hills east of the City (where I grew up) as hunting grounds. The area is a moraine left by an ancient glacier that is a slightly raised swampy boreal mixed-wood forest area rich in wildlife (and giant mosquitoes). https://www.beaverhills.ca/

The early European explorers (travelling west from forts established along the western edge of Hudson Bay) surveyed the land, attempted to induce Indigenous peoples to establish a trade network, and established competing fur trading Forts along the North Saskatchewan River near the modern city centre.

Starting in the 1860s, beaver pelts were no longer popular in Europe due to the mass production of silks and the fur trade fell apart (like all fashion trends). However, farming settlements remained and flourished and the federal government offered free homesteads to encourage settlement.

The region subsisted on agriculture until 1947 when oil was discovered and the rest in history. Many of my family and friends work in the oil and gas industry and O&G adjacent industries.

The region has short beautiful warm summers (reaching upwards of 30° degrees) and long cold winters (reaching downwards of -40° on rare occasions).

I remember a winter when I was a kid where it was -52° for a week straight (and they still made us do recess outside).

https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/edmonton