The electoral district was one of three proclaimed by Lieutenant-Governor David Laird on November 13, 1880, under the authority of the North-West Territories Act.

The major population centres in the electoral district at the time of creation were Prince Albert, and Fort Carlton.

Candidates stood for election independent of the political parties that exist in other provinces and territories and the federal level within Canada.

The election marked the first time the provision of the North-West Territories Act 1880 that allowed for an electoral district to be proclaimed if an area the size of 1,000 square miles (2,600 km2) had 1000 residents had been activated.

The election was contested by two candidates, Lawrence Clarke who was a fur trader and Chief Factor of the District of Saskatchewan for the Hudson's Bay Company.

[6] Clarke's opponent was Henry Stewart Moore a local French speaking businessman from Prince Albert who had been operating a flour mill since 1875.

[7] Clarke held a big advantage in the campaign as he was supported by the Métis who had been looking for someone to locally represent them in the Legislature since the territory was formed in 1870.

[6] Two completely new candidates ran in the 1883 election, Captain Day Hort MacDowall and Dr. Andrew Everett Porter.

Andrew Porter was famous for being the first registered private practicing medical doctor in the history of the Northwest Territories.

MacDowall swept the south end of the district winning a shut out in the Métis communities of Duck Lake and St. Laurent de Grandin.

Incumbent MacDowall, had played a major role in subduing the North-West Rebellion at the end of his term in office.

Hughes had been the captain of the Prince Albert militia unit that was disbanded by the Federal Government prior to the start of the North-West Resistance.

Many of his former unit, including his lieutenant, Gabriel Dumont, were among the Metis who drove the loyalist forces back at the Battle of Fish Creek.