Fort Whoop-Up

Let’s take a visit into Canada’s past.

While in Lethbridge, Alberta we can do that by heading down into the coulee and finding Indian Battle Park. Down there, by the Oldman River, signs lead us to Fort Whoop-Up.

Come on in!

The first section of the museum introduces us to the Blackfoot and their culture and way of life before the arrival of Europeans.

Through displays, paintings, and large posters we learn a lot…even a few words in the Blackfoot language. (There is a multimedia language station where you can practice!)

Following this sign, we leave the main building and step out into the fort of the 1870s.

Again we are able to relive a part of history by touring replica living conditions (this time of the Europeans).

We also get an education about trade with the native Blackfoot population in the 1870s-90s. I had always thought that beaver pelts were the main item of trade (and that was true in many parts of Canada), but here in Southern Alberta it was buffalo robes (skins) that were traded for European goods.

Reading between the lines, the facts presented at the museum do not paint a pleasant picture, but paint a harsh, but realistic one.

Traders coming up from the south soon realized that whiskey was a profitable trade item…but it deeply changed the lives of the native population. One of the whiskey traders who later found religion and changed his personal path is quoted as saying something to the effect of We should have been hanged for what we did.

Oh, I forgot to tell you…click on any photo to enlarge it!

Included in  our admission fee was  a wagon ride.

Our ride through Indian Battle Park was made even more enjoyable because of our driver who was very proud of his Spanish mustang ponies and eager to share information about them.

When encouraged he also shared a lot of his knowledge about the history of Indian Battle Park, the site of the last inter-tribal battle between Blackfoot and Cree Nations in 1870.

Aside: To learn more about the whiskey traders, aboriginal history, and the NWMP, visit Fort MacLeod (about an hour west of Lethbridge).

Want to see more of Lethbridge…click here.

and/or

More of Canada…click here.

and/or

Other parts of the world…click here.

Happy travels!