Fort Whoop-Up

Fort Whoop-Up
Coordinates	49.69204°N 112.86106°W / 49.69204; -112.86106 (Fort Hamilton)
Site information
Controlled by	Fort Whoop-Up Interpretive Society
Open to the public	10;00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. July & August, 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, September - June
Site history
Built	1869
Built by	J.J. Healy and A.B. Hamilton
In use	1869 - 1891
Demolished	1915, reconstructed 1967

Fort Whoop-Up was the nickname given to a whiskey trading post, officially Fort Hamilton, near what is now Lethbridge, Alberta. During the late 1800s, the post served as a centre for various illegal activities. The sale of whisky was outlawed but, due to the lack of a police force in the region at the time, many whiskey traders had settled in the area and taken to charging unusually high prices for their goods. Eventually the name Fort Whoop-Up was adopted as the official name of the fort, recognized as such by even the North West Mounted Police whose destination it was.

Fort Whoop-Up is now the name of an interpretive centre and reconstruction of the original fort in Indian Battle Park, home to one of the largest period firearm collections in Canada, as well as interpreting the Robe Trade, the North West Mounted Police and the Blackfoot Culture.

History

Fort Hamilton was first built in 1869 by J.J. Healy and A.B. Hamilton—two traders from the Fort Benton area of Montana—to serve as a trading post. Its first structure was destroyed by fire within a year of its construction; whether this was an accident or deliberate arson is unknown. A second, more sturdy structure later replaced the first Fort Hamilton, and was later nick-named Fort Whoop-Up. It was located at the junction of the Belly (Oldman) River and the St. Mary's River, six kilometres south of where Fort Whoop-Up National Historic Site is currently located.

One type of alcohol sold by the Whoop-Up bandits was known as Whoop-Up Bug Juice, a highly-priced alcohol spiked with ginger, molasses, and red pepper. It was then coloured with black chewing tobacco, watered down, and boiled to make "firewater".

It is commonly thought that the only purpose for Fort Whoop-Up was to trade whiskey. Although it was one of the most infamous of the whiskey trading posts, there was much more legal trading that occurred here (e.g. trading of furs for blankets, food, fire arms) than there was trading of whiskey.

Northwest Mounted Police

The outlaws of Fort Whoop-Up and surrounding areas—combined with the supposed flying of an American flag over Canadian territory—contributed to the formation of the North West Mounted Police. Fort Whoop-Up was a destination on their march west in 1874.

The NWMP arrived at Fort Whoop-Up in October, 1874, with the task of establishing Canadian sovereignty in the territory and controlling the alcohol trade. They found no whiskey at the fort and after searching it thoroughly continued and set up their initial fort, Fort Macelod. The flag that was reported to have been an american flag was in fact not, it was in all actuality the trade flag of the fort, which has now also been adopted as the Lethbridge City flag in modern times. Their first strike on the alcohol traders came after a Native complained at Fort Macleod about a group of whiskey traders who had sold him overpriced Whiskey. Shortly after, the North-West Mounted Police caught and fined the perpetrators, although they were not at Fort Whoop-Up at the time. Although the presence of the NWMP decreased the abundance of whiskey trading, it still occurred.

In 1875, the NWMP rented a room from the owners of the fort, Healy and Hamilton, and established a post there. This arrangement lasted for at least twelve years, the fort acting as both a trading post and a NWMP post. The following year, Healy and Hamilton sold the fort to Dave Akers, who was in control of the fort almost until its demise. The fort was again burned in 1888, the fire having started in the NWMP barracks. This fire was not as severe as only the NWMP barracks were destroyed. The fort remained in operation until it was deserted somewhere between 1890 and 1892. It was then destroyed piece by piece until the last of it was washed away in a flood in 1915.

Name

There are several theories as to why the fort was nicknamed Whoop-Up. The most prominent is that it came by a description of the illicit activities that were taking place at the fort; that people said they were going to Fort Hamilton to whoop it up. Another theory comes from the process of getting a bull train moving over the trail. The bull whacker would walk alongside the bull train and crack his whip. This process was called whooping up the bulls, which may have led to the naming of the trail to be Whoop-up Trail, and hence the fort as well.

Reconstruction

In 2006, a reconstruction effort was undertaken to adapt the fort to what it was originally based on new photographic evidence. It was built as a centennial project in 1967. Various new exhibits have been unveiled, and an annual show involving characters from the fort's history began in 2007 in partnership with Drama Nutz Productions.

External links

• Fort Whoop-Up National Historic Site
• RCMP March West: History: Fort Whoop-Up
• Images of the reconstructed Fort Whoop-Up