The Whoop-Up Trail, also known as the Macleod-Benton Trail was a wagon road that connected Fort Benton, Montana, to Fort Hamilton, Alberta.
The trail was initially a trade route between Montana and the southern region of Alberta, which was then known as Rupert's Land and originally controlled by the Hudson's Bay Company. In 1869, negotiations were taking place to transfer political control to Canada. Several American traders took advantage of lack of policing in the area and set up trading posts. In addition to their usual trade with the Blackfeet of goods such as guns, metal implements and blankets, they began trading adulterated alcohol known as "firewater". Several posts were established and one of the earliest was Fort Hamilton, in 1869, which burnt down and was replaced by another in 1870, near Lethbridge, Alberta, which later became known as Fort Whoop-Up. This trade continued until the arrival of the North-West Mounted Police, in October 1874, when it was considerably curtailed by their establishment of Fort Macleod. After that, the Whoop Up trail continued to be the main supply route from Fort Benton into the north for more legitimate goods. The arrival of the railways in the 1880s ended its usefulness. [1]
Lethbridge is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. With a population of 101,482 in its 2019 municipal census, Lethbridge became the fourth Alberta city to surpass 100,000 people. The nearby Canadian Rocky Mountains contribute to the city's warm summers, mild winters, and windy climate. Lethbridge lies southeast of Calgary on the Oldman River.
The Crowsnest Highway is an east-west highway in British Columbia and Alberta, Canada. It stretches 1,161 km (721 mi) across the southern portions of both provinces, from Hope, British Columbia to Medicine Hat, Alberta, providing the shortest highway connection between the Lower Mainland and southeast Alberta through the Canadian Rockies. Mostly two-lane, the highway was officially designated in 1932, mainly following a mid-19th-century gold rush trail originally traced out by an engineer named Edgar Dewdney. It takes its name from the Crowsnest Pass, the location at which the highway crosses the Continental Divide between British Columbia and Alberta.
The Cypress Hills Massacre occurred on June 1, 1873, near Battle Creek in the Cypress Hills region of Canada's North-West Territories. It involved a group of American bison hunters, American wolf hunters or "wolfers", American and Canadian whisky traders, Métis cargo haulers or "freighters", and a camp of Assiniboine people. Thirteen or more Assiniboine warriors and one wolfer died in the conflict. The Cypress Hills Massacre prompted the Canadian government to accelerate the recruitment and deployment of the newly formed North-West Mounted Police.
Fort Calgary was a North-West Mounted Police outpost at the confluence of the Bow and Elbow rivers in present-day Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Originally named Fort Brisebois, after the outpost's first commander, the outpost was renamed Fort Calgary in June 1876.
Fort Macleod is a town in southern Alberta, Canada. It was originally named Macleod to distinguish it from the North-West Mounted Police barracks it had grown around. The fort was named in honour of the then Commissioner of the North-West Mounted Police, Colonel James Macleod. Founded as the Municipality of the Town of Macleod in 1892, the name was officially changed to the already commonly used Fort Macleod in 1952.
Jeremiah “Jerry” Potts, , was an American - Canadian plainsman, buffalo hunter, horse trader, interpreter, and scout of Kainai (Blood) and Scots heritage.
The I. G. Baker Company was a mercantile and grocery company based in Fort Benton, Montana, started by Isaac Gilbert Baker and his brother, George Amos Baker, as I. G. Baker & Brother in 1866. After the Conrad brothers were admitted as partners in 1873, the company name was changed to I. G. Baker & Co., which name was retained after the Conrads purchased George Baker’s interest in 1874. In 1891, the Canadian assets of the company were purchased by its chief rival there, the Hudson's Bay Company.
Fort Whoop-Up was the nickname given to a whisky trading post, originally Fort Hamilton, near what is now Lethbridge, Alberta. During the late 19th century, the post served as a centre for trading activities, including the illegal whisky trade. The sale of whisky was outlawed but, due to the lack of law enforcement in the region prior to 1874, many whisky traders had settled in the area and taken to charging unusually high prices for their goods.
Alberta Provincial Highway No. 3, commonly referred to as Highway 3 and officially named the Crowsnest Highway, is a 324-kilometre (201 mi) highway that traverses southern Alberta, Canada, running from the Crowsnest Pass through Lethbridge to the Trans-Canada Highway in Medicine Hat. Together with British Columbia Highway 3 which begins in Hope, it forms an interprovincial route that serves as an alternate to the Trans-Canada from the Lower Mainland to the Canadian Prairies.
Whiskey Gap, originally known as "Fareham", is a ghost town in Cardston County, Alberta, Canada. The former community is approximately 80 km (50 mi) south of the city of Lethbridge, 31.2 km (19.4 mi) southeast of the town of Cardston, 18.2 km (11.3 mi) west of Del Bonita on Highway 501, and roughly 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) north of the Canada–United States border.
Stirling is a village in southern Alberta, Canada that is surrounded by the County of Warner No. 5. The village is located on Highway 4, approximately 31 km (19 mi) southeast of Lethbridge and 72 km (45 mi) northwest of the Canada–US border.
Alberta Provincial Highway No. 4, commonly referred to as Highway 4, is a 103-kilometre (64 mi) highway in southern Alberta, Canada that connects Highway 3 in Lethbridge to Interstate 15 in Montana. The highway was designated in 1999 as the First Special Service Force Memorial Highway in honour of elite soldiers who travelled to Helena, Montana for training before World War II. The highway continues into the United States retaining that name.
The modern history of Lethbridge extends to the mid-19th century, when the area was developed from drift mines opened by Nicholas Sheran in 1874, and the North Western Coal and Navigation Company in 1882. Prior to the development of drift mines in the area, Lethbridge, Alberta was known as Coal Banks, and was part of the territory of the Blackfoot Confederacy. The Confederacy was made up of the Kainai Nation, the Northern Peigan, the Southern Peigan (Blackfeet), and the Siksika Nation.
Nicholas Sheran (1841–1882) was an entrepreneur born in New York City. He spent his early years apprenticing as a printer, working on Arctic whalers, and serving in the United States Army.
John J. Healy (1840–1908) was an Irish-American entrepreneur in the late 19th century, who also operated in Canada at various times. His pioneering business activities ranged from Montana to Alberta/BC, Canada and to Alaska/Yukon.
There are many forms of transport in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, including highways and public transit. Lethbridge's airport is Lethbridge Airport (YQL), which is south of the city boundary. Lethbridge also has an intricate cycling-and-pedestrian pathway that meets several destinations in the city, including the urban park system in the Oldman River valley.
The March West was the initial journey of the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) to the Canadian prairies, made between July 8 and October 9, 1874.
The Red Coat Trail is a 1,300-kilometre (810 mi) route that approximates the path taken in 1874 by the North-West Mounted Police in their March West from Fort Dufferin to Fort Whoop-Up.
The Rocky Springs Segment of the Whoop-Up Trail was the location of campsites for travellers along the Whoop-Up Trail between Fort Benton, Montana and Fort Hamilton, Alberta in the 19th century. In 1991, it was the best-preserved segment of the Whoop-Up Trail within Montana and it included rut tracks still visible and the surrounding landscape was mostly natural. The numerous small springs in the area were mostly dried up by 1991 "due to modern cultivation and resultant ground water changes". It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993.
The Sweetgrass–Coutts Border Crossing connects the town of Sweet Grass, Montana, with the village of Coutts, Alberta, on the Canada–United States border. I-15 on the American side joins Alberta Highway 4 on the Canadian side. Similarly, BNSF Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) connect. A primary conduit for cross border trade estimated at CA$6 billion, it is the busiest crossing for both the province of Alberta and state of Montana, and among the busiest west of the Great Lakes.