View source for Fort Whoop-Up

{{short description|Human settlement in Lethbridge County, Alberta, Canada}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=December 2017}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2017}}
{{Infobox historic site

| name            = Fort Whoop-Up
| native_name     = 
| native_language = 
| other_name      = Fort Hamilton
| image           = Fort Whoop-Up 2018.jpg
| caption         = 
| type            = 
| locmapin        = Canada Alberta
| coordinates     = {{Coord|49|41|31|N|112|51|24|W|region:CA-AB_type:landmark|display=inline,title}}
| etymology       = Nickname adopted as official name
| location        = [[Alberta]], Canada
| nearest_city    = [[Lethbridge]]
| area            = {{convert|1.6|km|abbr=on}}
| elevation       = 
| height          = 
| beginning_label = Established
| beginning_date  = 
| formed          = 
| founded         = 
| founder         = [[John Healy (entrepreneur)|J.J. Healy]], [[Alfred B. Hamilton|A.B. Hamilton]]
| built           = {{Start date|1869}}
| built_for       = 
| original_use    = Fur and Whisky Trading
| demolished      = 1915
| rebuilt         = 1967
| restored        = 
| restored_by     = 
| current_use     = 
| architect       = [[William S. Gladstone]]
| sculptor        = 
| architecture    = 
| visitors_num    = 
| visitors_year   = 
| visitors_ref    = 
| governing_body  = 
| owner           = City of Lethbridge
| year of event   = 
| events          = [[Battle of the Belly River]], NWMP March West 1874
| website         = {{URL|https://fort.galtmuseum.com}}

| designation1         = 
| designation1_offname = 
| designation1_date    = 
| designation1_number  = 
| designation2         = 
| designation2_offname = 
| designation2_date    = 
| designation2_number  = 
}}

'''Fort Whoop-Up''' was the nickname (eventually adopted as the official name) given to a whisky [[trading post]], originally '''Fort Hamilton''', near what is now [[Lethbridge]], Alberta.<ref>{{cite book|last=Sharp|first=Paul Frederick|title=Whoop-Up Country: The Canadian-American West, 1865-1885|url=https://archive.org/details/whoopupcountryth001742mbp|year=1955|publisher=University of Minnesota Press|page=[https://archive.org/details/whoopupcountryth001742mbp/page/n65 48]}}</ref> 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.

Fort Whoop-Up is also the name of a replica site and interpretive centre built in [[Indian Battle Park]].

== Construction ==

Fort Hamilton was first built in 1869 by [[John Healy (entrepreneur)|John J. Healy]] and [[Alfred B. Hamilton]]—two traders who had done business in the [[Fort Benton, Montana|Fort Benton]] area of Montana and in the basin of the Upper Missouri<ref name="Potyondi">{{Cite book|title=Where the Rivers Meet: A History of the Upper Oldman River Basin to 1939|last=Potyondi|first=Barry|publisher=Robins Southern |year=1992|location=Lethbridge, Alberta|pages=15–16}}</ref>—to serve as a trading post. Fort Hamilton was originally a group of 11 cabins.<ref name="Potyondi" /> The traders in these cabins traded for $50,000 worth of buffalo robes in just six months of operations.<ref name="Potyondi" /> This first fort was destroyed by fire within a year of its construction by an overturned lamp.<ref>{{cite book|last=Dempsey|first=Hugh Aylmer|title=Firewater: The Impact of the Whisky Trade on the Blackfoot Nation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Se-zAAAAIAAJ&pg=PP1|year=2002|publisher=Fifth House|isbn=978-1-894004-96-1|page=73}}</ref> Whether this was an accident or [[arson]] is unknown.<ref>Harris, Howell, cited in {{cite book|last=MacRae|first=Archibald Oswald|title=History of the Province of Alberta|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RgA1AQAAMAAJ&pg=PP1|year=1912|publisher=Western Canada History Company|pages=981–984}}</ref>

[[File:Fort Whoop-Up (1881).jpg|thumb|right|Fort Whoop-Up in 1881]]
Healy and Hamilton contracted James Gladstone and a crew of 30 workers to construct a second, more secure fort,<ref name="Potyondi" /> which was later nicknamed ''Fort Whoop-Up''.<ref>Rocky Mountain Gazette, Dec. 26, 1870</ref> It took two years to build at a cost of $25,000.<ref>{{cite book|last=Dempsey|first=Hugh A.|title=The Early West|year=1957|publisher=Historical Society of Alberta|location=Edmonton|page=32|url=http://www.ourfutureourpast.ca/loc_hist/page.aspx?id=245944|access-date=July 23, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924062724/http://www.ourfutureourpast.ca/loc_hist/page.aspx?id=245944|archive-date=September 24, 2015|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref> When it was finished, Fort Whoop-Up was "a squared timber post complete with a stockade, cannon-mounted bastions, loopholes for firing rifles, and three wickets for trading with the aboriginals."<ref name="Potyondi" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Berry|first=Gerald L.|date=Summer 1953|title=Fort Whoop-Up and the Whiskey Traders|journal=Alberta Historical Review|volume=1|issue=1|pages=7|url=http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/9021.1.1-2.html}}</ref> According to Healy, the new fort was built with six thousand cottonwood logs.<ref>Adney, E. Tappen. Paper. Letter, John Healy to Tappen Adney, 25 August 1905. Montana Historical Society, Helena.</ref>

Fort Whoop-Up was located at the junction of the Belly ([[Oldman River|Oldman]]) River and the St. Mary's River, {{Convert|6|km|abbr=on}} south of where the Fort Whoop-Up interpretive centre is located.

== Trade and enforcement ==

One type of [[alcohol (drug)|alcohol]] sold by the whisky traders in and around Whoop-Up bandits was known as ''Whoop-Up Bug Juice'', a highly prized alcohol spiked with [[ginger]], [[molasses]], and [[capsicum|red pepper]]. It was then coloured with black [[chewing tobacco]], watered down, and boiled to make "firewater".<ref>{{cite book|last=Fooks|first=Georgia Green|title=Fort Whoop-Up : Alberta's First and Most Notorious Whiskey Fort|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HOfyGAAACAAJ&pg=PP1|year=1983|publisher=Whoop-up Country Chapter, Historical Society of Alberta|page=23}}</ref>

The spread of American traders from Fort Benton north into Canada was spurred by the enforcement of prohibition in Montana in 1869. Traders, like Healy and Hamilton, brought their stockpile of whisky to Canada to continue their lucrative trade.<ref name="Potyondi" /> While whisky was a foundational trading item at Fort Whoop-Up and other trading posts, there was much legal trading that occurred, such as trading blankets, food, firearms, or ammunition for buffalo robes.

The outlaws of Fort Whoop-Up and surrounding areas—combined with the supposed flying of an [[Flag of the United States|American flag]] over Canadian territory—contributed to the formation of the [[North-West Mounted Police]] (NWMP). 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 whisky on the premises<ref>{{cite news |last=Schafft |first=Charles |title=From the "North Countrie" |url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84038125/1874-10-24/ed-1/seq-2/ |location=Deer Lodge, Montana |work=The New North-West |date=October 24, 1874 |volume=6 |issue=16}}</ref> and the flag that had been reported as an American flag was inspected and found to be a trade flag for the fort (later adopted by the City of Lethbridge as [[Flag of Lethbridge|the municipal flag]]). Finding no reason to close the fort, they continued further west and the fort continued in the trade of legal goods.

Their first strike on the alcohol traders came after a [[Piikani Nation|Peigan]] chief named Three Bulls complained at [[Fort Macleod]] about a group of whisky traders who had sold him overpriced whisky. Shortly after, the NWMP caught and fined the perpetrators, although they were not at Fort Whoop-Up at the time.<ref>Sessional Papers of Canada, Report of the Commissioner of the North-West Mounted Police, 1874, p. 59-61, Letter of Col. James Macleod, October 30, 1874</ref> Although the presence of the NWMP decreased the abundance of whisky 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.<ref>[http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/canadian-west/052920/05292019_e.html Report of the British War Office on the Cypress Hills Massacre 1875]</ref> 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.

On 28 June 1985 Canada Post issued 'Fort Whoop Up, Alta.' one of the 20 stamps in the "Forts Across Canada Series" (1983 & 1985). The stamps are perforated {{frac|12|1|2}} x 13&nbsp;mm and were printed by [[Ashton-Potter Limited]] based on the designs by [[Rolf P. Harder]].<ref>[https://archive.today/20130115085118/http://data4.collectionscanada.ca/netacgi/nph-brs?s1=1011&l=20&d=POST&p=1&u=http://www.collectionscanada.ca/archivianet/020117/020117030306_e.html&r=1&f=G&SECT3=POST Canada Post issued 'Fort Whoop Up, Alta.']</ref>

==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 them up, which may have led to naming the trail from [[Fort Benton, Montana]] the [[Whoop-Up Trail]], and hence the fort as well.{{sfnp|Sharp|1955|p=49}}

==Reconstruction==
{{Unreferenced section|date=December 2017}}
[[File:Fort Whoop-Up Logo.svg|thumb|Logo of the Fort Whoop-Up interpretive site]]
A reconstruction-effort was undertaken to adapt the fort to what it was originally, based on new photographic evidence. The replica site was built as a centennial project, downstream from the original site, in 1967. Since then, various new exhibits have been unveiled, including the Thunderchief Collection, showcasing artifacts from the local Blackfoot culture; the Shockley Firearms Gallery; and ''Voice from the Past'', an audio program that enables visitors and school children to receive guided tours year round. Seasonal re-enactments take place in the summer involving characters from the fort's history, and are done in partnership with Drama Nutz Productions and Guns of the Golden West, as well as local re-enactment talent.

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{DFHD|34|Fort Whoop-Up National Historic Site of Canada}}
* {{CRHP|10972|Fort Whoop-up Archaeological Site}}
* {{DFHD|903|Indian Battle of 1870 National Historic Event}}
* [https://fort.galtmuseum.com Fort Whoop-Up]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050205113441/http://www.rcmpmarchwest.com/eng/history/places/Whoop-up/ RCMP March West: History: Fort Whoop-Up]

{{Alberta parks}}
{{Prohibition}}
{{American frontier}}

[[Category:Forts in Alberta|Whoop-up]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Lethbridge]]
[[Category:History of Lethbridge]]
[[Category:History museums in Alberta]]
[[Category:Open-air museums in Canada]]
[[Category:National Historic Sites in Alberta]]
[[Category:Canadian folklore]]
[[Category:North-West Mounted Police forts]]
[[Category:American frontier]]
[[Category:Forts or trading posts on the National Historic Sites of Canada register]]
[[Category:Crime in Canada]]
[[Category:Canada–United States border]]
[[Category:Smuggling]]
[[Category:Bootleggers]]
[[Category:American West museums]]
[[Category:Prohibition in Canada]]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in Lethbridge]]
[[Category:Culture of Lethbridge]]
[[Category:Alcohol in Alberta]]
[[Category:Whoop-Up Trail]]
[[Category:Fur trade]]
[[Category:History of Alberta]]
[[Category:Forts in the American Old West]]