Fort Whoop-up historic site in Lethbridge

By the 1860s, Fort Hamilton, which became known as Fort Whoop Up, was the most important of several whiskey forts built by American traders in southern Alberta.

Liquor laws in the US had made it illegal to sell whiskey freely there, so the sellers  of "fire water" came across the Medicine Line (the Blackfoot name for the Canada-US border) to do business where there was no law to stop them.

This trade caused problems for native people, who had not been exposed to alcohol before and were very susceptible to this strong substance.

The Canadian government, meanwhile, decided to establish a police force to keep the peace in the west. In 1874, they created the RNWMP, the Royal North-West Mounted police, and instructed them to ride to where the trouble was and set up a post. The march west on horseback was arduous, but all members of the first troop survived.

The first police post was established on an island in the Old Man River and later washed away in a flood. The Mountie post was rebuilt at nearby Fort Macleod, also preserved as a historic site.

Contemporary "Steele's Scout" rides up to the fort in historically accurate costume. Horse blanket resembles the ones still used in the RCMP Musical Ride.