Fort Walsh

In 1873 American wolf hunters killed a group of Nakoda people in the Cypress Hills, and the incident accelerated the creation and westward march of the North-West Mounted Police; Fort Walsh was built in 1875 in response and served as force headquarters for several years. After the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876, Sitting Bull brought several thousand Lakota across the border and they camped in this region for four years while the police tried to manage a situation neither government wanted. The fort was reconstructed on its original site and Parks Canada presents the Nakoda and Lakota sides alongside the police one.

The main sights

• The reconstructed fort - palisade and buildings on the original 1875 site.
• The massacre site - the location of the 1873 killings interpreted nearby.
• The Sitting Bull years - the Lakota exile in Canada told as part of the story.
• The Cypress Hills setting - forested plateau country around the fort.

When to go

May to September; the site closes for winter. Access is by shuttle from the visitor centre on some schedules. The road in from Maple Creek is partly gravel.

Practical notes

Closed roughly October to May. The buildings are reconstructions. The site is remote, an hour from the nearest town of any size.

Nearby

The Cypress Hills park surrounds it; Maple Creek lies northeast.

Key facts