Lower Fort Garry

George Simpson had this fort built from 1830 on the Red River below the rapids, in stone rather than timber, and it survives intact, the oldest stone fur trade post still standing in North America. It served as a supply depot, a farm and later a penitentiary and an asylum. In August 1871 Treaty 1 was negotiated and signed here between the Crown and the Anishinaabe and Swampy Cree, the first of the numbered treaties, and the site presents that history with input from the treaty nations, including the differing understandings of what was agreed. Costumed staff work the fur loft, the store and the blacksmith shop.

History

The Hudson's Bay Company began the fort in 1830 to replace Fort Garry, wrecked by the Red River flood of 1826, and built it largely of limestone: the Fur Loft and the Big House came first, then the Men's House, warehouses, bakehouse, blacksmith shop, powder magazine and icehouse, and soldiers of the 6th Regiment of Foot finished the walls in 1848. It was a supply centre for the company's Northern Department, Treaty No. 1 was signed here on 3 August 1871, and it later served as the first training base of the North-West Mounted Police, a penitentiary and, in the 20th century, a country club, before Parks Canada restored it (Wikipedia, Lower Fort Garry).

Highlights

• The stone fort - the oldest intact stone fur trade post in North America.
• The Treaty 1 site - where the first numbered treaty was signed in 1871.
• The fur loft - bales, presses and the trade goods of the exchange.
• The working trades - blacksmith, baker and store staffed in period roles.

When to go

May to September for the staffed site; it closes for winter with occasional events. Treaty 1 commemorations fall in August. The Red River setting is pleasant in summer.

Practical notes

Closed roughly October to May. The site is spread out with walking between buildings. Staffing varies by day, so not every building is interpreted.

Nearby

Selkirk lies north; Winnipeg is south.

Key facts