Lower Fort Garry National Historic Park the Red River Area Had Been Important to Red River Colony
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Manitoba Lower Fort Garry National Historic Park The Red River area had been important to Red River colony. However, the settlement and political development. The calm routine the fur trade as early as 1738, when La Ve- at the Upper Fort was too firmly established, of the Fort was often shattered by unex rendrye, in the name of the King of France, and the junction of the rivers was the na pected occurrences which thrust it into the founded Fort Rouge at the Forks of the Red tural place for the growth of commerce; mainstream of historical events. In 1846, and Assiniboine Rivers. Around 1800, the thus, in spite of floods, it prospered and during the Oregon boundary crisis, when Hudson's Bay Company began to establish eventually grew into the city of Winnipeg. war between Britain and the United States its authority in the region, and in 1821 it built Although the Lower Fort never attained the seemed imminent, a detachment of the 6th a fort near the site of Fort Rouge as a trad status which Simpson had hoped for, it saw Regiment of Foot arrived from England to ing post and as a depot for shipments of much that is exciting and important in the be stationed at the Fort. The anticipated pemmican (dried bison meat). history of the West and of Canada. American invasion did not occur, but the This fort, the original, or Upper, Fort Gar For a period of eighty years a wide va walls of the southwest bastion, still black ry, which was named after Nicholas Garry, riety of activities, commercial, agricultural, ened by soot from the troops' cooking fires, Deputy Governor of the Hudson's Bay Com and social, took place at the Lower Fort. record the episode. pany, was severely damaged by flooding in From 1831 until the Fort was closed in 1911 In the mid-19th century the Fort housed 1826. Governor (later Sir) George Simpson it housed a retail sales shop where goods of a number of important historical figures. decided to replace it with a fort to be built all kinds were sold, both for cash and for Among these was Dr. John Rae, the Arctic on higher ground. A location 19 miles down furs, to Indians, Metis, and whites. A brew explorer, who lived at the Fort while plan stream from the Upper Fort was chosen, and ery, sawmill, and flour-mill were located in ning the Franklin Relief Expedition. The Rt. work on Lower Fort Garry (also called the the Fort complex, and the employees of the Rev. Dr. David Anderson, first Bishop of Lower Fort or Stone Fort) began in 1831. Hudson's Bay Company grew crops in the Rupert's Land, also lived for a time at the The Fort was finished in 1847 with the com fields outside the walls. Fort, as did Thomas Simpson, another fa pletion of the wall surrounding the buildings. Lower Fort Garry's associations go far mous Arctic explorer. Simpson hoped that his new fort would beyond the range of the merely commercial In the winter of 1869-70 the Fort was used replace the Upper Fort as the centre of the into the story of Canada's military, social, as a rallying-point by Colonel Stoughton Brief History Dennis and some of the settlers opposed to of these ventures declined, and the Fort was 6. The main or front gate. On the gate pil the provisional government of Louis Riel. used for a number of years as a summer lars are carved the names of some of the Riel himself, with a number of his followers, residence by the Commissioners of the soldiers of the Red River Expedition gar made a surprise visit to the Fort in an un Company, who moved out from Winnipeg risoned at the Fort in 1870-71. successful search for his chief political with their families. 7. The north-east bastion. This was the enemy, Dr. (later Sir) John Schultz. In 1913 the Fort was leased to a group of Company powder-magazine. Later in the year 1870, the Fort was oc Winnipeg business and professional men 8. The penitentiary building. Originally a cupied by the 2nd Battalion, Quebec Rifles, incorporated as the Motor Country Club, storehouse, it was used from 1871 to 1877 part of the Red River Expeditionary Force and was used as a golf and social club as the Manitoba provincial penitentiary, and sent west to suppress the Red River Rebel until 1963. subsequently as an asylum for the insane. lion. Six companies were garrisoned at In 1951 Lower Fort Garry was given to the Some of the original "solitary" cells have the Fort. nation by the Hudson's Bay Company and recently been discovered below In 1871 the Fort was the scene of the sign declared a National Historic Park by the ground level. ing of Indian Treaty Number One, between government. The present work of restora 9. This wooden building, built in 1885, was the Government of Canada and the Chippe tion and reconstruction was started in 1964. used as an office by Dr. James Young, the wa and Swampy Cree tribes, an event which asylum doctor. set the pattern for the other treaties which The Buildings of the Fort 10. The north-west bastion. This was the permitted the peaceful settlement of the 1. The Big House. This was begun in 1831 main Fort bake-oven. Individual bake-ovens Canadian West. Over a thousand Indians and completed the next year as a residence were also located behind the penitentiary gathered outside the west wall of the Fort, for George Simpson, Governor of Rupert's building and at the rear of the Big House. where the highway now runs, to negotiate Land. It has been restored to the period of 11. This building was originally a residence the treaty with the government Commis 1852, at which time it was occupied by Gov for Hudson's Bay Company employees. It sioner, Wemyss Simpson. ernor Eden Colville and his wife Anne. It was was used as a stable by the North-West In the winter of 1873-74 the newly formed this building which served as an Officers' Mounted Police during their stay at the Fort. North-West Mounted Police (now the RCMP) Quarters for the 6th Regiment of Foot, the 12. The engineer's cottage. Built in the received its first training at the Lower Fort. 2nd Battalion Quebec Rifles, and the North- 1840's, it was occupied for a number of The raw recruits learning to ride were re West Mounted Police. years by E. Abell, the Hudson's Bay Com peatedly thrown from their horses to the 2. The fur loft building. This contained a pany engineer in charge of the various frozen ground. However, by June 1874 the retail sales shop on the ground floor. On the industries at the Fort. NWMP was ready to set out on its historic second and third floors was storage space 13. The Fraser House. This building was ride to the far West, a journey which brought for dry goods and furs. The original fur originally constructed by James Fraser to the country the first law and order it press used by the Hudson's Bay Company around 1835. Born in Scotland, Fraser came had known. has survived, and some of the marks used to the Red River Settlement in 1815 to work During the 1860's and 1870's, the impor to distinguish the bales belonging to the on a hay farm. The house was moved to this tance of the Fort as a trading centre de Company may be seen on the walls of the site from its original location in West Kildo- clined, and agriculture became paramount. upper storeys. nan. It represents a typical homestead of the Barley and wheat were grown in the fields 3. Museum building. This building is a mod Red River Settlement period. outside the walls of the Fort, vegetables ern reconstruction of one of the Company's were raised in the Fort gardens, and meat retail stores which stood on this site. It now was pickled in barrels - all for sale or export houses a museum and offices. to the Company's more distant posts. Such 4. The south-west bastion. This was used as industries as boat-building, sawing, lime- a wash-house and a cook-house by the 6th burning, iron-working, and brewing flour Regiment of Foot in 1846-47. It was later ished during this period. Most of this work used as a storehouse and still later as a was done in buildings, no longer standing, summer house for the children of the Com which were located at the mouth of the pany's Commissioner. creek to the south of the Fort. 5. The south-east bastion. This was origi With the advent of new methods of pro nally the Fort's ice-house; it now houses visioning and transportation, the importance the public washrooms. What to look for National Historic Parks a Sites 12 Fort George, (Ontario) At Niagara-on-the-Lake, 26 Grand Pre, (Nova Scotia) Evangeline Chapel and main fortification built 1797-1801; reconstructed museum stand near the village where the prin 1 Dawson City, (Yukon Territory) Centre of the 1937-1940 by Niagara Parks Commission; declared cipal events in the expulsion of the Acadians Klondike Gold Rush. Palace Grand Theatre and National Historic Park, 1969. took place. riverboat S.S. Keno preserved as national historic sites. 13 Queenston Heights, (Ontario) Site of major 27 Halifax Citadel, (Nova Scotia) Nineteenth-century American invasion, critical battle and American stone fortress, one of the largest in North 2 Fort Rodd Hill, (British Columbia) Nineteenth defeat during War of 1812.