Fort Whoop-Up
Encyclopedia
Fort Whoop-Up was the nickname (that was eventually adopted as the official name) given to a whisky trading post
Trading post
A trading post was a place or establishment in historic Northern America where the trading of goods took place. The preferred travel route to a trading post or between trading posts, was known as a trade route....
, originally Fort Hamilton, near what is now Lethbridge
Lethbridge
Lethbridge is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada, and the largest city in southern Alberta. It is Alberta's fourth-largest city by population after Calgary, Edmonton and Red Deer, and the third-largest by area after Calgary and Edmonton. The nearby Canadian Rockies contribute to the city's...
, Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
. During the late 19th century, the post served as a centre for various illegal activities. The sale of whisky
Whisky
Whisky or whiskey is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Different grains are used for different varieties, including barley, malted barley, rye, malted rye, wheat, and corn...
was outlawed but, due to the lack of a police force in the region at the time, 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 National Historic Site in Indian Battle Park
Indian Battle Park
Indian Battle Park is a park located in the Oldman River valley urban park system of Lethbridge, Alberta. The park was developed in 1960 and commemorates the Battle of the Belly River held in the area on 24 October 1870 between the Blackfoot and the Cree...
, home to the largest period firearm collection in Canada.
History
Fort Hamilton was first built in 1869 by J.J. HealyJohn Healy
John Healy was an American entrepreneur in the late 19th century. Originally from Montana, he and Alfred B. Hamilton established a whiskey trading post near present-day Lethbridge, Alberta in 1869...
and A.B. Hamilton—two traders from the Fort Benton area of Montana—to serve as a trading post. Its first structure was destroyed by fire within a year of its construction; whether this was an accident or deliberate arson
Arson
Arson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...
is unknown. A second, more sturdy structure later replaced the first Fort Hamilton, and was later nicknamed Fort Whoop-Up. It was located at the junction of the Belly (Oldman
Oldman River
The Oldman River is a river in southern Alberta, Canada. It flows roughly west to east from the Rocky Mountains, through the communities of Fort Macleod, Lethbridge, Taber, and on to Grassy Lake, where it joins with the Bow River to form the South Saskatchewan River, which eventually drains into...
) River and the St. Mary's River, six kilometres south of where the Fort Whoop-Up National Historic Site is located.
One type of alcohol
Alcohol
In chemistry, an alcohol is an organic compound in which the hydroxy functional group is bound to a carbon atom. In particular, this carbon center should be saturated, having single bonds to three other atoms....
sold by the Whoop-Up bandits was known as Whoop-Up Bug Juice, a highly-prized alcohol spiked with ginger
Ginger
Ginger is the rhizome of the plant Zingiber officinale, consumed as a delicacy, medicine, or spice. It lends its name to its genus and family . Other notable members of this plant family are turmeric, cardamom, and galangal....
, molasses
Molasses
Molasses is a viscous by-product of the processing of sugar cane, grapes or sugar beets into sugar. The word molasses comes from the Portuguese word melaço, which ultimately comes from mel, the Latin word for "honey". The quality of molasses depends on the maturity of the sugar cane or sugar beet,...
, and red pepper
Capsicum
Capsicum is a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family, Solanaceae. Its species are native to the Americas where they have been cultivated for thousands of years, but they are now also cultivated worldwide, used as spices, vegetables, and medicines - and have become are a key element in...
. It was then coloured with black chewing tobacco
Chewing tobacco
Chewing tobacco Chewing tobacco Chewing tobacco (also known colloquially as hoobastank, backy, tobac, doogooos,Hogleg, chewpoos, chits, chewsky, chawsky, dip, flab, chowers, guy, or a wad, as well as referred to as dipsky, snuff, a pinch, a yopper, a Packing a bomb, a tobbackey or packing a...
, watered down, and boiled to make "firewater".
It is commonly thought that the only purpose for Fort Whoop-Up was to trade whisky. Although it was one of the most infamous of the whisky trading posts, there was much more legal trading that occurred here (e.g. trading of furs for blankets, food, firearms) than there was trading of whisky.
The outlaws of Fort Whoop-Up and surrounding areas—combined with the supposed flying of an American flag
Flag of the United States
The national flag of the United States of America consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the canton bearing fifty small, white, five-pointed stars arranged in nine offset horizontal rows of six stars alternating with rows...
over Canadian territory—contributed to the formation of the North-West Mounted Police. 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 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 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 Native complained at Fort Macleod
Fort Macleod, Alberta
Fort Macleod is a town in the southwest corner of the province of Alberta, Canada. It was founded as a North-West Mounted Police barracks, and is named in honour of the North-West Mounted Police Colonel James Macleod. The town's current mayor is Shawn Patience.- History and heritage preservation...
about a group of whisky traders who had sold him overpriced whisky. Shortly after, the North-West Mounted Police caught and fined the perpetrators, although they were not at Fort Whoop-Up at the time. 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. 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.