| Lower Fort Garry ... Back To Historical Sites |
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Lower Fort Garry: Western Canada’s major historic site is Lower Fort Garry ... better known as "the stone fort". The Hudson’s Bay Company built it in 1830 above the floodwaters, after a flood in 1826 destroyed the original Fort Garry lying 20 miles to the south. In 1837 the original Upper Fort was reconstructed as the Hudson’s Bay Company’s trading and administrative operation. Lower Fort Garry became the fur trade provision, shipment, and retail centre for the Red River settlement. There was an industrial complex consisting of a boat building yard, blacksmith shop, a gristmill, kiln, and brewery and south of the fort by the year 1865. Soldiers were quartered at Lower Fort Garry from 1846 to 1848 during the free trade crisis and also after the Rid resistance in 1870. The Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada commemorated the fort, as it was the site of the signing of Treaty Number One (August 1871) with the Swampy Cree and the Ojibwa people of southern Manitoba. The Northwest Mounted Police have used Lower Fort Garry as a training ground. The fort was also used as an asylum and a provincial penitentiary. By 1911 it was no longer a company residence. The Manitoba Motor Country Club leased the site until 1963. The crown was passed the title in 1951. During the 1960’s to 1980’s, Parks Canada has made restorations to the site. |