North West Mounted Police trek to Fort Whoop-Up to stop whisky trade
North West Mounted Police, at Fort Calgary. Glenbow Museum, NA-354-10
1874
Fort Whoop-Up (modern-day Lethbridge, Alberta) was the first destination of the North West Mounted Police (NWMP), which Parliament had established the previous year to assert the Canadian government’s authority and sovereignty in the West. Amid much fanfare, the NWMP departed from Fort Dufferin, Manitoba, on July 8, 1874, and arrived at Fort Whoop-Up in October to stop the flow of illicit whisky from the unpatrolled American border to the south.
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