Fort Walsh National Historic Site

A Reconstructed North West Mounted Police Fort In A Wooded Valley Of The Cypress Hills, Founded In 1875 After The Cypress Hills Massacre, With Costumed Interpreters, A Trading Post And A Link To The Story Of Sitting Bull And The Lakota Who Crossed The Border In 1877. A Summer Only Site In A Remote Setting · Maple Creek, Saskatchewan

Fort Walsh National Historic Site stands in a wooded valley of the Cypress Hills in south-west Saskatchewan, roughly 55 km south-west of Maple Creek and reached in part by gravel road (confirm distance and surface). The North-West Mounted Police built the fort in 1875 after the Cypress Hills Massacre of 1873, when wolf hunters and traders killed a number of Nakoda people in a dispute over horses, and it became the force headquarters in the west for a few years before it closed in the early 1880s (confirm dates). In 1877 Sitting Bull and a large band of Lakota crossed the border here after the Battle of the Little Bighorn, and the fort tells that story of refuge and hardship alongside the police and trading history. Parks Canada keeps a reconstructed stockade with costumed interpreters, a trading post and a townsite, and the setting is high, cool prairie forest far from any city. It is a summer site, and the road, the shuttle and the weather shape the day (confirm all hours, prices and dates).

Fort Walsh National Historic Site, in the Cypress Hills about 55 km south-west of Maple Creek in south-west Saskatchewan, reached by gravel road; coordinates approximate, Maple Creek, Saskatchewan, Canada

Fort Walsh is a seasonal Parks Canada site, normally open daily from late May or June to early September, with guided programs and costumed staff on a summer schedule and reduced access outside it. Daily hours usually run from mid-morning to late afternoon, with the last entry well before closing. A shuttle or wagon may link the visitor centre to the fort and the townsite, and its times, the trading post and any food service keep their own hours. The gravel road can close or turn to deep mud after heavy rain, so confirm hours, access and the weather by phone before the long drive.

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