Fort Whoop-Up Interpretive Society

Fort Whoop-Up Interpretive Society Since 1973 the Society has interpreted several facets of Southern Alberta History: Blackfoot and Pla The Interpretive matrix re- focused on the fur trade.

Fort Whoop-Up Interpretive Society began in 1973 assuming operations of Whoop Up Country and Fort Whoop Up from the local Kinsmen Clubs. In 1985 the Interpretive site was relocated closer to the coulee banks and the City of Lethbridge assumed ownership of the facility with the Society as tenant and operator on a fee for service basis. At that time the agricultural and transportation collections we

re transferred to Lethbridge and District Exhibition. In 1990 discussions to amalgamate the operations of Fort Whoop Up and the Galt Museum under the City appointed Galt Museum board were inconclusive. Again in early 2015, the Galt amalgamation surfaced and by the end of the year, the 42 year lease and fee for service agreement between the City of Lethbridge and Fort Whoop Up Interpretive Society ended tumultuously. The Society under the guidance of successive volunteer board governance guiding executive leadership had experienced substantial growth in Interpretive quality, the artifact collection, and pillars of interpretation despite challenges through the years from flooding and the City/Fort relationship. The board was not ready to abandon its mission given previous successes. The last executive director was Doran Degenstein, recruited in 1997 as the Society added a livestock program to the Interpretive matrix. Through visitor feedback and strategic plan evaluations it became clear that the presence of horses particularly, were a key attractor regardless of the high caliber of exhibits and interpretation related to the fur trade, the Blackfoot Confederacy, and fi****ms. Since Fort Whoop Up, the Society, has returned to its early Interpretive roots of Whoop Up Country history, partnering with Doran & Tara Degenstein at their farm in Lethbridge County. Doran and Tara have been collecting horse drawn vehicles for a number of years and drive a number of draft horses for pleasure and hire. Doran is passionate about history and shares the vision of the Society as it returns to its routes. Recent donations of agricultural horse drawn farming equipment, and heritage buildings contribute to renewal as the Society and the Degensteins interpret the facets of Whoop Up Country prior to Province-hood. The renewed pillars of The fur trade and Fort Whoop Up, the Blackfoot Confederacy and Plains Tribes, fi****ms, and transportation, combined with new facets of agriculture and other elements of material culture will continue to grow as the Society rebuilds.

08/14/2026

Lea & Perrins since 1837, claimed by some to have a euphoric effect was a common commodity at Fort Whoop Up and other trading posts. Among its intended uses it was also used as an additive to “trade whiskey” adding flavour and perhaps “kick”.

08/11/2026

All beavers have a pair of scent glands called castors, at the base of their tails. These produce castoreum, which provides each beaver with a unique scent. Trappers used castoreum as bait to attract beaver, and it is an important base for many expensive perfumes.

“July 26 [1800], Saturday. In the fore part of the Day we met twenty four Canoes from Athabasca loaded with twenty fire Packs of Furs & a nine Gallon keg of Castorum [i.e. Castoreum] each. They say they starved much on their way out, and for four Days ate nothing at all. To each we gave a reasonable Dram which made them almost forget their late misery. Mr. James McDougall a young Gentleman who has been in this Country two years accompanies them out to the Rainy Lake.”

~Sixteen Years in the Indian Country: The Journal of Daniel Williams Harmon 1800-1816, edited with an introduction by W. Kaye Lamb (1957).

Great article on Calico
08/05/2026

Great article on Calico

04/14/2026
02/22/2026

Archaeologists have uncovered one of North America’s oldest Indigenous settlements.

Near Sturgeon Lake First Nation in Saskatchewan, archaeologists and community leaders have identified one of the continent’s oldest known Indigenous settlement sites. Located about 3 miles (5 kilometers) north of Prince Albert along the North Saskatchewan River, the site was first noticed after riverbank erosion exposed layers of artifacts.

What researchers found suggests this was not a temporary hunting stop, but a long-term settlement.

Stone tools, toolmaking debris known as lithics, fire pits, charcoal layers, and large bison remains point to organized land use and repeated occupation. Some of the bison bones belong to Bison antiquus, an extinct species that could weigh up to 4,400 pounds (2,000 kilograms). Evidence indicates strategic hunting and what appear to be bison pounds or kill sites.

The findings challenge the long-standing assumption that early Indigenous communities in this region were strictly nomadic. Archaeologists say the site reflects structured land stewardship and sustained settlement dating back roughly 11,000 years, near the end of the last Ice Age.

The project is being led by the Âsowanânihk Council, meaning “A Place to Cross” in Cree, in collaboration with researchers from the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Calgary. Elders and Knowledge Keepers are central to the work, connecting physical evidence with longstanding oral histories that describe the region as a cultural and trade hub.

The site now faces threats from logging and industrial activity, prompting calls for immediate protection.

This discovery does more than add a date to a timeline. It reinforces a deep and continuous Indigenous presence rooted in both land and memory.

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02/21/2026

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202002 Township Road 74 Lethbridge County
Lethbridge, AB
T1K8G9

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