History of the NWMP

 The Macleod Post 

After the Force arrived at Fort Whoop-Up, Macleod turned his attention to the need for a post to house the troops for at least the winter.  He offered to purchase the whiskey post from its caretaker, Dave Akers.  The price was higher than Macleod was willing to pay.  Unable to obtain Fort Whoop-Up as a winter post, Jerry Potts, a guide hired by the Force in Fort Benton, Montana, recommended that they continue traveling west.

On his recommendation, the Force arrived at a site on the Old Man River 30 miles west of Fort Whoop-Up on October 13, 1874.  Macleod hired the I.G. Baker firm from Fort Benton, Montana to begin immediate construction of the first post for the North West Mounted Police on this site.

The fort was hastily constructed to allow shelter before winter.  The walls were constructed of round cottonwoods logs held upright in the ground and plastered with mud.  The roof was finished with sod.  It was not until 1876, when the first sawmill was established, that there were plank floors.  The troops and officers improvised, at their own expense.  Living conditions at Fort Macleod were primitive.

Colonel Sam Steele reports lining the walls with factory cotton to "keep out the dust and allow for a touch of neatness".  Men complained that the mud roof and walls created a horrible mess to clean up each time it rained. 
Fort Macleod served as headquarters of the Force from 1876 to 1878, when headquarters were transferred to Fort Walsh.

By 1883, the original post had outlived its usefulness.  The buildings were in poor condition, in spite of frequent repairs.  There was the continual danger of the fort and the town surrounding the post being swept away with the annual spring floods.  Ottawa approved the Commissioner's recommendation to build a new post situated nearly 3 miles west of the original post, on the south side of the river and on higher ground.  The new post was completed in 1884 and gave an uninterrupted view on all sides.

The post was utilized by a number of different divisions of the North West Mounted Police.  The troop that had occupied the Fort since 1874, "C" Division, remained until 1886, when it was replaced by "D" and "H" Divisions.  These divisions remained until 1919, when they were transferred to Lethbridge, Alberta and merged with "K" Division.  From late 1919 to 1922, "M" Division, a small reserve division, occupied the post.  The post was closed in 1922.  Two members were stationed there to police the community of Macleod until 1933, when they moved into new offices at the Customs Building on Macleod's main street.  The old post was then deserted.