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DUCK LAKE |
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Back on Hwy 11, on the west side of the South Saskatchewan, the tiny
farming community of DUCK LAKE - many of whose buildings have outdoor
murals depicting local history - is home to a Regional Interpretive
Centre at 5 Anderson Ave (late May to early Sept daily 10am-5.30pm; $4;
tel 467-2057), with displays on Indian, Métis and pioneer society from
1870 to 1905. Prize exhibits include some elaborate Cree costumes; an
outfit that belonged to the Sioux chief Little Fox, an adviser to
Sitting Bull; and Gabriel Dumont's gold watch, presented to him in New
York where he was appearing in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show.
Continuing 26km west along Hwy 212, you'll reach Fort Carlton Provincial
Historic Park (mid-May to early Sept daily 10am-6pm; $2.50), a
reconstruction of a Hudson's Bay Company trading post circa 1860.
Founded in 1810, the riverbank station was fortified in successive
decades and became an important centre of the fur and pemmican trade,
until the demise of the buffalo brought an end to its success. Reduced
to a warehouse facility in the early 1880s, the fort was garrisoned by
the Mounties during the Northwest Rebellion , but it was finally burnt
down and abandoned in 1885.
The visitors centre (tel 467-5205) provides an historical introduction
to the fort, whose stockade shelters replicas of the clerk's quarters, a
sail and harness shop, a fur and provisions store with piles of
colourfully striped Hudson's Bay Company blankets and bottles of bright
Indian trading beads, and a trading shop, where the merchandise included
gunpowder - which meant the clerks were forbidden to light a stove here,
no matter what the temperature. Just outside the walls of the stockade
are three tepees, neatly aligned along a path. The centre, also offers
guided trail walks , which allow you to see the remains of rutted wagon
trails made by carts carrying supplies to and from the fort. There's
also an on-site campsite (tel 467-5205 or 933-7937; $9; mid-May to early
Sept). Take care when hiking or camping, as the wooded gullies of the
North Saskatchewan River are home to a large number of black bears .
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