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Wood Mountain Sports & Stampede26 October 2004
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The Early Years3
Stampede Sign1990
Wood Mountain, Saskatchewan, Canada
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The story of the Wood Mountain Sports and Stampede reflects the history of the Wood Mountain community and the people who have lived there. It is the story of the North-West Mounted Police, of Metis and Lakota , of ranchers and homesteaders and of the descendants of these pioneer people.5
Ranch Country at Wood Mountain1907
Rural Municipality of Waverley, Saskatchewan, Canada
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Wood Mountain is the center of an upland area which stretches across southern Saskatchewan from the Big Muddy Valley to the Frenchman River. It became a ranching community in the 1880's."Six thousand head of cattle and 250 horses have been imported from the United States by the Home Land and Cattle Company of St. Louis, Mo., and are located on their range at Wood Mountain, where their headquarters are established seven miles west of the Post." -Superintendent Jarvis, 1886
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Wood Mountain North-West Mounted Police Post1897
R.M. of Old Post No. 43, Saskatchewan, Canada
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The Wood Mountain Sports and Stampede originated with Dominion Day celebrations held at the North-West Mounted Police Post on July first. Dominion Day was the name given to the national holiday to celebrate the founding of the Canadian nation.9
North-West Territories - 18851885
Southern Saskatchewan, Canada
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The North-West Mounted Police Post at Wood Mountain was established in 1876 to bring law and order along the boundary between Canada and the United States. The Post was located 22 miles north of the boundary.11
North-West Mounted Police Post1897
R.M. of Old Post No. 43, Saskatchewan, Canada
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When Lawrence Herchmer became Commissioner of the NWMP in 1886 Wood Mountain was the head quarters of a summer patrol. On July first all of the troopers stationed at Wood Mountain were called in to celebrate Dominion Day with athletic contests and games."Of their early experience at the Old Post both Mike Orman and Dave Layton remembered the sports like squaw wrestling, and wrist twisting. There was Indian wrestling where two riders, mounted bare-back, rushed toward each other headlong, each trying to pull the other rider from his horse. There were other games with lances and pole bending, picking articles from the ground while the horse was at a full gallop." -Edna Riley Shapley
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Metis at the Stampede Site1900
R.M. of Old Post No. 43, Saskatchewan, Canada
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Early Dominion Day celebrations were held on a flat of grassland across the creek from the Police Post. For over one hundred years the Sports or Stampede has been held on the same site. |
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