Canada Guide
Manitoba and Saskatchewan
Lower Fort Garry
Opening time: Grounds open daily until sunset; visitor centre: mid-May to Aug daily 9am–5pm
Price: $7.15
Driving out from the city on Main Steet, which becomes Hwy 9, it's about 32km to Lower Fort Garry National Historic Site, built as the new headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company between 1830 and 1847. It was the brainchild of George Simpson, governor of the company's northern department, an area bounded by the Arctic and Pacific oceans, Hudson Bay and the Missouri River Valley. Nicknamed the "Little Emperor" for his autocratic style, Simpson selected the site because it was downriver from the treacherous waters of the St Andrew's Rapids but not prone to flooding, as Upper Fort Garry had been. However, the settlers around The Forks were reluctant to cart their produce down to the new camp and when the governors of Assiniboia refused to move here his scheme collapsed. Sandwiched between Hwy 9 and the Red River, Lower Fort Garry begins at the visitor reception centre, where there's a comprehensive account of the development of the fort and its role in the fur trade. A couple of minutes' walk away, the low, thick limestone walls of the fort protect reconstructions of several company buildings, including the retail store, where a small museum is devoted to Inuit and Indian crafts. Several of the exhibits here are exquisite, particularly the decorated skin pouches and an extraordinary necklace fringed by thin strips of metal cut from a sardine can. Next door, the combined sales shop and clerk's quarters has a fur loft packed with pelts, while the middle of the compound is dominated by the Big House with its low sloping roof, built for Governor Simpson in 1832. People in 1850s period costume stroll the grounds, ensuring the right atmosphere. The restaurant sells good tortière – a Québecois meat pie – and bannock (freshly baked bread).