Collection search - Fort Ellice [Man.]

Fort Ellice (Manitoba) was a Hudson's Bay Company trading post built in 1831 near the junction of the Assiniboine and Qu'Appelle rivers. It was a stopping point on the Carlton Trail, which ran from the Red River Colony to Fort Edmonton. The section between Upper Fort Garry and Fort Ellice was known as the Fort Ellice Trail. The 1831 trading post was replaced in 1862 by another structure approximately 2 km east of the original site. The 1862 fort also acted as a staging point for part of the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) force from Fort Dufferin (Manitoba) when it headed west in 1874 to establish law and order. The fort acted as an NWMP post beginning in 1875.
The Red River cart was first used by the Métis to carry meat from the buffalo hunt and in farm work. Later, they would be used in brigades to transport goods over long distances.

The watercolour is slightly soiled and stained.

The drawing was taken from a diary kept by Otto Klotz, a surveyor in the N.W.T.

Inscription: In watercolour, recto, b.: "Fort Ellice"