Fort Garry in Ruins
“Fort Garry in Ruins,” announced a headline in the Manitoban, dated May 27, 1871. “Not exactly the entire Fort, reader, but a considerable portion of the stone wall fronting on the Red River. It has been threatening a tumble down for a long time, and lest it might fall into the Fort, some men were employed by the Company to throw it down so that it would fall outside. The bastions and a portion of the wall immediately adjoining them still stand, but in decidedly bad condition. The side gate entrance to the Fort, fell among the ruins.”
Thirty-two years later, an English writer for the London Daily Bulletin toured the city and stumbled upon what remained of the historic landmarks. He wrote; “Then you stroll out to this very everyday twentieth century place and follow the street a little further, till you observe something standing alone on your right— a tiny building of rough stone. It is not twelve feet high, and you have seen bigger and better building put up to stable two or three horses.”
The English writer was able to encapsulate the significance of what he saw and place fort into an historical context, more so than local residents, who allowed the “tiny building” to diminish in importance through indifference.
Yet the photos of it have met you at every corner of the own, and you stand and gaze at this old relic— this one bit of history in this world of newness— Fort Garry, the nucleus from which Manitoba’s,metropolis roaring around you has sprung: Fort Garry, the old headquarters of the great Hudson’s Bay Company you have just left; Fort Garry, the destination and crown of Lord Wolseley, he put down the Red River rebellion under Louis Riel in 1870.
It was this English traveler who wistfully gazed upon what had been and commented: “Modern commercialism and the Philistine allurements of land-gambling, have, alas! Caused the pulling down of the greater part of the old fort, so that all one sees is little beyond the gateway. Sentiment woke when it was too late, and now Winnipeg mourns forever the act of vandalism she permitted in her midst.”
In 1883, the east wall was demolished to straighten out Main Street. By the fall of 1886, four of the largest structure still standing on the old fort site were sold at auction by HBC for just $292. The former Governors House, home to Manitoba’s first lieutenant-governor, netted a paltry $100 as firewood.
What remained- the gate and the land it stood on were given as gift to the city by the HBC in 1897 “as a public park forever”. But more years of neglect followed, and the gate became an isolated and forlorn reminder that the fort had once been the focal point of the Red River Settlement founded by Lord Selkirk; the sire of Louis Riel’s provisional government during 1869-70; as well as where the founding of a new province within Canada was first envisioned.
Furnasman One Hour Air Conditioning
Hotel Near University of Manitoba
www.famouspeopleofmanitoba.ca
