The Whoop Up Trail

The panel's Royal Canadian Mounted Police took that name only in 1920; in 1874 they were the North-West Mounted Police, sent west by the Cypress Hills. On June 1, 1873, wolfers out of Fort Benton, chasing horses stolen near the Teton River, attacked a Nakoda camp beside two Benton traders' posts. Historians put the dead at twenty or more; survivors' accounts ran far higher. Ottawa hurried the new force west, but when it reached Fort Whoop-Up on October 9, 1874, the traders had gone. In 1875 the police failed to extradite seven of the accused from Montana.

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• In the Event of an Attack: The Montana Missile Field — steps away