Publisher's Synopsis
After European contact, the Assiniboine, Western Cree, Ojibwa and Sioux Indians all considered The Forks as their own territory. The Indian disputes and the fur trade rivalries made fortification necessary for occupation.1730-1760 - The fur trade brought the French into the region. Their only attempt at a permanent settlement near The Forks was Fort Rouge built in 1738. The Forks continued to serve as a rendezvous and distribution point for the fur trade but the site was only moderately important compared to other fur trade places in the West.1810 - The North West Company of Traders out of Montreal built Fort Gibraltar.1813 - The Hudson's Bay Company formalized their competition by building Fort Douglas. It also served as protection for the Selkirk Colony which arrived in 1812. The fort was destroyed by the Nor'westers and their Metis allies in 1815 and rebuilt in 1816.1816 - Fort Gibraltar was dismantled and burned by Governor Semple just prior to his death in the Seven Oaks Massacre. It was rebuilt in 1817.1813-1819 - The Hudson's Bay Company built at least three trading posts at The Forks including Fidler's Fort.1821 - The amalgamation between the Nor'westers and the Hudson's Bay Company ended the time of conflict. The focus of trade returned to Fort Gibraltar which was renamed Fort Garry.1824 - Fort Douglas remained the residence of the Governor until 1824 when it was moved alongside Fort Garry.1826 - Both forts were seriously damaged by the flood and were abandoned.1831 - Lower Fort Garry was built twenty miles north of The Forks.1834 - Work started at Upper Fort Garry which was the last fort to be constructed at The Forks.By the early 1850s Upper Fort Garry was at its peak of activity. York boat brigades arrived and departed, trade goods were produced and sold, and around it the settlement grew. To meet the increased demands on the facilities, in 1853 the walls of the fort were extended north to enclose the site of two large stone warehouses. Unlike the original walls which were made entirely of stone, the northern extension was of large oak timbers.Despite the Upper Fort's expanding role as a major transhipment center, the Hudson's Bay Company's jurisdiction in Rupert's Land increasingly came under attack. By the 1860s within the settlement itself, the small 'Canadian Party' became a vocal supporter of annexation to Canada. Meanwhile the Metis feared an influx of Protestant, English speaking Canadians if they were legally and politically absorbed by Canada. In October 1869 the Metis organized a "National Committee" led by Louis Riel and John Bruce. A month later the Metis seized Upper Fort Garry without a shot being fired. From the transformed mess house, Louis Riel led his provisional government and negotiated with the Canadian government. Riel and his followers remained in occupation of Fort Garry for the duration of the winter and well into the summer of 1870. Although forced to flee upon the arrival of the Wolseley expedition in August 1870, Louis Riel and his supporters had laid the groundwork for the admission of the new province of Manitoba into the Canadian Confederation.A large bend in the Assiniboine River creates the relatively isolated residential district of Armstrong's Point which was developed as a suburban haven for well-to-do families in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The land was granted by the Hudson's Bay Company to Joseph Hill, who came to Red River in 1849 at the head of a group of pensioners. The first home was built on what is now East Gate in about 1882. Between that year and 1920 most of the large, stately homes that give the district its distinctive atmosphere were built.
