August 3rd ~ Fort Macleod, Alberta, Canada
The Fort
Fort Macleod is one of those rough and tumble kind of towns where you want to drive slowly down one street after another just to admire the old architecture and get the flavor of an era long gone.
Empress Theater
Hard Wood Lumber and Wagon Works
Corner of Main Street
American Hotel and wall mural
We were not sure how to interpret this street sign. Were we supposed to drive 75% of that speed limit, or drive the speed limit 75% of the time? Or perhaps the speed limit only applies to 75% of the people?
This sign confused us…
Speaking of speed limits. I had to make a little chart converting kilometers per hour to miles per hour. Our little Subaru has both indicated on the speedometer dial, but Ellie Mae has only MPH. So far, so good, but if one does not pay attention, it would be easy to forget and get caught speeding.
Our primary sightseeing event for the day was a visit to The Fort. Since I am so far behind on my blogging, I am going to primarily post picture from the day and not go into much of the history.
This is a museum of sorts inside a fort that honors the history of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police as well as an interpretive center for First Nations People. They also have an optional “Musical Ride” where you pay an additional $5 to see 7 or 8 of the Mounted Police up close and then ride in different configurations to a musical score.
I enjoyed seeing the riders up close and learning that each horse has a maple leaf emblem shaved on its rump, but otherwise I felt it was rather amateurish (sorry).
RCMP entering the fort courtyard
Maple leaf on horses rump
The museum itself was divided into sections. The story of the history of how the RCMP came to be and some significant dates was in the first building.
A bit of history
How the town was named after Colonel James Macleod
Reconstruction of living quarters for the soldiers
The next building had pictures as well as artifacts of the local First Nations People.
What an incredible runner he must have been!
What colorful and descriptive names these guys had.
A long room was devoted to beaded clothing and other memorabilia.
There was a traveling exhibit that was just being introduced here that talked about the internment camps in Canada during World War I. This was so similar to what the USA did in WWII with our Japanese American citizens.
Introduction to the exhibit
The chapel building was simple
But by far my favorite was the dispensary. The rules for nurses was hilarious, and I can just imagine how my nursing friends would react to these today 🙂
Rules for nurses
Sterilizer, Drum X-ray, and Incubator
Dental chair
X-Ray machine
Wheelchair and artificial leg
Tim up in the corner look-out tower
Sod roof on Kanouse House
Supplies
Loved the hotel rules!! Hilarious!
Friendly little guy/gal was trying to get me to buy some pellets
Time for a light and delicious meal at The Orange before heading out-of-town.
And just when we thought we had seen it all…
An engine in the middle of the truck bed?
From across the street
As we were about to leave, the owner, designer, craftsman who created this ride appeared. He says it will do 0 to 60 in 4.7 seconds, and then after letting me snap his picture, he proceeded to prove his point – right there on Main Street.
The creative genius responsible for this truck
GRATITUDE MOMENT: Today I am grateful that we were able to take the time to simple wander around in this small town. It has a charm and flair all its own. A little bit historical, local pride in the RCMP, a time warp, and local characters. The word whimsical comes to mind. I liked it!
A Note From Abroad 
LOL! Yes the 75% sign would be confusing. It is a note to truck drivers that due to road conditions they can only carry 75% of what would considered a full load. (Maximum weights are standardized by type of highway.) It is very common in spring around here where the frost is coming our of the ground and heavy truck traffic can make huge ruts and damage the underlying roadbed as the frost heaves. Usually it says 90% and the sign would be down by now.
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Thank you very much for clarifying the 75% sign for us! Now we get it 😃
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You ought’a see the RCMP display when there’s 50 or more … truly boggles the mind. 😀 … loved the truck.
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Yes, I bet 50 Mounties riding in formation and unison would be quite impressive.
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Excellent post!! The pictures starting out, reminded me of a Christmas train display:) The town is charming and the gentleman driving the truck, well I don’t know which was better!! Love the whole read!! Thank you for sharing:)
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I loved your reference to a Christmas display. I could totally get that! And I’m betting that the truck builder would be quite interesting to talk more with. He obviously is creative and talented.
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What a charming place! I’d have liked it too. We saw the internment exhibition at the Cave and Basin in Banff last month, very sad.
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I did not know they had an exhibit there. Do you recommend that we see it?
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I’m assuming it’s the same one, moved on as you said they were just installing it so we might be talking about cross purposes!
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Thanks for sending folks. Fascinating old town. Glad dentistry in particular has moved on…Happy snapping.
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Thankfully dentistry and medicine in general has improved a lot.
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Looks like an interesting and peaceful place.
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Sapna, it was interesting. Thank you for stopping by!
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Sounds like you had a lovely day visiting this historic town. I must admit, I was surprised that the owner of the truck was a little old man and not a young whipper snapper. The speed limit sign is confusing – thanks to tumbleweedstumbling for explaining what it meant. I love old buildings, so I would love to go here.
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HaHa, I too expected that it would be a youngster driving the truck. Just goes to show that staying young at heart can take you a long way.
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I grew up in Fort Macleod, I left 15 years ago, it was a great little town to grow up in 👍 I got a kick out of your comment about the ride being amateurist lol if you grow up in Fort Macleod you are amazed by the ooohs and aaahs from tourists watching the musical ride, the sound system is/was not the best quality!! At the end of the ride they do what’s called the charge and there is no more nerve shattering noise in the world than a 14 year old girl yelling ” chaaaarge” at the top of her lungs lol don’t get me wrong, I am all about gender equality and I totally endorse it, but there are always exceptions to the rule and this is one of them, and it is historically incorrect, sorry girls 😬😬
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Alan, thank you for sharing your view from a local perspective!
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