Ron & Anne in Canada; 2016: The birth of the Mounties.

Fort Battleford is a reproduction of the fort at the centre of the Metis conflict in 1885, when the half breed settlers were evicted from their prime lands on the banks of the rivers of the area, in favour of new settlers. The government of the day sent militia forces to the area, who because of misunderstandings with the Indians, tensions erupted into battles with them also. As a result 8 Indians were hanged at the fort for sedition, followed by the hanging of Louis Riel, the Metis leader, in Regina.

After the uprising the militia became the Royal North West Mounted Police, which eventually became the Royal Canadian Mounted Police today. They were responsible for keeping the Indians on the reservations and making them comply with the treaties, as well as protecting the settlers.

Earlier we had visited another Heritage Village, which showed us life in a village of 1920's Saskatchewan. We were able to see the workings of a grain elevator, which takes grain into a pit from a farm wagon, weighs and sorts it according to grade, and lifts it into one of maybe 20 bins before despensing it into railway wagons.

There are thousands of these still operating here, but they are fast being displaced by the more modern metal bins, with more modern machinery. We also saw huge trains transporting the grain across the prairie, much going for export across the world.

We met this cute little guy here, they call them ground squirrels, but because they burrow under buildings they are not popular. This one was just about to burrow under the boardwalk.

As we travelled west towards our bed for the night we came across many installations like this one, oil wells. This part of Saskatchewan has hundreds, at least one on every farm. Unfortunately with the drop in oil prices the yield has dropped by 90% in the past few years. It will come back I am sure.