Fort MacLeod Attractions

It was the whisky-smuggling trade which led to the founding of the town of Fort MacLeod by the Crowsnest Highway in southern Alberta. In the 1870s American smugglers traded extensively with the prairie Indians, especially with the Blackfoot, bartering cheap whisky for buffalo hides.

In 1874, after their famous march through wild country, the Northwest Mounted Police set up their new headquarters here with the aim of putting an end to this illegal trade and restoring peace and order to this frontier region. The "Old West" is remembered in various historical buildings in the town center.