The Sign Outside the Museum

  The building has been moved a few times from it's original location
It was located near Long Creek, eight miles south of Estevan,
 just north of the American Border.
It was supposedly established in 1886
on the site of the Boundary Commission Depot 1873-74

The original Wood End Post was in the valley,
but due to flooding was moved up.

The building was bought from the Andrist family in 1957 by SPC,
when Boundary Dam was constructed, and later the area was flooded

This building as a Centennial project in 1967, of the Lions Club,
and was moved to the Woodlawn Park Entrance road area
which was off of Highway 47 at that time.

I know my dad, Phil Gent,  was interested in seeing the building saved,
from natural destruction from the elements.
His plan I am sure was to create a museum out of it, as he had
lots of antiques at the time, and he was looking for a place to donate them.
It opened as a museum there though, but vandalism was high.

Today it is located next to the Estevan Exhibition Centre
on the East end of Estevan on Highway 39
and owned by the Estevan Historical Society
 

Pictures were taken July 2000
by Bonnie Frank, Nee Thompson
who lived in Estevan and attended Hillside and ECI Schools

1888 Map Showing Police Stations and Patrols of the NWMP

Notice it was Assiniboia not Saskatchewan in 1888
 

Inside View of the Museum

Proclamation on the wall was a reward poster
For the arrest of the Native Indian Jean-Baptiste
Also known as Mighty Voice, who had killed a NWMP Officer
The Poster on the door shows the Uniform the NWMP used
on their march west, when they stopped at the Wood End Detachment
 
 
Present Day RCMP Uniform
Red Surge, formal RCMP Uniform on display

History of This Detachment written in this book
Trooper in the Far North-West
Recollections of Life in the North-West Mounted Police, Canada, 1884-1888.
by John George Donkin,
An Englishman, who became a NWMP member.
Sad to say he returned to England and died a pauper.