Wood Mountain Regional Park

Wood Mountain Regional Park
Wood Mountain Regional Park
Regional park
Countries	Country, Canada
States	Province, Saskatchewan
Districts	Rural Municipality, Old Post No. 43
Cities	Nearest Village, Wood Mountain, Saskatchewan
Location
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Wood Mountain Regional Park is a conservation area in its natural state set aside for recreation located in southern area of Saskatchewan, Canada on Highway 18. Within the park are Rodeo Ranch Museum, Homestead museum, Sitting Bull monument, Ball Diamonds, campsites, play area, concessions, swimming pool, hiking and bicycling trails. This is a local park administered by local funding.^[1]

History

The North West Mountain Police were sent to the Wood Mountain area to establish the Queen's Law in the frontier west of early Canada. It was the 1870s, and Sitting Bull had led his large Sioux tribe away from The Little Big Horn after defeating Custer's incursion upon their native land. The Canadian government was concerned that the Sioux would cause problems, and charged Walsh of the NWMP with maintaining control of what amounted to Canada's first attempted peace keeping mission. Walsh succeeded, as he and Sitting Bull became close friends over the years, and there were never any serious problems caused by the Native American settlers. Members of the tribe remain in the Wood Mountain area to this day, including several families who live on the Wood Mountain First Nations reserve.

In 1890 the Wood Mountain Stampede was established, and it became an annual event held even through the World War years of 1914-1918 and 1939–1945, which has allowed it to attain the title of the longest-running annual rodeo in Canada. It is held each year, the second weekend in July.

Rodeo Ranch Museum

The Rodeo Ranch Museum features exhibits about the cowboys and ranchers who settled the area in the 1880s. Exhibits include photographs, pioneer, rodeo and Western artifacts.

Wood Mountain Post Historic Park

Also known as Wood Mountain Post Provincial Park, the Historic Park is a partially restored 1870s post of the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP). The two post buildings include displays about the history of the NWMP and its activities in the area, as well as the history of the Sioux tribe members and its chief medicine man, Sitting Bull, who came to the area after the 1876 Battle of the Little Bighorn.

A monument to Sitting Bull is located on a hill in the Regional Park.

The Historic Park is administered by the provincial parks board and tourism, and is located near the Regional Park at Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found..

The area

Wood Mountain is a large area just east of the East Block of the Grasslands National Park in southern Saskatchewan, which covers hundreds of square kilometers. Wood Mountain is a Mountain in the Grasslands National Park of Canada located at Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.. Whereas Wood Mountain Creek is located at 15-6-3-W3 or Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. and is in actuality a river.

Wood Mountain Game Preserve

Wood Mountain Game Preserve is located at Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found..

Wood Mountain village

The village of Wood Mountain is located in south central Saskatchewan, Canada. The village is located at 8-5-3-W3 or Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.. The current population is 20 as of June 2005.

The Wood Mountain First Nation

The Wood Mountain First Nation Reservation 160 is located approximately 5 kilometers southwest of the village at 26-4-4-W3 or Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. As of October 2014^[update], one fluent Lakota language speakers remains in the community.^[2]