Town Of Eastend
Priest in Eastend

The Hudson Bay Co. only traded for one season, competition from whiskey selling independent traders and the tense situation between Assiniboine and Blackfoot made it unsafe for Cowie to remain. The small detachment at the east end post was to watch over the ever growing number of Sioux who had fled from the Battle of the Little Big Horn.In 1887, the whiskey trading had been curtailed, the Riel Rebellion was over and Sitting Bull had returned home. This was the most easterly detachment from the newly built Fort Walsh. After Cowie left the post it was burned to the ground.In 1873 some 60 Metis' families settled in the coulee, then called Chapel Coulee, complete with a church and a visiting Roman Catholic priest on a regular circuit.In 1879 the NWMP established a post on the same site as the Hudson Bay Trading Post and part of the Metis' village. In the spring, Cowie decided to abandon the post. It was at this time that the post was moved closer to the present location of EASTEND, along the White Mud River, (Frenchman).Thus the town of Eastend began as the most eastern detachment from Fort Walsh and was the east end of their patrol.