DVD capture

Contributed photo

Travel Directions:
Navigation in Fort Macleod is made interesting by the fact that most streets have at least two names. Nonetheless, the town is small enough so that you are never lost. The Queen’s Hotel is on the northeast corner of Haultain Street (2nd Avenue) and Col. Macleod Boulevard (24th Street). See map of Fort Macleod.

See also:

http://www.fortmacleod.com/images/uploads/visit_map.pdf

Remarks:
Why can Fort Macleod fairly claim to be “home” to Brokeback Mountain? Part of the answer lies in the town’s history.

Fort Macleod, like many railroad towns in the western U.S., had a stormy relationship with the railroad. In 1912, following protracted disputes over rights-of-way and freight rates, the railroad moved operations, and approximately 200 jobs, to neighboring Lethbridge. Consequently, with the outbreak of World War I and extending into the 1920s, Fort Macleod experienced a severe depression. By 1924, the town was bankrupt. A bail-out loan by the Provincial government required that the town could not incur debt for any new capital expenditure for 50 years.

As a result of this effective prohibition on growth, virtually no new construction occurred in the town’s Main Street district until the early 1970s. Downtown Fort Macleod retains its vintage flavor, a quality that appealed to the producers of Brokeback.

Quotation:
“Tryin’ to get a foot rub, dummy!”