This building is the only original NWMP structure which remains
of Kootenay Post. Many of the eight original buildings were moved in the
early twentieth century to the Industrial School at the St. Eugene's Mission,
others merely decayed and were burned. Because it was the most highly finished
of the buildings, the Officers' Quarters was utilized by people in the
years following the NWMP's withdrawal as: the residence and office of the
Provincial Constable; a private residence; a storage house; a museum; and
even a chicken coop.
The building was moved to its present location by Fort Steele staff
in 1962. The move was an attempt to both integrate this building as part
of the reconstructed Kootenay Post and to protect this historically important
building from further decay. When the logs were rechinked by Fort Steele
staff, they discovered 1880s copies of the Illustrated London News and
Paris Match that had been used to fill gaps in the walls.
The Officers' Quarters was indicative of the rank and status that the
officers held within the force. The quarters include private rooms, finely
finished interiors and a separate kitchen lean-to to supply meals for the
officers. The officers' higher pay scale and rights to have a great deal
of personal goods transported in at force expense, allowed them to obtain
many luxuries. Finely crafted furniture, oriental rugs, gourmet foodstuffs
and personal items were only some of the frivolous items that NWMP officers
shipped to the frontier.
The four officers commanding 'D' Division at Kootenay Post included
Superintendent Samuel Benfield Steele, Inspectors
Zachary Taylor Wood and Charles Francois Albert
Huot, and Assistant Surgeon Frederick Hamilton
Powell. All were descended from relatively wealthy and influential
eastern families, and had obtained their commissions as NWMP Officers through
political and family connections.
