 In 1787, the North West Company established a fur trading post at Fort Espérance on the lower river.After it was abandoned in 1819, the Hudson's Bay Company established a post at Fort Qu'Appelle in 1852 immediately adjacent to the site of what became the town of the same name.The Qu'Appelle River and Valley derive their name from a Cree legend of a spirit that travels up and down it.