Policing the Plains - Being the Real-Life Record of the Famous North-West Mounted Police

R. G. (Roderick George) Macbeth

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• Publié par: nuchur
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 25
• Langue: English

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of Policing the Plains, by R.G. MacBeth This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: Policing the Plains Being the Real-Life Record of the Famous North-West Mounted Police Author: R.G. MacBeth Release Date: August 2, 2007 [EBook #22220] Language: English *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POLICING THE PLAINS *** Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team MOUNTED POLICE ROUNDING UP HORSE THIEVES. MOUNTED POLICE ROUNDING UP HORSE THIEVES. From painting by C. W. Russell, Montana. Courtesy of the Osborne Coy., Toronto. POLICING THE PLAINS BEING THE REAL LIFE RECORD OF THE FAMOUS ROYAL NORTH-WEST MOUNTED POLICEBy R. G. MACBETH, M.A. Author of "The Romance of Western Canada." WITH ILLUSTRATIONS HODDER AND STOUGHTON, LTD. LONDON NEW YORK TORONTO MCMXXICONTENTS I A Great Tradition 7 II Enter the Mounted Police 25 III Mobilizing 33 IV The Amazing March 48 V Business in the Land of Indians 57 VI Handling American Indians 78 VII The Iron Horses 93 VIII Riel Again 106 IX Reconstruction 126 X Changing Scenery 141 XI In the Gold Country 153 XII Stirring Days Abroad and at Home 175 XIII Modesty and Effectiveness 206 XIV On Land and Sea 233 XV Glory and Tragedy in the North 255 XVI Striking Incidents 266 XVII The Great War Period 281 XVIII Great Traditions Upheld 297LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Mounted Police Rounding Up Horse Thieves (Frontispiece) Sir John A. Macdonald 16 Hon. Alexander Mackenzie 16 Hudson Bay: R.N.W.M. Police with Dogs 17 Major-General Sir A. C. Macdonnell, K.C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O. 32 Major-General Sir Samuel B. Steele, K.C.B., etc. 32 Superintendent A. H. Griesbach 33 Inspector J. M. Walsh 33 Commissioner A. G. Irvine 48 Commissioner George A. French 48 Commissioner James F. Macleod 49 Commissioner Lawrence W. Herchmer 49 Sitting Bull 64 Colonel James Walker 65 Colonel T. A. Wroughton 112 Lieut.-Col. Aylesworth Bowen Perry, C.M.G. 112 Colonel Cortlandt Starnes 112 R.N.W.M. Police Wood Camp, Churchill River 113 Indian Tepee 128 Dog-Train 129 Yukon Rush: Summit, Chilcoot Pass 144 Group of Indian Children on Prairie 145 Chilcoot Pass: R.N.W.M. Police and Custom House 160 Klondyke Rush: Squaw Rapids, between Canyon and White Horse Rapids, 161 1898 Supt. Constantine in Winter Uniform on the Yukon 176 Piegan Indians at Sun-Dance 177 Rev. R. G. Macbeth, M.A. 192 Group, R.N.W.M. Police, Tagish Post, Yukon 193 Fort Selkirk, Yukon 208 Esquimaux Family 209 Coronation Contingent, London, 1911 224 Indians Receiving Treaty Payment on Prairie 224 Fort Fitzgerald, Athabasca 225 Ice-bound Government Schooner 225 Herschell Island, Yukon Territory 240 Esquimaux Visiting R.N.W.M. Police Tent 240 Barracks at Fort Fitzgerald, Great Slave River 241 R.N.W.M. Police Shelter, Great Slave Lake 241 Cabin of Rev. Fathers Le Roux and Rouvier 241 R.N.W.M. Police Barracks, Churchill, Hudson Bay 256 Police with Dogs and Equipment on Split Lake, N.W.T. 257 Inspector Fitzgerald 272 Supt. Charles Constantine 272 Inspector La Nauze 273CHAPTER I A GREAT TRADITION A few years ago I was away north of Edmonton on the trail of Alexander Mackenzie, fur trader and explorer, who a century and a quarter before had made the amazing journey from the prairies over the mountains to the Pacific Coast. We looked with something like awe and wonder at the site of the old fort near the famous Peace River Crossing, from which, after wintering there in 1792, he had started out on that unprecedented expedition, and we followed up the majestic Peace to Fort Dunvegan, past whose present location Mackenzie had gone his adventurous way. And during our trip we came across a little frontier encampment building itself into a primitive wooden town in view of the advent of a railway that was heading that way. It was a characteristic outfit with lax ideas in regard to laws which touched upon personal desires as to gambling, strong drink, Sunday trading and the rest. These men were out to make money as their type has been on most of the frontiers of civilization, and the unwary traveller or the lonely settler who ventured unduly was promptly fleeced of his possessions and turned out amidst a good deal of revelry in the hours of night. And then one day there rode into that shack-town a young athlete in a uniform of scarlet and gold, the rough-rider hat, the tunic of red, the wide gold stripe to the top of the riding boots and the shining spurs. He rode in alone from the nearest post some 60 miles away and, when he dismounted, threw off the heavy saddle and picketed his horse, a sudden air of orderliness settled on the locality. The young man, going around with that characteristic cavalry swing, issued a few warnings, tacked up a notice or two and then saddling his rested steed rode away at a canter over the plain. But the air of orderliness remained in that region after the horseman had disappeared over the horizon just as if he were still present. This was puzzling to a newcomer who was along, and he asked me what manner of man this young rider was that he was received with such deference and that his orders, so quietly given, were so instantly and so continuously obeyed. The answer was made out of a life-long acquaintance with the history and the real life of Western Canada: "Well, it is not the young constable himself that counts so mightily, though he is a likely looking fellow enough who could be cool anywhere and who could give ample evidence of possessing those muscles of steel which count in a hand-to-hand encounter. But you see he is one of that widely known body of men called the Royal North-West Mounted Police. They have patrolled and guarded and guided this whole North-West Country for the last forty years and more. During that period they have built up a great tradition which rests on a solid foundation of achievement. Their reputation for courage is unchallenged, their record for giving every man of whatever race or colour a square deal is unique, their inflexible determination to see that law is enforced is well known and their refusal to count the odds against them when duty is to be done has been absolutely proven again and again. All these elements and others have created the Mounted Police tradition to such an extent that the one constable you saw is looked on as the embodiment of the Empire which plays no favourites but which at the same time will stand no nonsense from anyone. And perhaps most wonderful of all is that part of their record which shows that they have done all this and more without any violence or repression, except as a last resort. They were always more ready and anxious to save human life than to destroy it." "All that is very interesting," said my friend; "I would like to hear more about these men, and would be glad if you would tell me something of their history." And out there under the open sky of the North Country, with the stars sparkling above us and the Aurora Borealis dancing and swishing