The North West Mounted Police
A Legendary Part of Canadian Development
In 1873, the government of what was then Canada established a special force called the North West Mounted Police to cope with a major situation in the West.
That force was to put an end to illegal whiskey trading among the Indians, to thieving, plunder and murder.
They were to erect Forts that would establish a Canadian presence in the West and open it for peaceful development.
The following year this 300-man mounted force left Dufferin, Manitoba on July 8 and made their historical march westward and northwestward deep into the little known North West Territories.
In just under 4 torturous months they reached the Rockies in October, 1874.
Strategically located forts were quickly erected:
And several others, plus small detachments throughout an area almost equal to that of France and Germany combined.
About 27,000 Indians of differing and often warring tribes occupied this space.
During these early days of the West, the Americans were experiencing great troubles with their Indians.
Cruelty, bitterness and bloodshed coupled with great losses of human life and the expenditure of millions of US tax dollars were all part of the American settlement of areas where American Indians used to roam.
Canada was able to avoid similar trouble by fair treatment and diplomacy extended by the North West Mounted Police, who made the North West Territories safe before the settlers came for peaceful, secure settlement.
During these early days the Force's legendary reputation to "Maintain the Right" was forged through intimate knowledge of the land and its people combined with fairness, dogged determination and courage, combined with long hours of hard work.
The illegal whiskey trading was quickly suppressed.
Courageous conduct coupled with fairness and good judgement soon earned the Mounted Police and enviable rapport with the Indians and the few whites who then lived in the Territories.
The biggest challenge to peace began in 1876 when warlike Sioux retreated into Canada after slaughtering Lieutenant-Colonel George A. Custer and 263 soldiers of the 7th Calvary which he had commanded at
Little Bighorn
Eventually there were 6000 Sioux in the Cypress Hills under Chief Sitting Bull with only a handful of Mounted Police under Superintendent James Morrow Walsh to control them.
Despite grave and often dangerous they succeeded by fair and peaceful means and by 1881 all of the US Indians had returned to the U.S.A.
Then the Blackfoot Nation gathered in 1877 to sign the treaty confining them to reservation, Crowfoot, their legendary Chief who had been wounded over a dozen times in his many battles summarized his people's feelings:
"If the Police had not come to the country, where would se all be now? Bad men and whiskey were killing us so fast that very few, indeed, of us would have been left today. The Police have protected us as the feathers of the bird protect it from the frosts of winter. I wish them all good, and trust that all our hearts will increase in goodness from this time forward. I am satisfied. I will sign the treaty."
Thus the tribes of the Blackfoot Confederacy were allotted reservations totaling over 930, 000 acres and 50,000 square miles of territory were surrendered to Canada.
The railroad would prove to be a powerful influence in the development of the West and the unity of Canada.
Canada's ability to partly move military forces quickly from Eastern Canada by rail during the Riel Rebellion of 1885 was a significant factor in quelling the rebellion in fairly short order.
But first, that remarkable feat of railway building faced the young nation.
For their valuable role in this grand national enterprise, the N.W.M.P. were highly praised by General Manager W.C. Van Horne in a letter to the Commissioner of the Force:
"Dear Sir,
Our Work of construction for the year 1882 has just closed, and I cannot permit the occasion to pass without acknowledging the obligations of the company to the North West Mounted Police, whose zeal and industry in preventing traffic in liquor and preserving order along the line under construction have contributed so much to the successful prosecution of the work. Indeed, without the assistance of the officers and men of the splendid force under your command, it would have been impossible to have accomplished so much as we did. On no great work within my knowledge, where so many men have been employed, has such perfect order prevailed. On behalf of the company and of all the officers, I wish to return our thanks and to acknowledge particularly out obligations to yourself and Major Walsh.
(Signed) W.C. Van Horne,
General Manager."
During the Riel Rebellion in 1885 the Mounties again served with distinction.
They saw action at Duck Lake, Fort Pit, Cut Knife Hill, Batoche, and in the pursuit of Big Bear.
Their Outstanding contribution in the containment and suppression of this rebellion is largely unknown to Canadians mainly because their contribution has not been adequately presented in historical writings readily available to the public.
East Kootenays, British Columbia
By 1887 considerable unrest had been caused by the encroachment of white settlers into the East Kootenays, where the upper Kootenay Indians were on the point of an uprising in retaliation.
The Dominion Government sent a detachment of 75 N.W.M.P. to Galbraith's Ferry under the command of Superintendent Sam Steele.
They arrived August 1, 1887 and established Kootenay Post, the first N.W.M.P. post in British Columbia.
Diplomacy, fairness and common sense settled the problems peacefully.
On August 7, 1888, Steele and his men returned to Fort MacLeod in Alberta.
Residents changed the name of Galbraith's Ferry to Fort Steele in honour of Steele's achievements.
Settlement Grew
Small settlements soon grew up around the Mounted Police forts.
As the policemen became time-expired, many of the settled as farmers or ranchers in the territory they helped to make safe for development.
The N.W.M.P. oversaw and assisted peaceful settlement of hundreds of thousands of people on the Western plains.
The Mounties knew where each settler lived and maintained contact with them though an extensive mounted patrol system.
The Northern Frontier
Following a fact-finding mission in 1894 to the unorganized areas of what was to become the Yukon Territory, the N.W.M.P. submitted a detailed report to Ottawa.
This led to the dispatch in June 1895 of a small force of Mounties under Inspector Charles Constantine, who had been appointed Inspector-General for the territory as well as magistrate, gold commissioner, land agent, and collector of customs.
Under Constantine, and later Sam Steele, the fair and fearless law enforcement and the compassionate assistance provided to people during the wild Klondike Gold Rush era became another part of Canadian heritage.
In his 1884 report, Constantine had expressed concern about whalers wintering on Herschel Island off the Yukon's north coast and in the unpoliced Mackenzie to the east.
They traded whiskey with the natives for "furs, walrus ivory bones and their young girls."
With things under control in the Chilkoot, the N.W.M.P. turned their attention to the "Sodom and Gomorrah of the Ice-Fields."
In August 1903 their men met the arriving whalers on Herschel Island.
"A lot of liquor came ashore the first few days, but most of it eventually fell into our hands."
Law and order were soon established.
The whaling fleets vanished by 1906 with the discovery of a substitute for whalebone for women's' corsets, but the Mounties stayed at Herschel Island to take care of the Inuit along the coast and to maintain a Canadian presence in the North.
By the end of the 19th Century, the N.W.M.P. had mmade life on the western and northern frontiers secure.
In 1897 a contingent of Mounties attended Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in England.
Wearing felt hats, red cloth tunics, blue breeches and black boots and carrying Winchester rifles, they personified the glamour and dash of the high noon of the Empire.
Their Horses
Today when we think of the horses ridden the Mounties, we automatically think of beautiful, shiny blacks standing about sixteen hands in height.
However, in the early years of the force, the horses of the N.W.M.P. were of many different colours: e.g.: dark bays, light bays dark browns, bright chestnuts, greys, buckskins, and blacks.
For the most part, they were considerably smaller than their successors of today.
Often they were not much over fourteen hands.
The N.W.M.P. needed hardy horses that could stand up to bad weather, long, hard patrols and often less than proper water and forage.
Experience showed that the toughened, smaller horses of the North West Territories and Montana proved better suited to these conditions than the finer looking, larger horses purchased in Ontario.
On the prairies, some Indian ponies and numerous "broncos" had to be purchased to meet the N.W.M.P. requirements for horses.
These native horses, though small, proved very valuable.
As long as the Force had to depend on horses for patrol work in the West the same problem persisted, finding a sufficient number of suitable horses for an organization that was to become more like a first-class cavalry unit than an ordinary rural mounted police force.
When did black become the favoured colour?
Not until 1938!
In 1937, as Assistant Commissioner, S.T. Wood had headed the RCMP Contingent at the coronation of King George VI.
When he saw the scarlet-tunicked Life Guards of the Household Cavalry riding black horses, he noticed how the black of the horses emphasized the glowing colour of the tunics and he envisioned the scarlet-coated riders of his own force riding black horses.
The following year when he became Commissioner, he ordered that the RCMP should purchase only black horses.
It is proper that Canadians recall and respect the epic role of the N.W.M.P. in Canadian Development.
Their role was intricately interwoven with courage, loyalty, diplomacy, determination, hard work, fairness and humanity.
Many N.W.M.P. achievements which shaped Canadian events would have been unthinkable without the mobility supplied by their horses.
How well the Mounties knew this!
To their credit, from its inception the Force has displayed an interest, care and attention for their horses worthy of emulation.
Note:
This information was compiled by the North West Mounted Police Commemorative Association, a volunteer, charitable organization incorporated under the Societies Act of Alberta, February 7, 1986.
The association is not connected to nor affiliated with any police or security force, nor any police or security veterans or fraternal organization.
