There were a number of major events that took place to open Western Canada for settlement in the 1870s, the 1880s and 1890s. Following the surrender to the Crown of Rupert's Land by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1869, and its subsequent transfer to the new Dominion of Canada in 1870, one of the most important events was the founding of the paramilitary force - the North West Mounted Police. At first, there was a plan to call the force the North West Mounted Rifles. The idea was scrapped because it sounded too military, and could antagonize both Aboriginals and Americans. So, on May 23, 1873 an Act of Parliament established the North West Mounted Police. Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald also wanted a simplified uniform for a mounted police force ready to enforce law in the old Rupert's Land now known as the North West Territories. There were some parts of the uniform that became unpopular, the round blue pill box hat, the white cork helmet and the loose fitting red Norfolk jacket, etc. Over the years, a number of changes to the uniform were made to make it more comfortable. Just after the force was founded a crisis happened in the Cypress Hills of what is now Southwestern Saskatchewan, which would demonstrate the urgent need for law enforcement in the new North West Territories. American traders had crossed the border to establish whiskey forts in the hills. Then, American wolf-hunters had massacred a band of Assiniboines. Once the news found its way to Ottawa, the North West Mounted Police's first task would be to head for this destination. They got rid of the criminal element in the area, and founded Fort Macleod on October 18, 1874, and Fort Walsh in June of 1875. They established law and order on the western frontier and up to the Arctic. In 1920, it absorbed the Dominion Police and became a national police force with the change of name - the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, today renowned worldwide. Also, "No police force in the world has ever been the subject of more romantic adventure fiction than the Canadian "Mounties," to quote the American Peoples Encyclopedia. (Source of the photo.)
Contact Terri Lefebvre Prince, Heritage Researcher,
City of Yorkton, Box 400, 37 Third Avenue North
Yorkton, Sask. S3N 2W3 306-786-1722
[email protected]
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