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The following is an excerpt from The Riders of the Plains: A Reminiscence of the Early and Exciting Days in the North West (1905), by Cecil Edward Denny. This work is in the public domain.

Continued from Chapter III – Cypress Hills Massacre.

Chapter IV

Organization of the Force

IN THE YEAR 1873 the Canadian government determined to organize a force of mounted men for service in Manitoba and the North West Territories. Three troops of this force, called the North West Mounted Police, were organized late in that year. The men were enlisted in Canada, and consisted as far as possible of strong young men, lumbermen and farmers being preferred.

The troops were supposed to be 50 strong, with the pay of the sub-constables at 90c per diem, rations and uniform being provided. The constables or sergeant’s pay was also good, being from $1 to $1.25 per day. Applications by men wishing to enlist came from all parts, as the pay was exceptionally high, and there was the very best material to pick from. In consequence the men enlisted were the best to be found in Canada, and would more than compare favorably with any corps. The officers, of which there were three to a troop, an inspector and two sub-inspectors were for the most part men who had for several years held commissions in different militia corps in Canada. A few were old countrymen with not much knowledge of military work.

The uniform of this force consisted of ordinary cavalry riding breeches with scarlet stripes, afterwards changed to yellow, the full dress being trousers of the same style; red tunics and white helmets, or forage caps, for full dress. A leather belt and ammunition and revolver pouches on the sides; cavalry boots and spurs; a Snider carbine, which, when mounted, was carried in a carbine bucket at the side of the saddle; white leather gauntlets, cavalry cloak and cape, completing a comfortable, serviceable and neat looking uniform.

It was the intention of the government to make this force 300 strong, consisting of six troops from A to F, of 50 men each, but as it was considered necessary to send some men at once to Manitoba on account of the expected halfbreed trouble, only two troops were organized in 1873. These were dispatched to Winnipeg, on the Red river, in the summer of that year.

No horses for these two troops were purchased in eastern Canada it being expected that the animals necessary could be got on arrival in Manitoba. It was not intended these two troops should be sent west in to the North West Territories until the complete organization of the force, the following year. As they went by the lakes to Winnipeg the horses and transport were not contracted for and forwarded until the spring of 1874.

The senior officer and in command of these troops was Lt.-Col. Jarvis, who formerly served in an English regiment, and for many years had been lieutenant colonel of militia in Canada. Lt.-Col. Macleod, the second in command, although a Scotchman, had resided for many years in Canada and had been on the Red River expedition under Sir Garnet Wolseley as brigade major and had received the cross of St. Michael and St. George for his services. This officer at the time of the organization of the force was in England, and was recalled by cable to take the position of inspector to the portion of the force about to proceed to Manitoba.

The commissioner, or head of the force, Lt.-Col. French by his rank in the militia of Canada, was an imperial officer of the Royal artillery, being loaned to Canada, as the term then was, to take command of the School of Gunnery at Kingston.

Lt.-Col. French had an active part in the organization of these two troops but did not accompany them to Winnipeg, although he went up shortly afterwards. Until his arrival the two troops were under command of Lt.-Col. Osborne Smith, then military commander of Manitoba, but not connected with the North West Mounted Police.

It will thus be seen that the first detachment sent to Manitoba was more particularly for service during the winter of 1873-74 in Manitoba with the ultimate view of increasing the force to the desired number of 300 and then march westward into the North West Territories in the following year.

The third officer in command of C. troop was Capt. W. Winder, also an officer of Canadian militia and he also formed one of the expedition of 1873. Besides these officers, who commanded the three troops, there were four sub-inspectors, the full complement of six not having been made up. These officers were Captains Brisboin, Thurtcliff, Crozier and Young, all being officers of the militia in Canada.

The journey made by these three troops was tedious and arduous, as they went by way of the lakes. Many portage or transfers of all baggage from one point to another had to be made, but the men behaved well and showed that they had the right stuff in them.

         On their arrival at Winnipeg, at that time a small town of a few thousand inhabitants, they took possession of the Stone fort, which was built by the Hudson’s Bay company many years previously. It had been occupied at different times by the Hudson’s Bay Company and by a portion of the troops that came up in the first expedition. The winter spent by the men and officers of these troops was a pleasant one. As with the exception of a few expeditions in the environs of Winnipeg, owing to false rumors of half breed depredation, nothing arose to justify the idea of trouble originally entertained by the government from that source. The time was well spent in drilling the men on foot and horseback and in firing practice. Much had to be done in the way of gaining all the information possible regarding the territory west of Manitoba and in devising the best mode of transport for that long march through an almost unknown country. Transports by carts had to be prepared, guides engaged and march preliminary work done.

The time was beguiled by entertainments of all kinds, from dog sleighing to learning the intricacies of the Red river jig with the dark eyed maidens of Manitoba. The officers of the provincial battalion stationed at Winnipeg under command of Lieutenant Colonel Smith showed the greatest courtesy toward those of the police. No doubt there must have been some envy on their part for the lucky fellows who would the next summer make the journey westward across those unknown plains lying between Manitoba and the Rocky mountains. Some disgust must have been felt at their bad luck at having to remain in such an uninteresting place as Winnipeg. In after years, however, many must have congratulated themselves that they had to remain, for on the rapid increase of the population of Winnipeg, and the advance in the value of real estate, many of those officers and men must have made tidy fortunes as there were but few who did not own land either in or near Winnipeg.

These two troops of North West Mounted Police were therefore the first portion of that force to enter Manitoba. They remained there until joined in the following spring by the men and horses that made up the full complement of 300, as originally intended by the Canadian government.

         It was difficult to find fit guides to the far west. Although most of the half breeds in Winnipeg had been every summer on the plains after buffalo, they never went west of the Cypress mountains, which lie about 400 miles west of Winnipeg, and the points to which the mounted police were intended to go, lay at least 200 miles west of that point. However some halfbreeds were engaged who pretended to know the country as far west as the Rocky mountains and a large number of Red river carts, drawn by oxen, were also engaged to carry extra supplies and baggage.

The boundary line between the United States and the North West Territories was being run on the 49^th parallel of latitude, by a large survey party of both American and Canadian engineers, who, as they travelled west, left a plain and broad trail behind them. The instructions of the Canadian government were to the effect that the police should not take this trail, but travel a considerable distance to the north, through country without roads or trails of any sort, so that good guides were indispensable. The boundary surveyors in the spring of 1874, when the police started on their westward journey had nearly finished their survey. Long before our arrival in the west they had completed the line to the boundary between British Columbia and the North West Territories.

In the spring of 1874 the remainder of the force was organized in Canada, amounting to some 200 men. Supplies were purchased together with over 350 head of horses of a very good class, for team and saddle. These horses were picked, and large prices paid for them, an average of $125 each. A large number of wagons were also purchased. They were supposed to carry not over 3,000 pounds each. Tents and other camping materials of the best were procured and two nine-pounder rifled guns sent from England, with suitable ammunition, were taken along. These guns might have been left behind, as it turned out that their services were never required.

The headquarters of the new force was in Toronto, at the old fort, which had been used in previous years by whatever Imperial regiment was stationed at that place at the time. The barracks were good, with stables, parade ground and officers quarters.

Our time was occupied from the spring until June 6, on which day we left Toronto, in drilling the men, in both mounted and foot drill and firing practice, also in enlisting men. There were large numbers to pick from, of all nationalities and standing in society. Many young Englishmen of good family enlisted. The examination was of the strictest. Only those of the very best physique were taken, and a fair education was required. Our regimental sergeant major was an old Imperial officer, having held a captain’s commission in one of the Hussar regiments. There were also a considerable number of old army men among us, who had seen considerable service. The 200 men were of the best possible stamp for the work before them. The officers had for the most part belonged to the Canadian militia and were all enthusiastic over the journey before them into the almost unknown country.

The commissioner or commander of the force was Lieutenant Colonel French, of the Royal artillery. His brother also held a commission as inspector. He was an old Irish militia officer. Many an evening did we spend in our mess room, listening to what information the commissioner could give us as to the country we were going to and what work we should find cut out for us when we arrived there.

It was understood that very little personal baggage was to be taken along, as the transport was limited and it would take nearly all of it to convey provisions and forage. It is curious today to remember what a vague idea we really had of the journey before us, and of the country westward along the mountains. I doubt if any expedition of such importance ever before undertook a 700-mile journey across vast plains without competent guides, believing that at the end of it, they would have to subdue lawless bands of desperadoes, with such complete faith in themselves and such utter ignorance of what they were undertaking.

Our stay in Toronto was taken up with hard work. For not only were most of the men to be drilled, but many of the officers, and in the three months we were at it, much progress was made. When we left we were a fairly organized force.

The people all over Canada took the greatest interest in our organization and success of the expedition and many were the good wishes and kindnesses we received. The journey all through was watched by almost everyone in Canada and many in England, and the greatest anxiety was manifested as to our fate, when many months passed after our departure, without word of any kind being received from us.

The spring had been spent in organizing the force and it was necessary to make as early a start as possible. We had to meet near Winnipeg that portion of the force which had been the previous winter stationed at that point and a considerable delay was expected to complete the organization with them. We had to distribute to them their share of the horses and transport and fitting up those troops with their proper complement of men. As it was form that point the real start was to be made, much information would have to be secured as to the best route to take and guides to be engaged. We were to go by rail via St. Paul, Minn., and from there by rail to Fargo, N.D. From there we should put our transports together and journey overland by permission of the United States government to Ft. Dufferin, about 180 miles distant, in Manitoba.

After much delay the department officials had completed the purchase of the remaining supplies. Lieutenant Colonel Richardson, of the department of justice, under which the police force then was, being a civil one, although guided in military matters by the Queen’s regulations, arrived from Ottawa before our departure and had a last conference with the commissioner. He also conveyed the last instructions from the Dominion government. We were ready to load our transport horses and baggage on Friday, June 5, 1874, in two special trains that were to take us through without change via Chicago and St. Paul to Fargo, in Dakota. This was all finished after the hardest kind of work. Both men and officers had their hearts in the work and it was finished in good style and in a very short time considering the loading. The horses gave use the hardest work. It is no small job to load 350 horses, in find condition and unused to railroad travelling. Lieutenant Colonel Richardson was present and many were the useful hints he gave us.

We were from the start to the finish the objects of the greatest interest to the public, being surrounded from morning to night with crowds of people, ever ready to assist us. There was nothing they would not and did not do for us. However by the morning of June 6 we were ready to start and many were the adieus spoken and kind wishes given and presents forced upon the men. We left about mid-day, amid the blast of bands, explosions of torpedoes, and encouraging cheers.

Our journey I will leave to be described in another chapter.

Continued in Off for the West.

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The following is an excerpt from The Riders of the Plains: A Reminiscence of the Early and Exciting Days in the North West (1905), by Cecil Edward Denny. This work is in the public domain.

Chapter 1

Condition of Canadian West 1872

IN AND PREVIOUS TO the year 1872, reports had been widely circulated in Canada, and representations had been made to the Dominion government, that the vast country lying west of Manitoba to the Rocky Mountains, and from the North Saskatchewan to the American boundary on the south, was infested with lawless companies of traders from the territory of Montana, lying south of the line on the American side.

The small town of Fort Benton, on the Missouri River, in that territory was the point of supply to these parties, and outside of the few goods, such as blankets, tobacco, ammunition, etc., their chief stock in trade consisted of liquor, and that of the poorest quality. The objective point of these traders was north of the boundary in the North West Territories of Canada, and the trade was altogether with the Indians residing in that country. The leading firms in the town of Benton were not behind the rest in sending out parties, well supplied with whisky and other goods, to trade in Canadian territory, and in fact today the two head partners in the largest and richest business firms in that state owe their great wealth and good standing, one to two lucky years of whisky trading on Sheep Creek, south of the present city of Calgary, and the other to the same cause, on the Missouri River. This trade of liquor to the Indians had been gradually increasing for many years previous to 1873, in fact ever since the Hudson’s Bay Company put a stop to it in their own trading posts, which trade they had carried on from time immemorial, with immense profits to themselves, but they put a stop to it as soon as they saw that settlement of the country was imminent.

This illicit trade finally assumed such proportions that the American traders on many of the rivers of the present Territory of Alberta had gained such a foothold that they had built themselves forts, and were permanently located in the country, making these forts their headquarters and during the summer months sending parties with trading goods to all parts of the country.

       These forts were built of logs, and strongly fashioned, and in some cases the bastions were even armed with cannon of small caliber.

The principal fort of this kind was at the junction of the Belly and St. Mary’s rivers, some 50 miles in Canadian territory, and was named “Whoopup,” the name being derived from the fact that one of the former occupants of the fort who was outfitted by T.C. Powers, of Ft. Benton, was at one time making a good trade, but ran out of whisky; so he sent a messenger to Benton to Powers, to send more at once, as he was whooping it up in his trade, hence the fort took this name. This fort was a rendezvous for all the traders of the country, being a point of supply to all northern and other small trading forts, of which there were many scattered along the different rivers.

This fort was on the direct trail to Ft. Benton, about 200 miles south, and was built as far back as the year 1868 by two Benton traders, Messrs Healey and Hamilton, who took an active part in the trade with the Canadian Indians. Both of these men married Blackfeet women, and their sons and daughters who were sent to school in Montana, are now well married, and can hold their own, as far as education is concerned, with the white settlers among whom they mix.

At this particular fort a large stock of whisky or alcohol was always on hand, together with other articles of trade such as blankets, beads, provisions and clothing of all kinds, and in the spring, when the buffalo robes (the chief article of trade) were brought from other outlying forts, being the result of the winter trade, the store rooms were packed to the roof with tens of thousands of these valuable furs, worth from three to as high as ten dollars a piece, according to their quality. A split robe, being one cut down the middle and then sewn together with sinew, was not of near the value of what was called a head and tail, or complete robe, which ranged in price from five to ten dollars.

These robes, the result of a winter’s trade, were then forwarded to Ft. Benton by horse or ox teams, and from there down the Missouri river by the large traders in Benton who had advanced the goods, or liquor, to those in the north, who then loaded their teams with a fresh supply of goods and returned for another year’s trade into Canadian territory.

These traders did not confine themselves to the trade in buffalo robes, but bought from the Indians, horses and anything else they might take a fancy to. The price given in whisky or alcohol was absurdly small; a small cup of diluted alcohol being often traded for a prime robe, which would fetch in Benton from five to seven dollars. Most advantageous bargains were often made with half drunken Indians, who, when in that state, would sell anything they had for more whisky.

Hundreds of horses were thus bought, but not always with such profit to the trader, who, had he confined his trade to robes alone, which could be safely stored away in the forts, his trade would have been comparatively safe, while horses had to be herded, and many a watchful eye was on them as long as they remained in the country, and it was a common thing for Indians to run off large bands of horses, not only those they had themselves traded, but often those belonging to the traders themselves. These raids were even made as the trains loaded with robes were on their way south, and constant vigilance had to be exercised in watching the bands at night, and in all weathers, as the more stormy it was, the greater danger of their being run off.

No mercy was shown to skulking Indians, who were shot on sight, and as these parties going south with their winter’s trade consisted often of as many as twenty men, serious fights often took place in which many were killed, the Indians general the losers, owing to the white men being well armed with repeating rifles, while the Indians at that time had little else but flintlock muskets, or even bows and arrows.

It was not until some years after that repeating rifles and fixed ammunition were general among the plains Indians, when many more traders came north to reap the rich harvest to be gathered in the Indian trade.

When the Mounted Police came into the country, the Blackfoot were nearly all armed with repeating rifles, as the whisky trade had become a recognized business with hundreds of men from the south, and rifles and ammunition were traded as well as whisky, and permanent trading posts had been established. The Indians had such a craving for liquor that not only did they sell their robes and horses, but also their women, and I doubt if there was a trader in the country who did not have from one to three squaws, bought for liquor.

One instance I remember, of an old whisky trader informing me that the squaw he then had was Number 57, bought by him at different times from Indians during his career as a trader in the country.

These traders then held the Indians in almost complete subjection, not on account of any friendship the Indians had for them, as they would take any and every opportunity to raid and kill any small party or single individual found away from the trading posts, but by the almost ungovernable passion the Indians had for liquor; their greatest chiefs and bravest warriors would crawl on the ground and give up all they possessed for a cup of whisky, and as the American traders were the only ones from whom they could procure this liquor, and as the traders allowed only a limited number of Indians to trade at a time, the Indians would do all they could to encourage them to remain among them, and in but few cases would have wished them to leave.

Also as nearly all these traders had married Indian women, according to the Indian custom, that is by purchase, and in many cases, the women were connected with some of the leading chiefs, they had a certain influence through these women with the Indians themselves, for, strange as it may seem, the women in most cases became attached to the white men with whom they lived, and used their influence in the tribe for the benefit of their husbands, and in many instances would undertake to trade whisky in the camps in making a sharp bargain for their masters.

The system of whisky trading had gradually demoralized and to a great extent decimated what at one time were large and powerful tribes (not only as far as numbers were concerned) and had taken the courage and spirit out of what remained, so that their former active and healthy mode of life was gradually being superseded by a loafing, half-drunken existence, the men only hunting to supply themselves with what meat they required, and to get robes enough to buy them the required amount of liquor and other necessities.

This was all the more easy as they had acquired the new firearm which was a hundred times more destructive than the old flintlocks or the bows and arrows, and therefore the amount of exertion required to kill the buffalo, which still roamed the plains in immense herds, was greatly lessened, and the number killed much larger, with less exertion, and the old time hunts were turned into a slaughter.

As the traders multiplied in the country and whisky became more plentiful, the Indians could procure more of it and in consequence many more robes were traded, each year tending to the destruction of the buffalo.

The result of this trade on the Indians, as I have before said, would lead them towards complete extinction if not put a stop to.

The gradual extinction going on was caused by the liquor trade both directly and indirectly.

Indirectly, as regards the numbers killed in their drunken fights, as often a whole camp would get drunk, and the trader was careful to leave before that climax was reached, and the Indians in these debauches would act more like wild beasts than human beings, and during its progress often was many as a dozen men, women and children would be killed, old grudges were remembered and only wiped out by the death of one or more.

Diseases spread among the tribes unknown to them before, and many died from such causes.

It will be understood that the liquor trade was confined to the south and southwest only, and principally among the plains Indians, as the H.B. Co. had withdrawn their trading posts from this section, confining themselves form the North Saskatchewan, northward and eastward, and when the Mounted Police came into the country they had only one small trading post south of the North Saskatchewan, it being on a small river near the mountains, about 30 miles west of the present city of Calgary, and this post was for the purpose of catching the trade of the small tribe of Stony Indians, a branch of the Assiniboines, who confined themselves to hunting in the mountains, and seldom went on the plains, they being at war with the Blackfeet. The Hudson’s Bay Company had given up the liquor trade some years before the advent of the Mounted Police.

Continued in Ruin of the Red Man.

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The following is an excerpt from The Riders of the Plains: A Reminiscence of the Early and Exciting Days in the North West (1905), by Cecil Edward Denny. This work is in the public domain.

Introduction

THE SUBJECT ON WHICH this book is written is one which must be of deep interest, not only to those now living in the N.W. Territories, comprising the divisions of Alberta (in which the principal scenes are laid) Saskatchewan and Assiniboia, but to all Canadians who take a pride in the advancement of their country, and more particularly in the opening of the prosperous and important western section known as the North West Territories. It is now thirty years since that far western territory was first opened, and it was then looked upon by those in Canada as Terra Incognita. Three hundred, mostly hardy Canadians, with a sprinkling of old countrymen among them, after incredible hardships, penetrated into the then Rupert’s Land. I therefore will try to give a brief synopsis of the opening of the North West Territories to settlement in the year 1874 by the advent of the North West Mounted Police, the causes that led to the organization of that force, after the Hudson’s Bay Company had sold their rights to Rupert’s Land to the Canadian government.

The beginning of opening of this western section of Canada commenced with the organization of the North West Mounted Police, which force after the greatest hardships and privations, crossed the vast plains from Winnipeg, Manitoba, with little or no knowledge of their ultimate destination, which was supposed to be a vast area of country lying at and along the east slope of the Rocky Mountains from the boundary line on the south to the North Saskatchewan on the north and from longitude 114 to the British Columbia line in the west.

I will also in this sort volume try to picture what state of things existed in that far western country prior to the advent of the North West Mounted Police, what work was before them; what work they actually did; what difficulties they overcame; and the results thus attained after years of hardship, bravely borne, and in many cases, individual bravery of a rare order shown. Also the benefits derived by the country from their advent, which suddenly springing from gross savagery to a settled, civilized, and law abiding territory, in a few short years, is today the wonder of the world.

I will try in this volume to show that this wonderful progress in so short a time against odds that heretofore many nations have spent millions to overcome, was accomplished by a small force of 300 officers and men, and will give a short history of their work, hazardous journeys in the performance of their duties, and also a history of the rapid advancement of the country now known as the North West Territories. The subject is itself one of deep interest at the present day, when as at the advent of the police, the North West Territories were a lone land cut off from civilization, and only inhabited by the tribes of savage Indians, roaming the plains in quest of game, on which they altogether lived. The immense herds of buffalo supplied them not only with food, but with clothing, tents, and nearly all they required. The robes were traded, partly at the Hudson’s Bay forts on the North Saskatchewan, but unfortunately the plains Indians such as the Blackfeet, seldom visited these northern trading posts without coming in hostile contact with the Cree Indians, who had long resided along the North Saskatchewan, and were to a great extent under the rule of the Hudson’s Bay Company, which company had given up what a few trading forts they originally had in the Blackfoot country. At other times these Indians went far south to the Missouri River and traded their furs at Fort Benton to the American traders, who, well knowing the weakness of all North American Indians for strong drink, habitually purchased these valuable furs for a few glasses of whisky.

The fact of these American whisky traders from Montana coming into the Territories, drew the attention of the Canadian government to the vast unknown territory they held in the west, unknown, because the Hudson’s Bay Company had never reported that any section of the country over which they had control was of any value whatever, for it was obviously in their interests, so they thought, to belittle the resources of Rupert’s Land- a disastrous policy from the point of view of the settler, and one which retarded the settlement of that fertile country for many generations. There were vague reports that American traders from the south were doing, during the summer months, a large trade with the Blackfeet and other plains Indians, this trade on their part being done in whisky, while the Indians not only traded the robes gained by them during their summer hunts, but were becoming demoralized, and were trading horses, and almost anything they owned, even to their women, for this horrible compound sold as whisky by these traders. This attracted the attention of the Canadian government, and in the year 1874 a force was organized and sent west into then Rupert’s Land to drive out these American whisky traders, and to get into communication with and gain the confidence of the thousands of wild, uncivilized Indians belonging to Canada, who roamed the western plains, and to try (a unique experiment) by moral suasion, to bring them into the ways of civilization. This was done by a small force of 300 officers and men from the year 1874 until the Canadian Pacific Railroad was built in 1885, and I write this book to give a short history of our march into this country, what we found when we arrived, the work we did and the results thereof.

Few of the original 300 officers and men that first came into the country are left. Some died in the country, and the hardships they endured did not lengthen their lives, others are scattered over the world. A few, but a very few, are still in the country, and to these men, many of them old, poor and crippled, is due the thanks not only of the Canadian government, but of every settler in the thriving towns and villages and peaceful farms, now thickly scattered through Alberta, Saskatchewan and Assiniboia. Let them pause and think what must have been the hardships endured by such a small force of men; marching into an unknown country, inhabited by thousands of savage Indians, building forts, dealing justly with these Indians, stamping out the illicit liquor trade, and so dealing with the Indian tribes that from that time until today, no settler has been murdered, and when the country settled, all lives have been safe and property secure. The settlers of the North West Territories have not had to go through the experiences of those of Minnesota and other American states and territories where the settler had to meet the Indian. No massacres have taken place, but a few head of stock stolen, no depredation committed. But railroads have been built, homesteads taken up, towns started and rapidly growing, and not one hitch has occurred. Many of the new towns are in close proximity to large Indian reserves, but yet the Indians themselves are progressing, although decreasing, and hundreds of them today work for the settler. Therefore let the farmer comfortably located on his ranche in Alberta or Assiniboia, sometimes give a thought and a prayer of thanks to that hardy, courageous 300, who opened the country for him, and by courage, forbearance, and clear moral suasion, made it possible for the settler to live in peace and quietness when, but for these men- and all praise be to them for it- battle and murder and sudden death would have been the portion of many, as was the case in the early settlement of the western Territories of the United States.

Continued in Condition of Canadian West in 1872.