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North-West Mounted Police

North-West Mounted Police. NWMP Origins. Established on May 23, 1873 Queen Victoria established the force by the request of John A MacDonald Bring law and order to the West Assert sovereignty over, the Northwest Territories Need was particularly urgent because of the American whiskey traders.

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North-West Mounted Police

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  1. North-West Mounted Police

  2. NWMP Origins • Established on May 23, 1873 • Queen Victoria established the force by the request of John A MacDonald • Bring law and order to the West • Assert sovereignty over, the Northwest Territories • Need was particularly urgent because of the American whiskey traders

  3. Fort Hamilton“Fort Whoop-Up” • Officially Fort Hamilton, near what is now Lethbridge, Alberta • HBC abandoned the fort • Fort Whoop-Up was the nickname given to a whiskey trading post • Late 1800s, the post served as a centre for various illegal activities such as the sale of whisky

  4. History of Fort Hamilton • First built in 1869 by J.J. Healy and A.B. Hamilton who were two traders from Montana—to serve as a trading post • Within the first year it was destroyed by a fire but it was rebuilt • One type of alcohol was known as Whoop-Up Bug Juice, a highly-priced alcohol spiked with ginger, molasses, and red pepper, then coloured with black chewing tobacco • It did trade in furs, but was famous for the Whisky trades

  5. The name of Fort Whoop-up • Name was notorious and was the worst • Represented everything that was wrong in the west “a hive of scum and villany” • Lawless American desperadoes dealing noxious "whiskey" to an Indian population unaccustomed to alcohol • Buffalo hides by the hundreds of thousands being left as rotting carcasses • Starving Natives • General atmosphere of anarchy with no accountability

  6. NWMP Control • The outlaws and the supposed flying of an American flag on Canadian Soil prompted the NWMP to arrive • Arrived in October, 1874 • Their task was to establish Canadian sovereignty in the territory and controlling the alcohol trade • First task came after a Native complained at Fort Macleod about a group of whiskey traders who had sold him overpriced Whiskey

  7. Two More Points • Smuggled their hootch across the frontier and set up trading posts throughout the area that is now southern Alberta and Saskatchewan • At any given time there was as many as 30 whiskey posts in the area

  8. The Presence of these Posts • Was just as damaging as the Small Pox Epidemic • Buffalo were disappearing due to the voracious appetite of eastern industries for their huge, tough hides • Natives couldn't even take the carcasses left behind because the hated "wolfers" poisoned the meat to kill wolves and coyotes for their fur • This lead them to turn to the alcohol

  9. ”As they keep the Indians poor, and kill directly or indirectly more Indians of the most warlike tribe on the continent every year, at no cost to the United States' Government, than the entire regular army did in ten years.”American Trader commented that the whiskey traders were doing a great service

  10. Cypress Hills Massacre • Took place in 1873 • A group of 100 - 300 ‘wolfers’ believed their horses had been stolen by a group of Nakoda (Assiniboine) camped nearby • 22 Nakoda including women and children were killed • When the Dominion found out they were outraged

  11. Force Creation • Was the result of the Cypress Hills Massacre • Originally was to be called the North West Mounted Rifles • Name changed to NWMP because it sounded less militaristic • Modeled directly on the Royal Irish Constabulary • First NWMP commissioner, Colonel George Arthur French

  12. George Arthur French

  13. George Arthur French • First Commissioner from October 18, 1873, to July 21, 1876 • Born at Roscommon, Ireland • Educated at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst • Requested by the Canadian government, to be a military inspector • He led the force on its famous march to the foothills of the Rockies • Became head of the School of Gunnery at Kingston, Ontario • He resigned in 1876 and returned to duty in the British Army as a major-general. • The organizational skills he developed in Canada were used to establish local defense forces in India and Australia

  14. March to the Alberta Foothills • Set out from Fort Dufferin, Manitoba, on July 8, 1874 to Fort Hamilton • Group comprised 22 officers, 287 men – called constables and sub-constables – 310 horses, 67 wagons, 114 ox-carts, 18 yoke of oxen, 50 cows and 40 calves • The ‘Wolfers’ fled, sold or buried their supplies • If this March had failed, it would have set back Canada’s plans for the west by many years

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