It's one of the most recognized police forces in the world. The distinctive red serge uniform and the musical ride are tourist attractions today in part because of their paramilitary heritage and the organization's reputation as a frontier force.
The era romanticized as the Wild West on the American plains lasted roughly from the end of the Civil War to the end of the nineteenth century. This was a time in which, aside from the local sheriffs in various towns, the law was upheld mainly by the U.S. Army. This army was originally the Union Army of the American Civil War.
Alcohol Fuelled Need for Better Policing
The vast expanses of Canada's wilderness were at best difficult to monitor. Whisky traders from south of the U.S./Canada border were infiltrating the Canadian west to trade with the local Indian population. These traders gave the Indians various concoctions which often contained chemicals and solvents blended in with different liquors or straight alcohol. These blends earned the name 'firewater.' It fuelled drunken disorderliness in both the traders and in the native populations.
Fort Benton, Montana was the main base for ‘traders’ and bootleggers of all sorts to ply their business north of the border into Canada where the U.S. Army could not follow them. These outlaws foraying north were primarily after Buffalo hides which were in great demand back east for the garment trade in the manufacture of coats, hats and leather products. Buffalo were slaughtered by the thousands, their hides taken and the remaining meat left to rot. Competition was stiff out on the prairies for this trade. Wolf pelts were also of value. The Indians were after ‘whisky,’ tools, manufactured goods, and particularly, repeating rifles which the Americans had and which were very difficult to come by on the northern plains.
In Canada at this time these western lands were basically Hudson’s Bay Company territory, but their clerks were not up to the task of dealing with these hardened bootleggers. The Hudson’s Bay Co. did their business from the safety of their trading posts but the infiltrators from the south took their business right to the aboriginal populations. The traders set up a few smaller forts and stockades to operate out of and to retreat to for safety. The Hudson’s Bay Company was losing control of the vast lands as lawlessness spread unchecked.
Anarchy Threatened New Canadian Government
Responsibility for the territory was assumed by the government of the new country of Canada in 1869. The Canadian government was urged right from the outset to establish some sort of law and order. Unfortunately several years would pass and the situation would worsen before steps were taken to assemble and send a government force west to manage things.
The massacre at Cypress Hills in southern Alberta saw several dozen native people killed. This incensed all of the first nation populations. There was also the threat of settlers moving north from the American west and simply claiming the land and taking it over. Another concern was the possibility of the U.S. government eyeing the lands, sending in the U.S. Army and simply annexing the territory for America.
North West Mounted Police Formed to Tame the West
In 1873 the Canadian Government finally acted, creating the North West Mounted Police. The Mounties made their now famous march out west in 1874. They established order in the name of the Canadian government and the illegal traders pulled back across the border.
In order to have one police force serving the country, Parliament voted to merge the North West Mounted Police (NWMP) with the other, older federal force, Eastern Canada's Dominion Police. The legislation took effect on February 1, 1920, with the new unified force being called the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Their headquarters was moved to Ottawa, where it remains today. The organization provides policing services at the federal, provincial and even municipal levels, and investigates every major crime from drug trafficking to counter-terrorism to explosives disposal.
Reference (and suggested further reading):
Butts, Ed, True Canadian Stories of Canadian Battlefields, Prospero Books, a Division of Key Porter Books, 2007
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