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/ • I THE BOZEMAN COURIER, FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 1026. PAGE ELEVIN

301 ILt.ii.li . ill———.. ■■■■ JL How Whiskey Runners in Early Seventies Along the Border Caused Recruiting of Famous Mounted Police ■ ir -Jl r"* "' -n =i===ii======)E 101 0 (By DAN R. CONWAY) men, an aggregation somewhat dif­ Fort Benton. Kipp replied: “Mar­ became a Montana sheriff, and, later Crozier, took up the trail, finally ov­ isted. Many of the men In the ser- : ? ferent than the West has ever seen shal, you’re just 20 minutes too still, a prominent trader in Alaska, ertaking the deserters at Belly Butte, vice of the Mounted Police were and T; ATURALLY, a youngster of before. The soldiers had already late. We crossed the boundary line where, it has been said, he made and on the Fort Shaw trail. are of aristocratic British families. ' ' the extreme East, and living in come to Montana, sent to subdue at the North Fork back there. »> lost a million dollars. N a small backwoods town, at Crozier was in a quandry when he Today, the new and enlarged force is the native Indian, but these men The marshal stormed and threat­ Following closely upon Kipp’s ar­ came in sight of the straggling par­ comprised of hundreds of veterans !* that, my conception of the Far West, were resolute fellows on a peculiar ened. Kipp defied him; and, fin­ rival at Fort Benton with his con­ ty of desperate men. When the de­ of the war in Europe, whose breasts In the late nineties, although entire­ mission. The Scarlet Riders had ally the marshal wheeled his horse signment of furs, a number of Red serters entrenched themselves in the are bedecked with service ribbons ly imaginative, and wholly vague, come bearing the first mandates of and rode back on the trail. Later River half-breeds came in bringing snow and defied arrest, Crozier fear­ and decorations gained in the hottest '[■ presented an elaborate, adventurous civilization among lawless and sav­ when the boundary line was surveyed the word that the Hudson’s Bay com- ed that force would result in some of fighting in France and Belgium. In L, ‘ picture. Having de­ age elements. the spot where tne effort was made panyq’s factor at Fort Calgary had his own men deserting. Thus he fin­ the Royal Mounted Police, however, [■ voured ravenously, One of the most famous of all the to arrest Kipp was found to be 300 sworn vengeance against the Ameri­ ally decided to withdraw, and turn­ former rank and family connections 1 V». (as was true of cdhstabulary forces that have been yards south of the line on the Amer­ can invaders, and had determined to ing around, retraced his march to are forgotten and all men are equal. j.V every youth in organized to establish law and or­ ican side. “clean out” Fort Standoff. Fort MacLeod. There is only one mark of merit in l* .T . those days), every Fort Standoff is Built “Buffalo Bill” or der in new and lawless countries was When Healy and his partner, A1 Captured in Montana the organization and that has been other Wild West the Royal Northwest Mounted Police Kipp, with his outfit, journeyed Hamilton, reached the junction of Forced on by the “Old Fusilier, » » gained by absolute fearlessness, loy­ of Canada, which a few years ago be- north to Belly river and there built St. Mary’s and Belly rivers, not will- the mutineers eventually reached the alty to the service and unswerving T story upon which I devotion to duty. could lay my hands, In the wildest days of the north­ the West, to me, fs&i mm western frontier the sight of one }’• harbored everything Scarlet Rider aroused greater fear that could possibly and respect among malefactors than i be fostered in the a hundred soldiers would have done. [, heart of an adven­ This was because members of the i • ture-loving lad. Mounted Police could not be bluffed. * * I had sat for -• hours and listened It was do or die with them. Dan R. Conway When General Sir Sam Steele, with wonder and l -—Mrtr'awS, commander-in-chief of the Canadian ' envy to the tales of an old surveyor • ■ « who had followed a crew to Hudson’s I'. * 4L-] a forces in Europe, during the World Bay and back; I had heard the ex­ war, was a sergeant in the Mounted . aggerated stories of the youths who Police, a camp of hostile Cree In- • had started for the Klondyke and * < **• - dians attempted to obstruct the V ■ returned, falling short of their desti­ Hi construction work on the Candaian / nation. All of these, and more, had Pacific railway’s line. Accompanied . either enhanced or distorted my con­ by only one man, Sergeant Steele ception of that vast land of wonders rode into the Cree camp, and while . Jfc'***^ m' ■ the Indians were shooting and yell- • “where Indians and wild animals m. ** :* £ i Üiim'iè ' t \ ing defiance, he rode to the lodge of . beset the daily path, and where gold v the head chief and ordered him to I* * in plenty could be had for the mere move on. The chief, with defiant ► , digging.” glare, refused to obey. Steele dis- ‘ ; When the Boer uprising assumed mounted, brushed by the rigid figure * - proportions of a menace to British of the warrior and jumped into the • sovereignty, Canada, Great Britain’s lodge entrance. With a kick he - * outstanding colony, was thrown into knocked down a lodge pole; then an­ the furore and excitement of war pre­ OLD FORT WHOOP-UP, which was erected across the line in Canada in 1871 by Fort Benton traders. It was the establishing of this post other and another until the skin paration. The spirit of intensified which was directly responsible for the organization of the Royal Northw est Mounted Police. lodge came tumbling to the ground. patriotism pervaded, penetrating to His audacity overawed the Créés, and the remotest sections. Well do I re­ they broke camp at once. call the celebrations—when Lady­ Came the Royal Canadian Mounted a trading post which the Americans ing to take any chances, erected a Blackfeet agency on the American f- smith was relieved and Lord Kitchen­ Police and was given the task of en­ named Fort Standoff, in commem­ fort that was large and strong side of the line, near where Choteau, Two members of the Mounted Po- f *. er added new laurels to his fame; forcing dominion laws in all parts oration of their experience with the enough to withstand any sort of as­ in Teton county, now stands. There lice controlled Sitting Bull and his -, of the Canadian commonwealth. This United States marshal. While this sault. The post was patterened af­ they were surrounded by a troop of bands of Sioux hostiles after they when the Pretoria siege was lifted had crossed into Canada following and Sir Baden Powell was crowned newer system supplanted the plan of post was in. the course of construc­ ter the plan of Fort Benton, and can­ United States cavalry from the agen­ ; confining the efforts and activities tion, the teams were kept busy night non were mounted on the bastions, cy, and forced to surrender their . with glory; when the old town mar­ Hundreds of members of this noted *' shall threw away the key to the vill­ of this organization to the North­ and day hauling in trade goods and with plenty of grape and canister arms. They were given food; and, organization have perished on trails L . age “calaboose;” when we boys were west provinces only, where the or­ provisions from Fort Benton. With shot beside them. The total cost of scattering over the country, few of given all the firecrackers and Roman ganization had been the symbol of the coming of the Winter months, the the place was about $20,000. This them remained in Montana. in the frozen north while in pursuit •,.* candles we could safely handle. law enforcement for more than 40 Piegans and Bloods, (Blackfeet), post was most appropriately named Splendid Record of the Police of criminals. The Mounted Police Those were great events in the lives years. gathered on Belly and Old Man ri­ “Fort Whoop-up,” in accordance There were various other disorders are said to have a tradition that *■ ' of any youths. However, in my In these laler years it has been vers. according to an agreement that with the owners’ intentions to that winter, but, with the coming of their men never quit hunting a crim- young life, there was one occasion quite generally forgotten that the Kipp had already made with these ( < whoop up” things in the north spring, the force was properly out­ al and never forget a crime. But ; which stood out far above all the “Scarlet Riders of the Plains,” as tribesmen. The country at that time country. fitted and equipped. During the fol­ they also tempered justice with mer- ; rest during those epochal days. they came to be known, had their be­ This action constituted a challenge lowing years the organization de­ cy, and their archives contain the A lad of eleven years, I had ac­ ginning as a police organization, as to the Hudson’s Bay company, and veloped into a force for efficinecy records of hundreds of men who companied an uncle, a dealer in the result of the activities of “whis­ representations were sent to Ottawa, that has become world-famous with were corrected in errors of judgment livestock, to the Montreal market. key runners”—the invasion of the which resulted in the immediate or­ a magnificent service record. Es­ or action, and were directed toward • It so happened that our arrival there Hudson’s Bay company’s territory in ganization of the Royal Northwest tablishing themselves in a country right paths. Mounted Police. • The old westerners on the Ameri- - A coincided with the embarkation of Canada by American whiskey opera­ of wild men, red and whit ■a :5 t ry ri can side of the line remember the the second Canadian contingent of tors and Indian traders, whose oper- w > „■>• The first draft for the Mounted )■: Territorials, bound for South Afri­ tions had become a serious menace Police was made up largely of very original Mounted Police with re­ ca. To witness the spectacle of this to the British traders, and who, in­ young men who sought adventure, spect. In a sense, Fort Benton, Mon­ mammoth, colorful parade and the cidentally, were setting a dangerous 5m and soldiers of fortune from all * tana was the headquarters of the or- { maneuvers akin to such an important example of lawlessness before the parts of the British empire. Assem­ (Continued on Agricultural Page) event, was indeed the high spot of native tribesmen. This was a prac­ bled and trained at Ottawa, these my youthful days. tice and a condition which the Cana­ men were sent to Duluth and from Off For The Boer War dian government refused to tolerate. there to Moorehead, Minn, under There they came, thousands of These Northwest Mounted Police, special arrangements with the United them, and what a blood-tingling as an organization, have an interest­ States government, but with the ex­ sight to behold. First hi line was ing story, a tale that is most inti­ pressed stipulation that their arms v * that famous “Strathcona’s Horse”, mately associated with the history of y. be boxed and locked while on Amer­ a regiment of crack, picked cavalry­ the Northwest during the stirring ican soil. They crossed into Canada days of the seventies, at the time ■fj at Pembina, on the Dakota line. men, all mounted on coal black when plains warfare and frontier m horses; then Canada’s pride—the F4HL&. ft There were three troops, with their 48th Highlanders; these followed by lawlessness were at their zenith. horses, small arms, sabres and two the second regiment of Queen’s Own “Whisky” was the dpminating 9-pound cannon, drawn by six horses factor in the events which lead up to each. Rifles, the Irish Grenadiers, the the organization of the Northwest Hussars, and the numerous battal­ The detachment advanced at once |swaAlberta. whisky. The Indians stated that if north country, just as Kipp had so raw buffalo meat. Many of them complishing. In the performance of without the use of any acids, I had learned very Ijttle of these they could not get liquor at Fort successfully done. The result was fell in their tracks, but the “Old ( ( wonderful” soldiers, ' but just this service, tact* patience, courage dopes or foreign elements or I . • Benton they would carry their trade that early in the summer plans were Fusilier” would beat them up and on and persistence were their outstand­ north to the British company. Thus enough, coupled with my elaborate materializing for others to enter the again. ing characteristics. There, was nei­ blends. It is the rich CREAM • % imaginary picture of the West, to was consternation thrown into the trade north of the line. • Shortly after they left Fort Mac- ther bullying nor driving, but a •• render this part of the Second Con­ ranks of the American traders. The leader of this second expedi- Leod, which was the headquarters steady pressure was maintained to GASOLINE, the quality top tingent to the Boer war, most inter­ This United States marshal made tion, John J. Healy, was one of the of the detachment, their absence was educate native tribesman and white \i>VI * esting. Their fame had already manifest his determination to carry brave and picturesque characters of discovered, and an equal number of frontiersman to respect the fact of the crude. * been well established in the accounts out the task that had been alloted the. old northwest. In later years he police under the command of Captain that governmental organization ex- % of the Riel Rebellion; but, before him and set about in this direction the Boer insurrection had been sup­ by confiscating several large stocks POWERIZED! is a 100 per pressed, every British citizen and of the forbidden beverage. The re­ •• cent KEEP YOUR MONEY people the world over learned much sult was that two or three of the about these “men from the North­ American companies whose operat­ s IN MONTANA gasoline—a west.” They carried with them to ing headquarters were at Fort Ben­ thorough Montanan, made in « the front something far more imr ton determined upon a counter plan. •• portant than gaudy show. Rather than see their trade ruined Montana from Montana crude These were men from the organ­ by the edict of the government, they Ü oil, by a Montana company . ization which the Canadian govern- decided to “run the gauntlet’-’ of in- ment had years before recruited vading the Hudson’s Bay territory, U to blaze the trails for civilization The representatives of two of these across the vast prairies and over the belligerent concerns, set out on I Sunburst Refining Co. W/i foothills and Continental Divide. horseback for Helena, where they (POWERIZED!) The Mounted Police purchased a large stock of alcohol, m s Stretching far away until it meets which, as has been many times ex-, Great Falls, Montana the horizon at some distant point, or plained, formed the base for the de­ ■Mp3 merges into blue hazy mountains at monizing beverage which was known others, is a monotonously level as “Indian trade whiskey. »» plain sparsely covered with dingy Placing this on rafts it was float­ Important Notice! grass and low bushy sagebrush. On ed down the Missouri river to about POWERIZED! has been the bank of a stream, which is out­ the site of the present city of Great • •' ; lined by a line of trees or high Falls, -where had been stationed registered by its owner, the bushes and set within a stockade, teams and wagons with which to Sunburst Refining company, you can perceive a cluster of wooden transport it to the Canadian line. . •• in the U. S. and Canadian Pa­ structures enclosing a plot of ground, The American traders who played which on approaching and entering the important role in these man­ tent Offices—and it distin­ you will find to be as neatly kept as euvers were Joe Kipp and Joe Thom- guishes the genuine POW- j circumstances will permit. as. ERIZED! product from any It is an early-day western Canada Three days following the start product of its type. It is your » fur trading post, such as were sta­ from the Missouri, Kipp looking tioned at distant intervals through­ back, saw a lone rider following at a protection-—the U. S. and out what is now Alberta, or Saskat­ steady lope. “It’s: the marshal.” said Canadian Patent Offices have j| chewan, more than fifty years ago. Kipp, “and right here’s where we Picture this, and then, off over yon­ stand him off.” der rise that divides the two valleys Harding rode up and ordered Kipp ' THE ROYAL CAN. today. This body of you will a column of mounted to turn his outfit around and head for have the responsibility *BBi