The Bozeman Courier, Friday, June 25, 1026

— Pm / • 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.

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