The Devils Lake world and inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, N.D.) 1915-1920, 1920-03-10
FAMOUS CORPS
ENDS ITSWoRk
in The WILDS
Northwest Mounted Police Loses
Identity as Civilization
Lessons Its Need.
BODY hAS STIRRING HISTORY
Ranged Far Into Arctic Wastes to Pun.
tsh Crime, Maintain Order and Ex.
tend ReIief-Won the Conf.
denee Of the indian.

oene OF the indian.
Ottawa.-That famous corps, the
Royal Northwest Mounted Police, has
ceased to exist. It Is now merged
with the Canadian mounted police.
For half a century the scarlet and
gold" OF the riders Of the plains had !
been the symbol Of law and order In
q territory as vast as the United States
west Of the Mississippi. From Hud-
son, bay to the Rockies. from the Inter
national boundary to and beyond the
arctic circle l.ey carried, security to
the law-abiding and terror to the law
breaking. On the vast prairles, In
mountains and forest, through the Ice
bound reaches Of the arctic coast they
made "the long patrol" protecting the
settler, succoring the weak and ad-
ministering justice with a relentless
hand to white and red, to British and
Alien.
The march Of civilization has
brought into this vast territory pros
porous settlers, where the Royal North
west Mounted Police found the Indian
OF the sun dance and scalp knife, the
excitable Metis (the French half-breed
of the plains), and the outlaw who
sought this mo mans land" to escape
justice and continue in crime. The In
dian and Metis are now peaceful farm
ers, the ranch has been replaced by
the farm, and railways now cover the
country as thick as the Indian trails
of the seventies. Only in the far north
is any Of the original work Of the po-
lice left. Here in the Great Barrens,
along lie desolate shores of Hudson
bay and the Arctic ocean, through the
Rockies to Dawson will 1.-THE scarlet
and gold" do the long patrol. The ia.
nous corps has done its work and has
lost Its identity In the new national
force. The uniform has been pre-
served; tine romance and esprit d.
corps have gone.
Origin Of the Corps.
For nearly two centuries the Hud-
son Bay company had ruled that vast
territory between Hudson bay and the
Rockies, when in 1870 the Dominion of
Canada acquired possession. The great
company had been a, guardian to the
warlike Blackfeet, Assiniboines and
Cree Indians and kept in a fashion law
and order. The hardy Scotch factors
had in many INSTANCES married into
the tribes and their influence was DOW
erful and firm. Then came the change
In, control. 1t became mo mans land"
with the great company without au-
thority and the dominion government
without any machinery to enforce its
edicts.
1t was a dangerous period. The Unit
ed States government was seeking to
curb the fierce Sioux. They, in turn,
were making o%vertures to the Cana
dian Indians to join them. The whisky
runner was unchecked In his debauch-
cry Of the Indian. 1t was at this pc
road that the Royal Northwest Mount
ed Police came into existence, and
since then have been the most potent
influence in preserving order in this
vast territory. Three companies were
mobihzed at Winnipeg, or, as 1t was
then known, Sort Garry" Three other
companies came through the United
States and Joined them, and in all 500
men restored and preserved order in
q territory as large as Europe, without
a railway and peopled with nearly
100000 Indians rent with tribal wars
and embittered against the whites by
the depletion OF the buffalo herds, the
almost sole source Of their existence.
It was then that the famous scarlet
and gold" uniform, was adopted. ITO
the Indian the ''red" coat symbolized
the power Of "the great white mother"
and Colonel Robertson-Ro organizer
Of the force, suggested this uniform in
his report. n
During m,yv Inspection Ia the north
west I ascertained that some prejudice.
existed among the Indt4ns against the
color Of the uniform worn By the men
of the Rifles. for many Indians said,
'Who are those soldiers at the Red
river wearing dark ciothes7 Our old
brothers who formerly lived thefe
(meaning h. MS Sixth regiment)'
wore red coats adding we know that
the soldiers of our great mother wear.
red. coats and are our friends"
And In this way. { impress the In
dians Of the plains. was adopted the
uniform that haS given distinctive
identitysto this famous corps. #
From the Red river the new force
made Its frst long patrol. Through
what was then known % the Great
American desert It struggled Tor 800
mile. establishing posts, and dnall,y
winterinEs Fort Mcleod. Ii the foot
shillsll 81 The Rockies. From there its
ac4sittes spread, until now on Hud.
y ron s5bay. Coronation Eulf. the frozen
Arctic and the desolate Yukon Ire
postss from which patrols keepswsautchs.
~ hiolrfse, canoe and dog train they
5earry the aufhoritysof the law Is The
Eekimo of the arctic. tiie whnlerAI b
q HHsesaEsscstiiselills island md gold seeker