Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-11-05
ONE OF THE MOST
famous of all constabu-
- larry forcas that have haen

tries was the Royal Northwest
Mounted Police of Canada,
which, two years ago, became
the Royal Canadian Mounted
Police and was given the task
of enforcing dominion laws in
all parts of Canada, instead of
only in the northwest prov
inces, as it had done for more
than 40 years. It has been
quite generally forgotten, how
ever, that the Scarlet Riders Of
the Plains, as they came to be
known, came into being as the
result of an invasion of the
Hudson's Bay company's terri
tory in Canada by American
whisky runners and In1ian
traders, whose operations were
setting an example of lawless-
ness to the red men that the
Canadian government refused
to tolerate.
The story Of the Northwest
Mounted Police is an interest
ing one and it is intimately as
ISOLATED with the history of the
northwestern United States
during the stirring days of the
70's, when plains warfare and
lawlessness were at their
height. Curiously enough, in
view Of the prominence today
of the prohibition issue along
the Canadian border, whisky
was the dominating factor in
the events leading up to the
organization of the Mounted
Police and a subsequent inva-
sion of settlers into the north
west provinces that has, in the
years since, transformed a
great wilderness inhabited only
by fur hunters and traders into
a vast stock and farming coun-
try. Still more curious is the
fact that the mighty Hudson's
Bay company, then enjoying
i. the most gigantic monopoly of
trade ever granted to a private
corporation, brought about the
organization Of the Scarlet Rid
ers by it's demands for protec-
ton against American invaders
for the coming of law and or
der brought the new population
that enormously curtailed the
power and the scope Of opera
lions Of the British fur traders.
Prohibition Edict Received
It was in 1870 that the Fort
Benton traders, who controlled
all the Indian fur and buffalo
robe trading in Montana, were
surprised by the appearance OF
a United States marshal, one
Harding, who announced he had
come to put a stop to whisky
trading with Indians. The
Hudson's Bay company in the
north furnished whisky to the
Indians quite frequently in con-
nection with their trading with
them, and the Blackfeet, River
Crows, eros Ventres and other
tribes that traded at Fort Ben
ton demanded whisky also.
They announced that if they
could not get whisky at Fort
Benton they would go north
and trade their furs to the Hud-
sons Bay company. This situa-
ton threw CONSERVATION into
the ranks of the Fort Benton
traders.
The marshal showed ct once
that he meant business, how
ever, by confiscating several
stocks of whisky that he found
there. Two of the Fort Benton
traders Immediately determiD-
ed that, if they were to be smut
off from Indian trading on the
American side of the line, they
would undertake the desperate
expedient of invading the Hud-
sons Bay territory on the Can
adian side. They therefore set
out on horseback for Helena,
the capital Of Montana, where
they bought a large stock of
alcohol which formed the base
of trade whisky. Placing this
on RATS on the Missouri river
near Helena, they floated it
down to the present site of
Great Falls, where they had
teams and wagons waiting to
transport it to the Canadian
line. !
The American traders were
Joe Kipp and Joe Thomas. i,
Three days later, just after |
crossing the north fork of Milk
" s4