Policing the plains : $b being the real-life record of the famous Royal North-West Mounted PoliceMacBeth, R. G. (Roderick George)
History
Policing the plains : $b being the real-life record of the famous Royal North-West Mounted Police
MacBeth, R. G. (Roderick George)
Northwest, Canadian -- History; Royal Canadian Mounted Police
These stories have been thrown in to indicate that all over the country
the Police in their determination not to allow lawlessness of any kind
to get a hold on the country, were doing remarkable exploits without
advertising. But we exhume them from old documents to show how these
things were done. And so as we resume our story we find Superintendent
Wood in 1905 up in Dawson busy with the finger-print system in which he,
as before mentioned, was a pioneer believer. Thus when a cabin had been
robbed of a gold watch and other valuables, Wood was satisfied, without
any other clue to the thief, when he found a finger-print on a
lamp-chimney which the man had to light in order to see what he could
annex. Then Wood proceeded to hunt for a criminal of the thief class,
for he says, "It is well known that the criminal class at large are
segregated into groups according to the line to which their abilities
are applied." By following this idea he settled on a group of five who
would likely do that sort of thing. Four of them did not answer to the
finger-print test, but the fifth showed a facsimile of the print on the
lamp-chimney. He was the man. So the Police were making it daily more
impossible for criminals to ply their trade even in the remotest points.
In those days in quite another direction and with the purpose of
inquiring into the possibilities of the Hudson Bay and Arctic regions,
Inspector J. D. Moodie was engaging in his explorations, and his
reports, with those of Starnes, Beyts, Pelletier, Howard, French,
Sellers, Rowley and others, are being consulted anew in view of the
project of railways to the great bays of the North. Some of these famous
patrols we shall discuss later.
But speaking of railways it is interesting to find statements from that
observant officer, Superintendent Constantine, who despite the fact that
his health had been undermined by the hardships of the Yukon was still
on duty in the Peace and Athabasca regions. In 1907 he discusses the
development of the Peace River country from an agricultural standpoint.
He covers very carefully the great areas that include the Grande
Prairie, Spirit River, Fort Vermilion and the rest and makes careful
analysis of their agricultural capabilities. He sees great
possibilities, but places forcibly in his report the absolute need of
railway communication with the eastern centres before much can be
expected. His forecast has proven correct in every particular. These
regions now have railway and river transportation and are prospering
accordingly. One wonders now why extracts from the reports of these men
on the ground were not put before the people in general instead of being
allowed to suffer from being buried alive in the departments of
Government. All through these official reports from the Mounted Police
officers and men, we find statements and suggestions that might have
influenced the progress of the country greatly had they been given wider
publicity throughout the years.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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