The Royal Canadian Mounted Police
In the Spring of 1873, Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada’s Prime Minister, was worried! Out West in the Northwest Territories, lawlessness was out of hand!

The Territories (purchased from the Hudson’s Bay Company) Would later become Alberta, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories but in 1873 the plan was not unfolding as it should.

 
To encourage settlement and to bring law to the rough and tumble territories, the Government created “a police force in the Northwest Territories to number not more than 300”. These 300 strong troopers were to bring law and order to 300,000 sqaure miles of land. Utilizing military training and the horse as transportation; Canada’s Mounted Police blazed their trail across Western Canada and won the adulation of the struggling settlers and the grudging admiration of their adversaries.

The legend grew that the R.C.M.P. always got their man. Often one or two R.C.M.P. would, not by force, but by reason, persuade rioting groups to cool their tempers and go home. None of this would have been possible without the sturdy horse that allowed few numbers of R.C.M.P. to cover vast distances.

Here in Alberta, a major R.C.M.P. Fort still stands as a historic museum at Fort MacLeod. There, in the summer, the harsh Fort life is recreated for visitors from around the world to observe.On the international stage, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Musical Ride has received accolades world wide for preserving the inspiring memory of the early days of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police when they truly were “mounted”.

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Other Sites to Visit:

Official R.C.M.P. Government site

The R.C.M.P. Honour Roll

The R.C.M.P. Missing Children’s Registry

The R.C.M.P.’s Most Wanted List