The principal goal of the original North West Mounted Police was to rid western Canada of ruthless American whiskey traders during a tumultuous time in the country’s history.
In the years following Confederation, the government was dealing with the Riel Red River Rebellion, the building of the railway to the west, the fall of the prairie tribes, the Wolseley Expedition, the gold rush, smallpox and murderous whiskey traders from the U.S.
“You have all this happening at the same time; the Canadian government is trying to keep a lid on the chaos of colonial settlement by creating this little group of red-jacketed policemen who were recruited under rather strange circumstances,” said Charlie Wilkens.
The Thunder Bay author has written 15 books throughout his career as a writer and his latest publication – released Sept. 21 – is the story of the creation and early days of the North West Mounted Police, now known as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
The Wild Ride chronicles the police force’s history from 1873 to 1904 when the gold rush hit the Yukon Territory; Wilkens describes it as the most dramatic and intense period of change in Canadian history.
“From Thunder Bay to the Rockies was transformed from this great fur trading wilderness where you could travel for days and days and see nobody,” he said. “It was truly the land of bears, wolves, buffalo and very few people. To have it transformed into this segmented, regulated, government-controlled territory with farms and settlements and towns and railway and telegraph wires and to have all this happen in 30 years, it was part of the reason it was such a period of upheaval.”
Wilkens previous material has always centred around his own life adventures, so when he was approached to write a historical book, he turned the offer down.
“I didn’t exactly sleep through history class but I wasn’t an A-student either,” he said. “Then I decided I’m an adventurer and a working writer and this sounded like an adventure to me.”
He also thought it would be a great opportunity to learn some 19th century Canadian history and what better way than by examining police work.
“They’d basically take anybody in the early days,” he said of the recruitment of the first mounted police officers. “They wanted 300 men in 1873 who would go out west and try to keep the lid on this colonial expansion so it didn’t degenerate into the wild west that had been part of U.S. history. They recruited all types of misfits and people who couldn’t ride and didn’t have a clue.”
The 300 men trained to be officers in Manitoba in fall 1873, but Wilkens said they set out to march across the prairies to chase out whiskey traders ill-trained and ill-equipped with no notion of the conditions.
“They lived in absolutely deplorable conditions,” he said. “These forts were rough places with rain and sleet and mud falling through the roof all the time and brutally bold. They were eating salt pork the colour of algae.”
They weren’t even paid for the first year because money wasn’t able to be wired to western Canada; they officers had to ride to Montana to receive their first year’s pay.
Wilkens said while people hear a lot about the RCMP being in a relative state of disarray today with alleged mishandling of cases, nothing compares to the mess the original officers handled in the early days.
Wilkens will be having a book signing near the end of October at the Finnish Bookstore on Bay Street after he’s done his cross-Canada promotion tour of The Wild Ride.
In the years following Confederation, the government was dealing with the Riel Red River Rebellion, the building of the railway to the west, the fall of the prairie tribes, the Wolseley Expedition, the gold rush, smallpox and murderous whiskey traders from the U.S.
“You have all this happening at the same time; the Canadian government is trying to keep a lid on the chaos of colonial settlement by creating this little group of red-jacketed policemen who were recruited under rather strange circumstances,” said Charlie Wilkens.
The Thunder Bay author has written 15 books throughout his career as a writer and his latest publication – released Sept. 21 – is the story of the creation and early days of the North West Mounted Police, now known as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
The Wild Ride chronicles the police force’s history from 1873 to 1904 when the gold rush hit the Yukon Territory; Wilkens describes it as the most dramatic and intense period of change in Canadian history.
“From Thunder Bay to the Rockies was transformed from this great fur trading wilderness where you could travel for days and days and see nobody,” he said. “It was truly the land of bears, wolves, buffalo and very few people. To have it transformed into this segmented, regulated, government-controlled territory with farms and settlements and towns and railway and telegraph wires and to have all this happen in 30 years, it was part of the reason it was such a period of upheaval.”
Wilkens previous material has always centred around his own life adventures, so when he was approached to write a historical book, he turned the offer down.
“I didn’t exactly sleep through history class but I wasn’t an A-student either,” he said. “Then I decided I’m an adventurer and a working writer and this sounded like an adventure to me.”
He also thought it would be a great opportunity to learn some 19th century Canadian history and what better way than by examining police work.
“They’d basically take anybody in the early days,” he said of the recruitment of the first mounted police officers. “They wanted 300 men in 1873 who would go out west and try to keep the lid on this colonial expansion so it didn’t degenerate into the wild west that had been part of U.S. history. They recruited all types of misfits and people who couldn’t ride and didn’t have a clue.”
The 300 men trained to be officers in Manitoba in fall 1873, but Wilkens said they set out to march across the prairies to chase out whiskey traders ill-trained and ill-equipped with no notion of the conditions.
“They lived in absolutely deplorable conditions,” he said. “These forts were rough places with rain and sleet and mud falling through the roof all the time and brutally bold. They were eating salt pork the colour of algae.”
They weren’t even paid for the first year because money wasn’t able to be wired to western Canada; they officers had to ride to Montana to receive their first year’s pay.
Wilkens said while people hear a lot about the RCMP being in a relative state of disarray today with alleged mishandling of cases, nothing compares to the mess the original officers handled in the early days.
Wilkens will be having a book signing near the end of October at the Finnish Bookstore on Bay Street after he’s done his cross-Canada promotion tour of The Wild Ride.
