Policing the plains: being the real-life record of the famous Royal North-West Mounted Police

About this book

Policing the Plains offers a detailed, nonfiction account of the Royal North‑West Mounted Police, later the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, as they forged a law‑enforcing tradition across the Canadian West. The narrative begins with the author’s own expedition north of Edmonton, where a chance encounter with a lone, scarlet‑uniformed rider in a fledgling frontier town sparks a conversation about the men in “scarlet and gold.” From that vivid scene the book expands into a broader chronicle, tracing the force’s origins, its role in the Hudson’s Bay Company’s domain, and its evolution into a national institution. The opening passage grounds the work in the author’s personal observations and the historical backdrop of early exploration, promising a record that blends travel memoir with institutional history.

Written in a measured, early‑twentieth‑century prose style, the work reflects the author’s background as a participant in frontier service rather than a member of the police corps. Its tone is reverent yet factual, aiming to inspire pride in Canadian heritage while documenting the Mounted Police’s deeds without sensationalism. Readers interested in Canadian military and colonial history, scholars of law‑enforcement evolution, or anyone drawn to the rugged narratives of the North‑West frontier will find the book’s detailed descriptions and earnest voice compelling.

Opening lines

A few years ago I was away north of Edmonton on the trail of Alexander Mackenzie, fur trader and explorer, who a century and a quarter before had made the amazing journey from the prairies over the mountains to the Pacific Coast. We looked with something like awe and wonder at the site of the old fort near the famous Peace River Crossing, from which, after wintering there in 1792, he had started out on that unprecedented expedition, and we followed up the majestic Peace to Fort Dunvegan, past whose present location Mackenzie had gone his adventurous way. And during our trip we came across a little frontier encampment building itself into a primitive wooden town in view of the advent of a railway that was heading that way. It was a characteristic outfit with lax ideas in regard to laws which touched upon personal desires as to gambling, strong drink, Sunday trading and the rest. …

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