THE AUTHOR  |  BOOK EXCERPT  |  ARTICLES  |  THANKS & ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Excerpt from Chapter 16...

The Royal North West Mounted Police

Saturday, 12 May 1906

The train carrying the Mounties pulled into Kamloops on a dreary overcast Saturday morning with rain showers coming down off the surrounding hills and the scent of sage in the air.  After making introductions to Provincial Police Superintendent Frederick Hussey, Commissioner Perry met with his detail in a local hotel.  Perry had obtained an old Hudson’s Bay map of the country to the south of the railroad, and he told his men that it appeared that the robbers were heading for the Douglas Lake country in an attempt to get across the American border.  He showed the men the area that the Provincial Police and their Indian trackers and posses had covered south of the Campbell Range and the Monte Hills.  He then told the officers that he wanted them to set up a line of men acting as pickets from Douglas Lake east, and to start immediately.  An experienced guide from the Douglas Lake ranch, “Slim” Jim Benyon, was made available to the detail to guide them through the hills and grasslands into the Douglas Lake country.

The seven Mounties had lunch, then gathered up their saddles and tack and make their way down to the corrals beside the tracks where their horses were being held.  Supplied by John Roper Hull in the Edith Lake country, the green broke horses were straight in off the range after a winter by themselves.  The detail saw the dust being raised by circling and agitated horses and realized they had a bit of a challenge in front of them.

“Each man picked the horse he wanted, and they started to saddle and mount them.  The horses were straight out of the bush, and it did not appear that they had ever been ridden.  The whole town of Kamloops turned out to see the free show and enjoyed themselves immensely.  Some would buck straight up, another would try to stand on his head, another would sit down and refuse to budge, another would be trying his best to get his head where his tail ought to be, and when you have seven performing all at once and the same time you can imagine that there are no dull moments for the spectators … As every man in this party had been picked for his riding as well as other police qualities, in a short time the horses were all subdued.”ⁱ

They mounted up, their recently issued .45 calibre, six round, Colt New Service revolvers in Sam Browne style holsters strapped around their waists.  Slung across their shoulders were the latest rifles issued to the force.  They were .303 calibre, five round, Ross Mark I carbines.  Weighing over seven pounds, the rifles, while very accurate, would in the future acquire an unenviable reputation for jamming in dirty conditions and the bolt “blowing out.”  They were dressed in civilian clothes and appeared as ordinary cowboys with their four cornered Stetsons and spurred boots.  To make the picture complete, one of the riders wore chaps.  In company with their guide and leading two gentler pack horses with their gear aboard, they made their way down the main street of Kamloops to where the Nicola Road led up into the hills.  To the delight of downtown onlookers, the horses bucked and snorted and farted and danced all over the wooden sidewalks as the frustrated “Riders of the Plains” struggled to keep them under control.ⁱⁱ

“The party disappeared over the mountains just at dusk, amid the cheers and good wishes of the good people of Kamloops.”ⁱⁱⁱ

Sergeant Wilson’s last instructions from Commissioner Perry rang loud in his ears:  “Spare neither men, money or horses, but keep careful account of all expenditures.”^iv

i R.N.W.M.P. Staff Sergeant John Jackson Wilson (Ret.), “Capture of Bill Miner,” Unpublished and undated manuscript, RCMP Archives, Regina, SK

ii Roger F. Phillips and Donald J. Klancher, “Arms and Accoutrements of the Mounted Police.  1873 – 1973” (Bloomfield, ON: Museum Restoration Service, 1982), 39-47.

iii R.N.W.M.P. Sergeant J.T. Browning (Ret.), “Capture of Bill Miner and His Gang,” New Westminster Columbian, 13 June 1953.

iv R.N.W.M.P. Staff Sergeant John Jackson Wilson (Ret.), “Capture of Bill Miner,” Unpublished and undated manuscript, RCMP Archives, Regina, SK.