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An Update - 25 years later.

In 1973 as a means of getting both school and community interested in knowing more about the North West Mounted Police trek of 1874 as well as to help finance our trip ninety-nine years later we proceeded to offer the service of researching the names of men who went on the original trek. A list of the original force was obtained from the RCMP. The publisher of the local newspaper offered to prepare a mat (a printing mold used in newspaper publishing at the time) which we sent to daily and weekly newspapers across western Canada with the hope they would publish it as a public service. Many did.

An introduction above the list read as follows:

The steps of the North West Mounted Police in "Long March West" will be retraced this spring by a group of students from Hamilton Junior High in Lethbridge.

The students are now busy digging through old diaries and maps to prepare for a film-making trek from Fort Dufferin, Manitoba to Fort Whoop-Up, Alberta, the route followed by the force on its way to its first major post at Fort Macleod

To help finance this trip we are offering the people of Western Canada a service. We have listed the names of those who were involved in the original trek of 1874. Students will provide a biography of any man on the original trek for the price of one day's pay that a person of his rank would have made at that time. The amounts appear in the list. All the biographies will include a list of all sources used to research and satisfaction is guaranteed.

The commissioner received a whopping $7.12 but the bulk of the men as sub constables made only 75 cents for their day's efforts. The response was amazing. Over 500 letters seeking biographies were received from across North America. Contacts were made with many descendants and by the time our trek was completed I for one was so immersed in the project that to this day when I hear references to the original trek I find myself thinking " Hey, wasn't I there?"

If a project's success can be measured by how well it is remembered then I guess we did well. Twenty-five years later I still get letters talking about the project.

With the approach of the 125 anniversary of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police I decided to look through material I had packed away in a box. With the development of the internet, maybe, I thought, there is something I can share with the next generation. To my surprise I found the journal I have reproduced here. There is no name on it but I think it must have been written by Dixie Bambrick a shy but conscientious participant who rose to the rank of chief constable. (She probably had time to write while her underlings peeled potatoes) Where she is today I have no idea. But I hope she as well as the others still consider it a great adventure.

It is interesting to compare this journal with the original journals. Both parties seemed to be continually getting lost. Both seldom arrived anywhere on time and are often played pranks on each other. The original mounties were always worrying about the food their horses. In our journal finding a gas station seemed to be a big thing. The old Red River carts posed a constant problem as did our trailer hitch. Their horses needed to new shoes; our van new tires. They suffered from diarrhea and an infestation of lice and we suffered the inevitable scrapes and bruises as well as an infestation of wood ticks. With the living history approach it wasn't a crisis it was part of a great adventure.

Bruce Haig

October 23, 1997