Friday, March 1, 2024

Cypress Hills Massacre, an in-depth look

 

Sculpture commemorating the history of Fort Walsh, SK. A sign of friendship and respect between the NWMP and First Nations. Inspector James Morrow Walsh and Chief Sitting Bull of the Hunkpapa Lakota (Sioux Nation) became good friends and that friendship and mutual respect helped maintain the peace in the area. The relationship was controversial and had political and social implications in Canada and the United States.                                                        Photo: Charles Kuss


The site of the Cypress Hills Massacre is sacred ground for the descendants of the Carry the Kettle First Nation where many innocent Nakoda (Assiniboines) lost their lives. The 1873 massacre was a crucial turning point in Nakoda history that also had a huge influence on Canadian history. This tragic event was the first major test of Ottawa’s new federal police, the North West Mounted Police, and the law enforcement policies in western Canada. 


Yesterday Cypress Hills History


Cypress Hills Massacre an in-depth look


This article is inspired by a question a friend had when he saw many road signs along the Trans-Canada Highway promoting the Cypress Hills Massacre and later saw the plaque at the massacre site only mentioning the death of 20-plus people. He thought the numbers had to be much greater. I had no answer, but this question along with many others remained in the back of my mind and was answered a few years later when I received a book for Christmas detailing Ottawa’s geopolitical climate in the 1870s and the formation, adventures, and hardships of the North West Mounted Police (NWMP) as they were moving westward to establish their presence to tame the west. The authors derived much of their information from primary sources such as archived diaries, memoirs, various records, and other documents. Unless otherwise stated, “The Great Adventure-How the Mounties Conquered The West” by David Cruise and Alison Griffiths will be the main source for this article.

There seems to be a reluctance to mention the actual number of people who died in the Cypress Hills Massacre. Who was really involved, or even how it actually began is also in question. The accounts vary, sometimes greatly, from author to author. This article will go back to the 1870s using the research of Cruise and Griffins and try to get a better understanding of the situation that led up to the tragic event. Quotes from “The Great Adventure-How the Mounties Conquered The West” will be in quotation marks and italics. Political correctness is not implied here and the language used will be the language of the 1800s.

The Dominion of Canada in the 1870s was still a young country with Conservative Sir John A. Macdonald reelected as Prime Minister in 1872. The Dominion’s internal geopolitical situation was challenging and rife with conflicts but continuously evolving towards a unified nation. The British army withdrew from Canada in 1871. The relationship with the United States was overall cordial with the US formally recognizing Canada’s existence in 1871 in the Treaty of Washington signed between the United Kingdom and the United States. This treaty also helped curb American expansionism and more clearly defined portions of the border between Canada and the US. The coast-to-coast communication and transportation infrastructure in Canada was in its infancy with many delays. The same infrastructure was more developed in the United States benefiting both the US and Canada. Saskatchewan and Alberta were part of the Northwest Territories and the western trading posts were serviced by two main merchands, T. C. Power and I. G. Baker, from Fort Benton, Montana Territory. A very successful Fort Benton merchant, T.C. Power financed the two permanent Cypress Hills forts, Fort Farwell owned by Abe Farwell, and Fort Solomon owned by Moses Solomon. The Canadian border crossings were wide open with little oversight while in the US, the army did the policing and protected the Native Americans from the rogue whisky traders. The Americans spent $20 million annually on their ‘Indian Problem’, roughly the Canadian government’s annual budget. The US also compensated the Native American tribes for the use of their lands along major waterways and supply routes making it possible to use steam river boats on the Missouri River to Fort Benton with few incidences. From the Native American and the First Nations of Canada side, the situation was very different.

Lands once free to roam where one more-less pleased were now divided up and owned by settlers and capitalists making trespassing a punishable crime. The fur trade was in jeopardy with the over-trapping and decline of beavers pushing fur traders into buffalo hunting. The once tens of millions of roaming buffalo across North America that were a staple food source for the Native Americans and Indigenous Canadians for tens of thousands of years were steadily declining creating competition among the tribes and settlers alike over big game hunting rights. As if almost by design, the ruthless slaughter of the buffalo by the fur traders reduced the animals in a single generation to almost extinction level.  Food for the taking was becoming scarce, and the Indigenous people were increasingly forced to either buy their food from White man or starve. Since the arrival of White man the Indigenous people have been plagued with disease, starvation, and alcoholism reducing a once proud people whose ancestors lived on the prairies for tens of thousands of years to shambles in just a few generations. Alcoholism was the single most destructive element in the indigenous communities where much of what they traded went to alcohol and not food or clothing. Whisky and fur traders were hated for their bad deals, tainted goods, and watered-down whisky. The governments, while trying to be helpful, continuously changed their policies to the benefit of White man and therefore could not be trusted. The tension and distrust were high among the Whites and Indians and it didn’t take much to start a fight or battle.

In the US, selling alcohol to Native Americans was illegal and the laws were enforced by the army. In Canada, it was also illegal to sell alcohol to the indigenous people except there was no one in the west to enforce the laws allowing American whisky traders to enter the wild Canadian territory to conduct their extremely profitable but illegal whisky trade. There were many warnings from concerned citizens well versed in what could happen if this continued with no one policing the whisky trade. The Hudson’s Bay Company, although initially not that interested since they were also involved in the whisky trade, welcomed a western police force to deal with the demand American whisky traders made for furs from the Northwest Territories.

““Macdonald [Sir John A.] thought of the mounted force as a small, mobile squad of fifty men that could be quickly and easily sent into hot spots at a moment’s notice. An ardent reader of five-penny Westerns, Sir John loved to lie in bed, drinking port [a blend of wine and brandy] and following the exploits of highly fictional and romantic heroes of the wild frontier. In those stories it was nothing for a single white man to subdue dozens of Indians, often with little more than a steely look. But in the real world, relying on a fifty-man force to police the entire North West, a territory as big as Europe, was a little like going on a bear hunt with a switch[blade].

While Old Tomorrow [Sir John A. Macdonald] procrastinated, reports of impending catastrophe piled up. In 1870 Adams Archibald, then lieutenant-governor of the newly created province of Manitoba and the North West, commissioned a remarkable man with the gift of observation to report on conditions west of Winnipeg. Captian William Francis Butler, travelling three thousand miles in 119 days, most of it during the dead of winter, brought back an appalling tale of Indians decimated by smallpox and victimized by whiskey traders. “Terrible deeds have been wrought out in that western land, terrible heart-sickening deeds of cruelty and rapacious infamy—have been, I say? No, are to this day...” Butler recommended that 150 trained men be stationed immediately at several garrisons in the North West.

Wesleyan John McDougall, one of a handful of missionaries in the North West competing for the red man’s soul, sent barrages of letters to Macdanald warning of “the wholesale poisoning” of Indians by American whiskey traders. Throughout 1872 Alexander Morris, the new lieutenant-governor of Manitoba, peppered Macdonald with warnings about the “frightful disasters” waiting to happen. Though a decade had passed since nearly eight hundred settlers and Sioux had been slaughtered, raped or wounded in the Minnesota massacre of 1862, Morris was convinced the same thing could happen in Canada.

Still delaying, in August 1872 Macdonald sent west another military officer, Colonel Robertson-Ross, adjutant general of the Canadian Militia, to report on how best to police the territory. His conclusions, delivered personally to Sir John in December 1872, largely agreed with Butler’s, except he recommended a force of 550 men.””

““Then, in August [near the end] 1873, [the Metis brought the news to Winnipeg and from there it travelled to Ottawa] all the dire predictions were fulfilled. Horrible reports began filtering east describing the slaughter of as many as two hundred helpless Indians by Americans in the Cypress Hills area, about 600 miles west of Winnipeg, Manitoba officials feared it might be the beginning of an Indian war of retaliation. “What have you done as to the Police force their absence may lead to grave disaster,” Alexander Morris telegraphed frantically to Macdonald on September 20.

Delay and procrastination had put Sir John in an untenable position. The “frightful disaster” that he’d been warned about so many times had already occurred and worse might soon follow. “It would not be well for us to take the responsibility of slighting Morris’s repeated and urgent entreaties,” he wrote on September 24 to Lord Dufferin, govenor-general of Canada. “If anything went wrong the blame would lie at our door.” The next day hiring began with the appointment of nine officers and a temporary commissioner, Lieutenant-Colonel W. Osborne-Smith, the deputy adjutant general of the Manitoba Militia District.

The officers fanned out across Upper and Lower Canada, grabbing able bodies everywhere they could. Within two weeks the hastily recruited and ill- equipped men of the first contingent were on their way west to Lower Fort Garry [28 km NE of Winnipeg, MB].”

Sir John, being more of a character than a politician, had another problem. His heavy drinking during times of stress was legendary in the capital—those close to him worried that the fall of 1873 might be a repeat of 1867, when his binges had delayed, and at times threatened, Confederation negotiations.” In the fall, October 1873, Ottawa was thrown into pandemonium “with the government crisis brought about by allegations that railway tycoon Sir Hugh Allan had corrupted Sir John A Macdonald’s successful 1872 re-election campaign with $360,000 in bribes, in return for the charter to build a transcontinental railway. Ottawa crackled and heaved as political alliances were broken and formed anew.” While under immense pressure “On November 5, 1873, Sir John A. Macdonald, grey and shaking with the after-effects of a long drinking bout, rose in the House of Commons to resign [as Prime Minister]and was replaced by Liberal, Alexander Mackenzie. Sir John continued as Minister of Justice. Mackenzie was also reluctant to make further decisions about the Mounted Police.

The Mounted Police Act, a bill to form the North West Mounted Police received royal assent on May 23, 1873, and on October 18, 1873, Colonel George A. French was appointed commissioner of the Mounted Police. French, however, had a problem. With Ottawa incapacitated by the Sir John’s railway scandal Colonel French had no headquarters, administrative structure, staff, policies, or guidelines. He “had trouble finding the decision makers within the government, let alone convincing them to make a decision. Sir John A. Macdonald, both prime minister and minister of justice, had simply disappeared—assumed drunk.” Fed up with Ottawa, French left for Lower Fort Garry to join the already established first contingent and arrived there on December 16, 1873. It was here where French formulated guidelines, policies, and the requirements of the North West Mounted Police (NWMP). The Minister of Justice, Sir John “emphasized to French that the NWMP must be promoted as a civil force, not a military one. This was essential to distinguish the police from the American soldiers and cavalry, who were loathed by the Indians and detested by whites west of the Mississippi.....Americans used cavalry and infantry like a bludgeon, driving the Indians onto reservations and solving any number of problems from horse stealing and whiskey trading to murder. Out of the heavy-handed strategy came massacres, corruption and retaliation, not only from the Indians, but also from traders and settlers.” With the support of Mackenzie, an ardent prohibitionist, French had the second contingent of NWMP assembled for departure to Fort Dufferin, Manitoba at Union Station, Toronto June 6, 1874. The Lower Fort Garry first contingent, led by James Macleod, joined the second contingent at Fort Dufferin on June 19 with over 300 men, and on July 8, 1874, commanded by Colonel French, the red-coated NWMP were ready for their long and often very difficult 1500 km (900 mi) journey westward to Fort Whoop-Up, Alberta.

As the NWMP were moving west they also searched suspected carts for alcohol. They approached the Cypress Hills (Red Coat Trail, Highway 13, a commemoration to the NWMP), on August 22, 1874, but did not establish the Fort Walsh policing post until June of 1875 with Inspector James Morrow Walsh, an original NWMP member, as superintendent. What caused the conflict that led to the Cypress Hills massacre and those involved was still unclear.

The Cypress Hills or “The Thunder Breeding Hills rise like a blessing out of the long miles of prairie....Creatures seen nowhere else inhabit the slopes and valleys—scorpions, horned toads, grizzlies and a breed of wolf so large a single one could bring a buffalo to its knees....Indians approached cautiously, careful not to disturb the powerful spirits and wary of trespassing too deeply into a place that might never let them go. Even the Blackfoot, who swaggered where they pleased throughout the territory, trod lightly in the hills, such was their air of mystery, danger and supernatural power. Neither tribe nor trader ever won complete dominion over the hills, though the Blackfoot, Gros Ventre, Assiniboine, Cree and later the Sioux all claimed bits of them.

In the 1850’s Metis buffalo hunters from Fort Garry carved out their own piece of the hills, which they named Montagne de Cypress for the cypre or jackpine, valued for making superior teepee poles and travois [A-frame structure to drag loads overland] supports. In time the whites christened the area Cypress Hills, even though no cypress trees grew there.

Until 1870 each faction kept more or less to their territory. Skirmishes were frequent but battles rare. Early that year five hundred Metis, many pushed westward by the failed Riel rebellion, populated a semi-permanent tent city on the eastern periphery of the hills. To the buffalo hunt was added a considerable trade in whiskey with the bordering Indians, primarily the Cree and Assiniboine.

Whiskey traders from Fort Benton soon joined them. Within three years there were two permanent forts financed by T. C. Power—Fort Farwell owned by Abe Farwell on the west side of Battle Creek, and Fort Solomon, owned by Moses Solomon six hundred feet away on the east side. The forts weren’t nearly as sturdy as the stockaded Fort Whoop Up to the east [west], but the whites could retreat behind the walls, shoot the log bolt across the gate and stay there until the Indians drank them selves comatose. Six free traders, loosely associated with Farwell and Solomon, worked out of the forts, and within a few minutes’ walk a dozen more traders, mostly supplied by I. G. Baker [another merchant from Fort Benton], operated out of tents and wagons.

Early in the spring of 1873, a wretched band of 150 Assiniboine led by Little Soldier, staggered into a campsite south of Abe Farwell’s after a two-hundred-mile death march from their barren hunting grounds to the east. Thirty had died along the way and many others were near collapse. Shortly afterward they were joined by two smaller groups of Assiniboine who were almost as destitute. In all they numbered 250 men, women and children, camped in forty or fifty lodges. They were an impoverished lot, with barely a dozen serviceable horses left and armed with ancient muskets and bows and arrows. They hoped only to rest, hunt and drink whiskey.

While the Assiniboine were recuperating in the Cypress Hills, two hundred miles to the south a group of thirteen wolfers, a portion of the Spitzee Cavalry, [in the winter of 1873/74 wolfers and whisky traders, many veterans of the American Civil War, in the Highwood and Bow River area decided to band together for protection from Blackfoot and Assiniboine] headed by Thomas Hardwick and John Evans, eagerly pushed towards Fort Benton. Their wagons were piled high with pelts, their tongues dry and their manhood twitching for the town’s brothels. Their last night on the trail the wolfers bedded down on the bank of the Teton River, unaware that a small number of Cree, hunting far from their home grounds, had been stalking them.

On May 1873, while the wolfers slept, the Cree liberated forty horses and disappeared. Furious, but impotent, Hardwick and company hitched the few remaining horses to the some of the overburdened wagons and ignominiously walked into Benton, pulling the other wagons themselves. They didn’t get much sympathy. Even though stealing horses was usually grounds for a lynching, no questions asked, the wolfers were so despised no one was prepared to get worked up about it. The military couldn’t have been less interested; a senior officer at the garrison told the wolfers to come back later when they weren’t so busy. To make matters worse, several groups of woodhawks [wood cutters cutting logs for the steam river boats] and other wolfers had preceded them into town and a great time taunting the Spitzee Cavalry for having their horses stolen right under their noses.

The angry wolfers whipped themselves into a frenzy of revenge. After several days in Benton’s saloons, they loaded up with Henry rifles, Smith and Wesson revolvers and enough ammunition to blow away a small town. Led by “Captain” John Evans, the wolfers tracked the Cree’s trail across the Teton River and north to the international boundary. At first it was simple. Even Indians couldn’t easily disguise the trail of forty horses especially when their most important consideration was to put as much distance between themselves and their victims as quickly as possible. The wolfers were in high spirits, gulping whiskey and one-upping each other with boasts of what they would do to the culprits when they caught them.

A week later the trail ran cold. They’d seen no sign of horses or Indians for several days, they’d run out of whiskey and were short of food. The wolfers decided their only chance was to head for the Cypress Hills and hope the Cree had done the same. In any event they knew they’d find whiskey and grub. On the night of May 31, the thirteen wolfers halted at the lip of a short box canyon and surveyed the two whiskey posts. Disappointingly, the only Indians around were a motley collection of Assiniboine who had hardly any horses, much less the wolfer’s forty.

Hardwick and Evans looped up to Fort Farwell to find out what the traders knew. Abe Farwell told them that he hadn’t seen any Cree nor any horses. And for sure this ragged bunch of Assiniboine weren’t their thieves because they’d been camping there all month. Hardwick stayed at Farwell’s playing cards and drinking till the wee hours. Evans left with a couple of jugs to take back to the boys. Both Farwell and Moses Solomon were anxious to be rid of the wolfers. If trouble wasn’t readily available they were uniquely skilled in creating some. And the Indians hated them; the longer the wolfers stayed, the more the odds of a fight rose. Besides, the Indians were already riled.

When the Assiniboine had arrived at the whiskey posts, they traded what little they had of value for liquor and supplies. Now they were reduced to begging for whiskey and foraging for scraps. They complained that the traders had cheated them with mouldy flour, guns that didn’t shoot, damp powder and heavily watered whiskey. In April, free trader Paul Rivers and his partner William Rowe were attacked and Rivers killed. Rowe, feeling his days were numbered, sold his stock of liquor to Abe Farwell and hurriedly left for Fort Benton. Shortly afterword, a drunk young Indian fired on Solomon’s fort and he bolted the gate, refusing to let any of the Assiniboine from the surrounding camp into the post to trade.

June 1, 1873, dawned sharp and clear, the bite in the air spring’s last kick before giving way to summer. The wolfers ate breakfast around their camp-fire before getting down to some serious drinking. From time to time they were joined by other traders. As they all got drunker, their woes increased. “It’s been horrible here,” moaned George Bell, Solomon’s partner. “Indians’re all jumped up. They’ve been shooting through the windows and threatening’ to scalp the lot of us.”

Little Soldier, the Assiniboine chief, equally sure there would be trouble, urged his people to break camp. But one of the young braves mocked him, calling him a fearful old woman. He brought out a keg of whiskey and declared his intention to stay. Within an hour most of the Indians, including Little Soldier, were drunk.”

It is here where the situation gets ugly and starts to go south. “By mid-morning the now well-lubricated wolfers were given a fatal spark when George Hammond, a well-known braggart and bully operating out of Farwell’s stomped into camp. “Goddamn thieving bastards! He bellowed. “Took my horse again!” Just the day before, Hammond had ransomed the horse back from an Indian with two kegs of whiskey, a blanket and some tobacco. And now the “bastards” had gone and taken it again.

Hammond, also sauced, fulminated mightily, telling the wolfers that he intended to “clean out” the camp. It was a well-received suggestion. The wolfers gathered up their weapons and followed Hammond, ready to settle up with some Indians, any Indians. On the way to the Assiniboine camp, a half-breed pointed out Hammond’s horse grazing unattended outside the post’s gates. Nobody paid any attention.

Hammond strode into the midst of the Indians and, without a word, grabbed two horses. Those braves still standing objected. Hammond raged and threatened. The Indians raged and threatened back.

The wolfers were grouped in the coulee watching the action. Hammond retreated without the horses. Farwell hurried over to try to stop the impeding bloodshed. But Hammond and the wolfers were determined.

From somewhere came a shot. Then another. The wolfers flung themselves down, sending volley after volley into the Indian camp. Half a dozen traders perched atop Farwell’s fort joined in. A withering cross-fire from twenty repeaters pelted hundreds of bullets into the Indian camp. Any Assiniboine not immediately cut down scattered in confusion, fumbling for their few weapons. For a short time muskets battled Henrys and Winchesters. Repeater bullets slammed into one body after another as the Indians fled for the nearby bush.

The wolfers, cheering at the rout, tore into the camp, laying waste to everything in sight—kettle, teepees, drying racks. They slashed, ripped and crushed. Hardwick rode off to chase down whatever Indians escaped into the bushes. Farwell feebly tried to stop the carnage. “We’ve started in,” snarled Hardwick, “and we’ll clean them all out if we can!”

Spitzee member Ed Legrace, riding with Hardwick, charged ahead, promptly taking a bullet through the heart for his carelessness. The wolfers’ enthusiasm for bush work evaporated, but still full of blood-lust, they returned to the camp. Chief Little Soldier, so drunk he had slept through the massacre, woke up to the sight of his father’s body. His wife frantically tried to lead him to safety.

I will die here,” he declared, shrugging her off, calling “White men, you will know what you have done today; you never knew a Woody Mountain Assiniboine Indian to harm a white man.” A wolfer, Sam Vincent, calmly blew a hole through his chest.

An old Indian, Wankantu, sat stunned on the ground, hardly protesting as the men kicked and clubbed him to death. Bawling out a parody of the war whoop, the whites whacked his head off, drove a lodge pole through it and planted it in the centre of the camp. They looted the camp of its few remaining items of value, then burned everything else in a giant bonfire. Every man, woman and child who had not escaped to the bush was slaughtered—at least hundred of them*.

*Footnote: ‘The generally accepted historical death toll at Cypress Hills is twenty-two, but this is hardly likely under the circumstances. The population of the forty or fifty lodges would have been between two hundred and two hundred and fifty. The wolfers themselves boasted of killing upward of two hundred. And judging by the fact that old men, women and children were killed, the death toll was certainly at least a hundred and most likely closer to two hundred.’

Four women were spared and set aside for later entertainment. Chief Little Soldier’s wife was one of them. “[He] grabbed me by the arm and ravished me, he remained with me all night and had connection with me many times, every time he did, he told me I would not live till morning....The other women can tell more than me as she had many men with her, there being only one with me.”

Both forts were quickly closed and, as if to hide he evidence, torched. Every trader and wolfer pulled out within a few days....The wolfers swaggered into Benton, boasting of having “wiped out the forty lodges, very few escaping.” The locals hailed them as “thirteen Kit Carsons” who had proved themselves to be “advanced guards of civilization.” The news of the massacre spread slowly. Abel Farwell, known for his fair dealings, reported the incident to the Montana authorities. In Canada, the press in eastern Canada gave the massacre little attention and focused on Sir John’s bribery scandal.

The Cypress Hills Massacre was not the only one in the west. Another massacre “unheard and unknown in the white world”, was the Battle of the Belly River (today known as the Oldman River) in the fall of 1870 where the Blackfoot Confederacy (comprised of the Kainai, Peigan Blackfeet, Piikani, and Siksika nations) and the Cree were fighting over control of the Cypress Hills boundaries. Approximately 200-400 Cree died in battle and another 300 were killed while trying to escape. The Cypress Hills Massacre was the straw that broke the camel's back and lit the fire for the creation of the North West Mounted Police.

Bringing the criminals responsible for the Cypress Hills Massacre to justice was another matter. There are different views as to the number arrested and the legal and logistical dynamics involved with this process in the literature. In July 1875 NWMP officers traveled to Helena, Montana but failed to extradite the seven men captured by US authorities to Canada to face trial. Another three were captured in Canada and put on trial in Winnipeg in June 1876 with all charges being dropped in 1882. In the end, all ten were found not guilty. The reasons for the verdict were: 1) During the trial, the prosecution failed to present compelling evidence directly linking the accused to the specific acts of violence, and eyewitness accounts were inconsistent. 2) Determining which legal system to apply may have influenced the trial’s outcome since there were overlapping legal jurisdictions, the North-West Territories (Canada) and the Montana Territory (US). Montana favoured the accused while Canada was divided.  3) Public discrimination and sentiment may have influenced trial proceedings because of the tensions between indigenous peoples, settlers, and traders. The wolfers and traders were part of a much broader conflict and exploitation. 4) Since this was an international situation, balancing justice with international relations may have affected the trial’s outcome.


Sources:

  1. Alexander, Kathy; Fort Benton—Birthplace of Montana; Legends of America; Fort Benton, MT; Updated November 2022; Fort Benton – Birthplace of Montana – Legends of America; Site accessed 3-01-2024.

  2. Cruise, David; Griffiths, Alison; The Great Adventure-How The Mounties Conquered The West; Penguin Books; Toronto, ON, M4V 3B2; 1996

  3. Goldring, Philip; Cypress Hills Massacre; The Canadian Encyclopedia; Last edited, March 4, 2015; Toronto, ON; Cypress Hills Massacre | The Canadian Encyclopedia; Site accessed 2-29-2024.

  1. Parks Canada; Cypress Hills Massacre, Cypress Hills, Saskatchewan; Government of Canada; Ottawa, ON; Modified May 31, 2018; Cypress Hills Massacre, Cypress Hills, Saskatchewan – Canada.ca; Site accessed 2-26-2024.

    Parks Canada; History-Fort Walsh National Historic Site; Government of Canada; Ottawa, ON; Modified, November 19, 2022; History - Fort Walsh National Historic Site (canada.ca); Site accessed 2-29-2024.

  2. Peters, Hammerson; The Spitzee Cavalry; Alberta, Fur Trade, Wild West; Mysteries of Canada; March 10, 2021; The Spitzee Cavalry (mysteriesofcanada.com); Site accessed 2-29-2024.

  3. St. Vincent Memories; NWMP Arrive in Fort Dufferin; November 22, 2010; St. Vincent Memories: NWMP Arrive in Fort Dufferin (56755.blogspot.com); Site accessed 3-01-2024.

  4. Wikipedia; Alexander Mackenzie (politician); Wikimedia Foundation, Inc; San Francisco, CA; Last updated, January 17, 2024; Alexander Mackenzie (politician) – Wikipedia; Site accessed 2-29-2024.

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  6. Wikipedia; Blackfoot Confederacy; Wikipedia Foundation, Inc; San Fransisco, CA; Last updated March 15, 2024; Blackfoot Confederacy – Wikipedia; Site accessed 3-24-2024.

  7. Wikipedia; George Arthur French; Wikipedia Foundation, Inc; San Francisco, CA; Last updated, December 8, 2023; George Arthur French – Wikipedia; Site accessed 2-29-2024.

  8. Wikipedia; James Morrow Walsh; Wikimedia Foundation, Inc; San Francisco, CA; Last edited, December 12,2023; James Morrow Walsh – Wikipedia; Site accessed 2-29-2024.

  9. Wikipedia; John A. Macdonald; Wikimedia Foundation, Inc; San Francisco, CA; Last edited, February 11, 2024; John A. Macdonald – Wikipedia; Site accessed 2-27-2024.

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  11. Wikipedia; Sitting Bull; Wikimedia Foundation, Inc; San Francisco, CA; Last edited, February 8, 2024; Sitting Bull – Wikipedia; Site accessed 3-01-2024.

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  13. Woodhawks and Steamboats of the Upper Missouri River; Upper Missouri River Guides; Fort Benton, MT; Site Accessed 2-29-2024.


 

                      Plaque commemorating the Cypress Hills Massacre. Image: Google Images


     Western Canada and the United States in 1873. Image: Cruise and Griffiths, “The Great Adventure”


Location of Farwell and Solomon’s Trading Post and the Massacre site. Modified Image: Google Earth


     Farwell’s Trading Post, Cypress Hills, SK                                                     Photo: Charles Kuss


     Solomon’s Trading Post, Cypress Hills, SK                                                      Photo: Charles Kuss


         T. C. Power and Bro, Fort Benton, MT. Merchants servicing the western Canadian trading posts.

         Photo: Legends of America


    Fort Benton, MT in 1878 along the Missouri River. T. C. Power and Bro middle left. 

    Photo: Google Images

The geopolitical map of the Dominion of Canada in 1876. Fort Walsh Historical Museum, Fort Walsh, Cypress Hills, SK                            Photo: Charles Kuss


   Buffalo in the Cypress Hills                 Fort Walsh Historical Museum, Fort Walsh, Cypress Hills, SK

   Photo: Charles Kuss


   The destruction of the buffalo.             Fort Walsh Historical Museum, Fort Walsh, Cypress Hills, SK

   Photo: Charles Kuss


Marker indicating the original trail used by the NWMP near Cypress Lake, Saskatchewan.
Photo by: Charles Kuss


Highway 13, Red Coat Trail sign commemorating the NWMP.  The highway is not a reflection of the original NWMP trail.    Image:  Google Images



The Dominion of Canada’s first Prime Minister, Sir John A Macdonald (ca, 1875) Photo: Wikipedia   



  Portrait of Canada’s Second Prime Minister, Alexander Mackenzie 1878           Photo: Wikipedia



1883 portrait of Colonel George A. French, commissioner of the Mounted Police     Photo: Wikipedia



Charles Kuss 2024

Updated: 04-30-2024