Reference: J.D. Nicholson, On the Side of the Law John Wynnichuk, who farmed a homestead at Hythe, Alberta, had not been seen since the early part of the summer of 1918. Everyone believed that he had migrated to the city in the hope of securing employment. That is, everyone except Corporal McLean of the Alberta… Read More

By Gerry Clare, 1998 On July 17, 1897 the steamer Portland docked in Seattle and unloaded two tons of Yukon gold. Suddenly the rumors of fabulous placer deposits on the Klondike River were confirmed and within days the rush was on. One of the most famous pictures in Canadian history shows an endless line of… Read More

Assistant Commissioner Keith Duncan of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police was born at Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire on July 11, 1884. Duncan was educated at Buxton, Derbyshire, and at Sedbergh, Yorkshire in Public Schools and at Aberdeen University. Duncan joined the NWMP on August 31, 1903. At the time of his engagement he was 6’ 3½” tall,… Read More

(The first BC Policeman in the Peace River Block)I could say a good deal about the Peace River country and the changes that have taken place there in the past sixty years, but just how much it would interest people is something I cannot say. When I was first there, early in 1914, it took… Read More

Inspector Anderson was in the Peace River area of Alberta in 1898 as a Sergeant. He visited Peace River Landing and Lesser Slave Lake Detachments on a patrol that took place between December 19, 1898 and January 18, 1899. His main purpose was to carry the mail. Sgt. Anderson made a second trip between February… Read More

R.C.M.P. Quarterly Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 76-77 The death of retired Inspector K.F. Anderson at Jasper, Alberta in January 1949 brought to a close a colorful career. His was a life of activity interwoven with the story of early law enforcement in the Canadian North. At 82, he was one of the few surviving… Read More

The frustrations of the police in the Peace Country less than fifty years ago is well told by retired Assistant Superintendent J.D. Nicholson of the Alberta Provincial Police. His story as an officer of the Canadian Police truly reads as “stranger than fiction”. The son of a Canadian fishing schooner captain, but born in Provincetown,… Read More

Cross-posted: 16-009: Mr. Harry H. Reynolds (The Alberta Peace) Interviewed by Lee Phillips April 15, 1973 at Enilda Mr. Reynolds was born in England eighty-seven years ago and came to Canada as a small boy. He first lived in Winnipeg but as soon as he was old enough, joined the North West Mounted Police. He… Read More

By Dorthea CalverleyIn the day of the freighters over the old Athabasca and other trails, there was lots of work for the NorthWest Mounted Police. Most of it fell into two categories — looking after the welfare of the white people and Indians and tracking down the illegal sale of liquor. The bootleg liquor was… Read More

By Dorthea Horton CalverleyThere is no use pretending that all was peace and light over the historical years of the Peace River country. Some bad men were more notorious — or better recorded, than others. Our first recorded crime occurred shortly after the first fur traders entered the country. Peter Pond, who built the first… Read More