Work was resumed from Wood Mountain, westward, on the 20th June, 1874, the plan of work being similar to that of 1873, except that the six-mile belt survey was reduced to three miles. At Milk River the first buffalo was seen in July, and large bands of Sioux and Assiniboines. The Indians were friendly, and made no objection to the work being carried through their country, and, at the end of July, the commission reached the Sweet Grass Hills, or three Buttes, from the western one of which they gained their first view of the Rocky Mountains. Just south of the boundary of this point, they found the mutilated bodies of twenty Crow Indians, who had been killed by the Blackfeet in the preceding autumn. On August 27th, both commissions reached the terminal monument in the Rocky Mountains by the Kootenay Pass, and the International Boundary was completed from

ocean to ocean.

The united parties, numbering 167 officers and men, and about 200 horses and ponies, with 100 waggons, carts, etc., now turned eastward, and reached Dufferin on October 11th, after a march of 860 miles, which they had accomplished in forty-three days, including halts. After the return to Duf

ferin, the British commission completed the southern boundary of Manitoba by setting up iron pillars where temporary mounds and posts had been placed two years previously. It was their duty to place one-half of these pillars-every other one-the United States Cominission to place the other half; a work which was completed in 1875.

CHAPTER XII.

THE MOUNTED POLICE FORCE.

THE placing of a Police Force in the North-West Territories was recommended by members of the North-West Council, and by several other persons acquainted with the country and its necessities. In 1870, Mr. Donald A. Smith had strongly urged upon the Government the advisability of sending in a force to keep the Indians in check and to preserve law and order in the country. In 1872, Capt. Louis De Plainval, who was then in command of the Provincial Police in Manitoba, prepared a complete plan for the organization, equipment, and distributions of a mounted constabulary in the territories, and submitted the same to Sir John A. Macdonald, who was so well pleased with it that he resolved on its adoption, and it was at one time intended to place De Plainval in command of

the force.

On the 23rd May, 1873, a bill for the administration of justice and the establishment of a Police Force in the NorthWest Territories was assented to, and from it we give the following clauses :

The Governor-in-Council may constitute a Police Force in aud for the North-West Territories, and the Governor may from time to time as may be found necessary, appoint by commission a Commissioner of Police and one or more Superintendents of Police, together with a Paymaster, Surgeon, and Veterinary Surgeon, each of whom shall hold office during pleasure.

The Commissioner of Police shall perform such duties and be subject to the control, orders and authority of such person or persons as may from time to time be named by the Governor-in-Council for that purpose.

The Governor-in-Council may from time to time authorize the Commissioner of Police to appoint by warrant under his hand, such number of constables and sub-constables as he may think proper, not exceeding in the whole, three hundred men; and such number thereof shall be mounted as the Governor-in-Council may at any time direct.

No person shall be appointed to the Police Force unless he be of a sound constitution, able to ride, active and able-bodied, of good character, and between the ages of eighteen and forty years; nor unless he be able to read or write either the English or French language.

No person shall exercise any office in the said Force, until he shall have taken the oath of allegiance and the following oath of office: “I, A. B., solemnly swear that I will faithfully, diligently, and impartially execute and perform the duties and office of.... in the Police Force of the North-West Territories, and will well and truly obey and perform all lawful orders or instructions which I shall receive as such ...without fear, favor, or affection of or towards any person or party whomsoever. So help me God." And such oath may be taken by the Commissioner of Police, before any Judge, Stipendiary Magistrate, or Justice of the Peace having jurisdiction in the North-West Territories, and by any other member of the Police Force, before the Commissioner of Police, or any person having such jurisdiction as aforesaid; and such oaths shall be retained by the Commissioner as part of the records of his office.

The Commissioner and every Superintendent of Police shall be exofficio a Justice of the Peace; and every constable and sub-constable of the Force shall be a constable in and for the whole of the North-West Territories; and may execute the office in any part thereof, and in Manitoba, in the cases herein before mentioned and provided for.

Every constable and sub-constable shall, upon appointment to the said Force sign articles of engagement, and any penalty which may be therein assigned may be enforced; and one condition in the said articles shall always be that he shall serve for the period of three years, and shall not leave the Force or withdraw from his duties unless he be dismissed or discharged therefrom, or shall have previously given six months notice in writing to the Commissioner. The engagement shall be contracted to the Commissioner, and may be enforced by the Commissioner for the time being.

The Governor-in-Council may, from and out of any of the lands of the Dominion in the Province of Manitoba, or in the North-West Territories, make a free grant, not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres, to any

constable or sub-constable of the said Force, who, at the expiration of three years of continuous service in the said Force, shall be certified by the Commissioner of Police to have conducted himself satisfactorily, and to have efficiently and ably performed the duties of his office during the said term of three years

The Governor-in-Council shall appoint the place at which the headquarters of the Force shall from time to time be kept, and the office of the Commissioner shall be kept there, and the same may be at any place in the North-West Territories or the Province of Manitoba.

It shall be the duty of the Force :

To perform all duties which now are or shall be hereafter assigned to constables in relation to the preservation of the peace, the prevention of crime, and of offences against the laws and ordinances in force in the North-West Territories, and the apprehension of criminals and offenders and others who may be lawfully taken into custody.

To attend upon any Judge, Stipendiary Magistrate or Justice of the Peace, when thereunto specially required, and subject to the orders of the Commissioner or Superintendent, to execute all warrants and perform all duties and services in relation thereto which may under this Act, or the laws and ordinances in force in the North-West Territories, lawfully be performed by constables.

To perform all duties which may be lawfully performed by constables in relation to the escort and conveyance of convicts and other prisoners, or lunatics, to or from any courts, places of punishment or confinement, asylums, or other places

And for these purposes, and in the performance of all the duties assigned to them by or under the authority of this Act, they shall have all the powers, authority, protection and privileges which any constable now has or shall hereafter by law have.

The Governor-in-Council may, from time to time, make rules and regulations for any of the following purposes viz: To regulate the number of the Force, not exceeding, in the whole, the number of three hundred men as herein before provided; to prescribe the number of men who shall be mounted on horseback; to regulate and prescribe the clothing, arms, training and discipline of the Police Force; to regulate and prescribe the duties and authorities of the Commissioner and Superintendents of the Force, and the several places, at or near which, the same or the Force, or any portions thereof, may from time to time be stationed; and generally all and every such matters and things for the good government, discipline and guidance of the Force, as are not inconsistent with this Act; and such rules and regulations may impose penalties not exceeding, in any case, thirty days' pay of the offenders, for any contravention thereof, and may direct that such penalty, when incurred, may be deducted from the offender's