Alberta Historic Sites

Review article Alberta Historic Sites R. DOUGLAS FRANCIS Leslie J. Hurt, A History of Writing-on-Stone N. W.M.P. Post. Historic Sites Service Occasional Paper No. 5. Edmonton: Alberta Culture, 1979. Leslie J. Hurt, The Victoria Settlement 1862-1922. Historic Sites Service Occasional Paper No. 7. Edmonton: Alberta Culture, 1979. Jane McCracken, The Overlord of the Little Prairie: Report on Charles Plavin and His Homestead. Historic Sites Service Occasional Paper No. 6. Edmonton: Alberta Culture, 1979. Douglas R. Babcock, A Gentleman ofStrathcona: Alexander Cameron Ruthe1ford. Historic Sites Service Occasional Paper No. 8. Edmonton: Alberta Culture, 1980. The Historic Resources Division of Alberta Culture has undertaken to publish a series of ''Occasional Papers" on topics related to designated historic sites in the province. These studies are "for interested specialists , rather than a popular publication for general readers.'' There are no intended themes running through these publications. Each one is an independent study, although a few of them overlap, exploring the same historic sites in differing contexts. To date there have been eight published, the most recent four being the subjects of this review article. Leslie Hurt's A History of Writing-on-Stone N. W.M.P. Post reports on his historical research undertaken at Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park, located on the Milk River just north of the Montana border in southern Alberta. Two things make this an interesting and significant historical site: the petroglyphs , ancient Indian art found on the rock walls of the river bank, and the N.W.M.P. outpost situated there from 1887 to 1918. These two features are entirely unrelated. Of the two, the former is the most important for historical/archaeological reasons, but is not discussed in this study. It was the subject of an earlier "Occasional Paper," Archaeological Investigation: Writing-on-Stone N. W.M.P. Post. The concern of Hurt's report is the history of the Mounted Police outpost. The study is divided into three parts: part one is a history of the post; part two is a collection of extracts from official documents of the time, dealing with various structures of the post; part three reports on food, dress, arms and furnishings in use at Writingon -Stone, as described in the papers of Canada's Mounted Police force. The tone of the report is established in the opening paragraph. The author assures us that life at Writingon -Stone N.W.M.P. post was not filled with the "glamour and excitement" so often associated with Journal ofCanadian Studies Vol. 16, No. 2 (Ete 1981 Summer) the N.W.M.P. It was characterized by "boredom, isolation and tedious hard work" with the result that the biggest problem facing the Mounties was not "getting their man" but "keeping their men" from desertion or from stepping out of line. Hurt then proceeds in a matter-of-fact way to record the humdrum events that the Mounties faced. The study is based almost exclusively on the monthly reports of the post, and in a painstaking effort to make his report comprehensive, the author has included, I suspect, almost every entry made in the record book. The study ends up being less a history, marked by interpretation and perspective, and more a chronicle of the construction of the post and of the life of its Mounties during the period when it was operational. The historical section also lacks a broad contextual framework. In his introduction, Hurt has· made no attempt to discuss the formation of the N.W.M.P., its . role in the West, and the general reasons for locating the posts, particularly the one under discussion, where they did. The Writing-on-Stone N.W.M.P. post was in the heart of cattle country when it was established in 1887, and was expected to maintain law and order. Its location was good, close enough to the American border to allow checking of illegal horse trading and driving back cattle which strayed north, and near the centre of the territory inhabited by the Blackfoot, the most aggressive of Indian tribes. This should, then, have been a busy post. Yet Hurt indicates that more time was spent dealing with deserters...