Calgary & Southern Alberta

NWMP officers dining at Fort Calgary ca.1889
Courtesy of the Glenbow Collection

From the beginning, the NWMP and ranchers maintained close ties, which extended to social and personal relationships. Policemen were frequently invited to social events on the large ranches. In Calgary, all officers of the Mounted Police were afforded the privilege of temporary membership in the exclusive Ranchmen's Club, founded in 1891, while the commanding officer of Calgary's E Division was always granted honorary membership. When their terms of enlistment were over, many former policemen entered into the cattle business. Some chose to become ranch owners while others became stockholders or managers.

One of the first police officers to become involved in ranching was Captain William Winder of Quebec. While on leave in 1879, Winder, then Superintendent at Fort Macleod, aroused the interest of businessmen in the Eastern Townships with his statements regarding the viability of ranching in Alberta. In 1880, after having completed his NWMP term, Winder and several shareholders obtained the backing of the powerful Allan Steamship Lines of Montreal to form the Winder Ranche Company.

Dog Child, a North West Mounted Police scout, and his wife, The Only Handsome Woman, members of the Blackfoot Nation, Gleichen, Alberta, ca. 1890. Courtesy of the National Archives of Canada: Photographer: Trueman and Caple

Winder's assessment of the Alberta ranching country also attracted his brother-in-law, Fred Stimson, to the area. In 1881, the Allan family financed yet another cattle company, the North-West Cattle Company, appointing Stimson as manager. The company, later renamed the Bar U Ranch, became one of the most successful and enduring of Alberta's large ranches.

Another man who took note of the comments Winder had made during his leave was Senator Matthew H. Cochrane. In 1881, the Cochrane Ranche Company, Ltd was incorporated with $500,000 as the capital investment. Colonel James Walker, a former police superintendent, was an original shareholder of the Cochrane Ranch, as well as its first resident manager. After Walker left the ranch, he became one of early Calgary's most influential leaders and businessmen. As unofficial mayor, Walker chaired the committee that lobbied for Calgary's incorporation as a town in 1884. Two years later, he played a crucial role in the development of the city's pattern of growth by recommending the purchase of a quarter section of land in east Calgary for the CPR's stockyards. From 1909 to 1912, Walker was a major player in Calgary's real estate boom.

Rancher and Entrepreneur Alfred E. Cross. Courtesy of the Glenbow Collection

Because ranchers and police officers moved within the same social circle, its members often inter-married. For example, A. E. Cross, rancher, entrepreneur, and prominent Calgary citizen, married a daughter of Colonel James F. Macleod, after whom the first police fort in Alberta was named. The best-known and most respected member of the NWMP, Macleod also suggested the name of Calgary for the new fort on the Bow River in 1880. Numerous public structures in the city still bear his name. After he resigned as commissioner in 1876, Macleod was appointed stipendiary magistrate. From his position as magistrate, Macleod began a distinguished career as a justice of the Supreme Court of the North-West Territories. Outside of Calgary, the economic and political ties between the police and the cattle business were also evident. John Herron, a former policeman and one of the region's earliest ranchers, won the riding of Fort Macleod for the Conservatives in 1904.