9.
Border Stories
Communities that hug the border with our neighbour to the south always
have some special characteristics. They may serve as points of entry
with all the legal and jurisdictional issues that accompany the
role. Smuggling can be an issue. Cross border crime can occur.
There are therefore law enforcement issues that set them apart from
other villages. On the positive side, such communities are in a
position to have more of a working and social relationship with folks
from across the line. The owners of a few businesses in both Wakopa and
Bannerman were Americans.
On the days of the fur trade, the border was just a theoretical
concept. Trade and commerce was carried on without a thought for which
country owned the land. It was irrelevant in that the governments of
both Canada and the U.S. didn’t maintain a presence in this remote part
of their respective territories. In fact, it wasn’t until the mid
1800’s that they even decided exactly where the border would be in some
areas. The Boundary Commission in 1873 started the process of actually
surveying the agreed upon 49th parallel that separates the western part
of our two nations. In short, west of Emerson, the border was largely
ignored until the land was surveyed and allotted to homesteaders.
Even after the line was marked, and Ports of Entry were established,
first on railway lines, then on highways, border communities on each
side travelled quite freely. The border town of St. John’s ND, the site
of the connection between the Brandon, Saskatchewan and Hudson’s Bay
Railway and its American, Great Northern counterpart, named the trail
they’ve established on the abandoned rail bed, the “Wakopa Trail”.
![](9border/StJohnND11.jpg)
Law Enforcement
Police services began in this area in 1885. A request for protection
had been made on behalf of the settlers by the Attorney General and a
detachment of North West Mounted Police was temporarily
sanctioned "for the present and until a local force is formed".
At that time it wasn’t the purpose of the Mounted Police provide local
law enforcement. A small force was distributed at Manitou, Wakopa,
Deloraine and Sourisford. In fact no cases of horse stealing occurred
summer. This patrol did not return the following year.
The Nor’Wester – July 24,
1884
![](9border/84.08.08WDSWaklopaNWMPHorse.jpg)
The Nor’Wester – Aug. 8,
1884
In 1888, to stop horse
thieves from raiding settlers' farms, a
detachment of one commissioned officer and twenty-four men was formed
to patrol the border to the south from 1885 to 1890. Although these men
often boarded in the villages, they had a cabin and a stable on a point
of land running out from the north shore of Lake William. This was an
ideal spot to check the trails through the Mountain. They effectively
stopped the horse thieves and those poaching wood and timber. Several
teams were seized and sold at auction.
Later the detachments were stationed on trails leading from N. Dakota
to Crystal City, Cartwright, Wakopa, Killarney, Holmfield, Boissevain
and Deloraine. One man remained at the detachment while another was on
patrol. These detachments were withdrawn in 1894 and not re-established
until 1916.
They were a comfort to settlers, as pioneer James Burgess
reported: “One thing that I remember well was when I was herding
the cattle on the prairie. I happened to look up towards the west and
there coming down the trail were a lot of red coated Mounted Police on
their ponies. It gave me such a scare I Soon rounded up the cattle and
hurried them home.”
The Metis uprising in Saskatchewan in 1885 did raise a concern.
A pioneer remembers that: “Sam Kellam, Bill Barber, John Barber and
another fellow by the name of McFayden were sworn in as border wardens
by the R.N.W.M. Police to prevent Indians from North Dakota from
joining the Riel uprising. They were paid a salary and were given
powers to call anyone into service should assistance be needed. They
had to report each week to the Pembina Police Detachment concerning any
incidents, and were assured a quantity of Long Tom guns (British L.A.
1860 issue) with ample ammunition. The guns and ammunition were stored
in La Riviere's trading post and grist mill.”
The fighting was many miles away, involved only a very small group of
people, and with the benefit of hindsight we know that any escalation
of that conflict was unlikely. But the settlers in rural Manitoba
didn’t know that.
Accepted wisdom today tells us that the native populations across the
west almost unanimously refused to have anything to do with the Riel
uprising, and populations in the U.S. had their own battles to worry
about.
But local officials and media raised the “threat level.” Home Guard
Companies were formed across the province. Some old timers have
reported that border-area homesteaders were given Enfield rifles with
bayonets on them.
The “Rebellion” was over quickly, and although life in the new prairie
settlements was able to return to normal, people felt vulnerable for a
time.
That was understandable given recent history. Our proximity to the
United States had made settlers aware of events there that were much
more deadly than anything experienced here in Canada. The uprising of
the Dakota in Minnesota led by Little Crow in 1862 had left hundreds of
settlers dead and many communities ruined. At the time, groups of
Dakota Santee, most likely innocent in the matter, had settled in the
Turtle Mountain area, and many were still in the region. More recently
the defeat of Custer at Little Big Horn had caught everyone’s attention
and some refugees from that conflict had also found their way to
Manitoba. Settlers were well aware of these events.
![](9border/PoliceForceMap1890.jpg)
The
Nor’Wester – April 11, 1894
This
report from the Daily Nor’Wester shows that by 1894, border
security was becoming less of a priority. The transportation links
provided by good rail links made the whole area feel less isolated.
Police could be dispatched much more readily in case of any trouble.
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