Four Months Under Arms

              Page 6

Convert Fort Into Barracks

The operator and the two clerks, Joe D, Hanifin and Harold were made prisoners, and confined in a cellar, Hilyard Mitchell operated a store at Duck Lake village, and he also owned a large farm about two and a half miles north of the village, and along the road to Fort Carlton, He was at his farm the night of the 18th and was told that the rebels intended to loot his store the next morning. So he went to Carlton and notified the police. Ross, FORT CARLTON

During the winter of 1884 and 85 a force of carpenters from Prince Albert had been employed converting the buildings of the Hudson's Bay Company post at Fort Carlton into barracks to accommodate a troop of N.W.M.P. This work had been completed during February. 1885, and F troop of police, with the exception of a couple of small detachments at outlying points were stationed there under the command of Superintendent N. F. Crozier. The usual high stock2de of logs which surrounded all Hudson Bay pos~ was still intact. and inclosed approximately three acres, with bastions at each corner, and there was a small brass cannon in the N. E. bastion. The post had bccn built on the south side of the North Saskatchewan river, at a puint where the river took a wide bend to the north. It was posEible to sec a long distance both up and down tre river. The bank of the river was low, and a flat extended back to a higher level bench. The lower flat was covered with a dense growth of sma!] poplar and willow, while the higher bench was clear of all bush, and approximately 150 acres of level prairie. This flat extended south to the foot of a very steep and high hill, to the level prairie above, which was reached by a long side hill road. At the top of the hill the road branched. One road going south towards Duck Lake and the other easterlv to

Prince

Albert.
CALL FOR REINFORCEMENTS

'

Joe McKay, a native of Kildonan of Scotch parentage, and a resident of Prince Albert, had been employed as interpreter for the Mounted Police at Fort Carlton, was sent to Prince Albert, to enlist about 20 men as volunteers, and arrived there the 20th of March, at 12 p.m. Our bachelor quarters werc near the livery stable where Joe had left his horse, and knowing us well, he came over for a night's lodging, and when he explained his mission, Geo. Cockrill and I told him to put our names on his list. On Friday, the 21st he secured 22 volunteers, and had them sworn in before Lt.-CoI. Sproat. He hired five teams for transport the morning of the 22nd and we left for Fort Carlton, and reached there at midnight. The most tragic event of this enlistment was that of Capt. Morton, who had driven in from his farm a few miles east of town to do his Saturday shopping. He enlisted, and his team was hired for transport, His family never saw him alive again, as he was killed at Duck Lake.