Pioneers of the Klondyke

[In 1895 a group of miners seized a claim near Fortymile in lieu of unpaid wages, and gave it to the unpaid workers. This was contrary to Canadian law, and men from the first detachment of Mounted Police in the Yukon went to enforce the law].

Thereupon a party of twelve of us, armed with Lee-Metfords [rifles] and prepared for all possible contingencies (for no one could foretell how the matter would end, or in what spirit we should be received), went up Forty Mile [creek] to Glacier. I suppose we presented a formidable appearance with our rank and file and our magazine rifles, or perhaps the wrong-doers were beginning to realize that their action had been unjustifiable, for we experienced no resistance of any kind. We warned those in possession off the claim under penalty, and formally handed it to the original owner. We had not to make a single arrest, and after informing every one at the creek that such a proceeding was not legal and must not occur again, we simply marched back to head-quarters, and thus the whole business, which might easily have grown to alarming proportions, closed peacefully and satisfactorily. . . . No ill-will was born us for our share in the proceedings, and I think that every one was in his heart glad to feel that there was a force in the land that would protect his individual rights and those of others.