James Morrow Walsh
Encyclopedia
Commissioner
Commissioner is in principle the title given to a member of a commission or to an individual who has been given a commission ....
of the Yukon Territory.
Born in Prescott, Ontario
Prescott, Ontario
Prescott is a town of approximately 4,180 people on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River in Leeds and Grenville United Counties, Ontario, Canada. The Ogdensburg-Prescott International Bridge, 5 km east of Prescott in Johnstown, connects it with Ogdensburg, New York...
, James Walsh was one of the original officers of the NWMP. Superintendent Walsh was assigned in 1875 to establish a post in the Cypress Hills in what is now Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
. He named it Fort Walsh after himself. The location of the post was determined by the Cypress Hills Massacre
Cypress Hills massacre
The Cypress Hills massacre occurred on June 1, 1873, in the Cypress Hills region of Battle Creek, North-West Territories , involving a group of American Bison hunters, American wolf hunters or 'wolfers', American and Canadian whiskey traders, Métis cargo haulers or 'freighters', and a camp of...
in 1873, an atrocity stemming from the illegal whiskey trade. Walsh's original role was to shut down this trade, but in June 1876 his position grew in importance when several thousand Sioux
Sioux
The Sioux are Native American and First Nations people in North America. The term can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or any of the nation's many language dialects...
crossed the border into Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, taking refuge there after the Battle of Little Big Horn. They settled near the Wood Mountain post in present-day Saskatchewan.
Walsh developed a strong friendship with the famous Sioux leader Sitting Bull
Sitting Bull
Sitting Bull Sitting Bull Sitting Bull (Lakota: Tȟatȟáŋka Íyotake (in Standard Lakota Orthography), also nicknamed Slon-he or "Slow"; (c. 1831 – December 15, 1890) was a Hunkpapa Lakota Sioux holy man who led his people as a tribal chief during years of resistance to United States government policies...
and successfully kept peace in the region. By the summer of 1877, Walsh, although still in command of Fort Walsh, spent little time there. His headquarters became the Wood Mountain post, among Sitting Bull and 5,000 Sioux. During this time, Walsh became famous in the American press as "Sitting Bull's Boss." In reality, Walsh was unable to fulfill his orders to convince Sitting Bull to return to the U.S.. The Canadian government decided that Walsh's friendship with Sitting Bull was an obstacle to the Sioux's return to the United States, and in 1880 he was transferred to Fort Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan
Fort Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan
These figures do not include the substantial population living along the shores of the Fishing Lakes.-Origins:The current site is the third Fort Qu'Appelle. The first was a North West Company trading post , also in the valley but near what is now the Saskatchewan-Manitoba border...
. Soon after, he took health leave and returned to Ontario. He reluctantly resigned his commission three years later.
In August 1897, during the height of the Klondike Gold Rush
Klondike Gold Rush
The Klondike Gold Rush, also called the Yukon Gold Rush, the Alaska Gold Rush and the Last Great Gold Rush, was an attempt by an estimated 100,000 people to travel to the Klondike region the Yukon in north-western Canada between 1897 and 1899 in the hope of successfully prospecting for gold...
, Walsh was appointed Commissioner of the newly-created Yukon Territory. He resigned soon after in 1898 His successor was William Ogilvie
William Ogilvie (surveyor)
William Ogilvie FRGS was a Canadian Dominion land surveyor, explorer and Commissioner of the Yukon Territory....
. He died in Brockville, Ontario
Brockville, Ontario
Brockville is a city in Eastern Ontario, Canada, in the Thousand Islands region. Though it serves as the seat of the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, Brockville is politically independent and is grouped with Leeds and Grenville for census purposes only.Known as the "City of the 1000...
in 1905.
Mount Walsh
Mount Walsh
Mount Walsh is a mountain in Kluane National Park and Reserve in Yukon, Canada.The peak was named after a RCMP superintendent for the Yukon Territory, James Morrow Walsh.-See also:* 4000 metre peaks of Canada* 4000 metre peaks of North America...
, a mountain peak in the Saint Elias Mountains
Saint Elias Mountains
The Saint Elias Mountains are a subgroup of the Pacific Coast Ranges, located in southeastern Alaska in the United States, southwestern Yukon and the very far northwestern part of British Columbia in Canada. The range spans Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve in the USA and Kluane...
in the Yukon is named after him.