"Cows Sniff Out Clues To Solve a Murder"

The tale below was copied from the May 22nd, 1973, Regina Leader-Post. The paper had an insert celebrating the 100th anniversary of the mounted police, at that time. My subject line was the headline used for this article.

I have, thus far, been unable to locate Sgt. Anderson's first name. Too bad, I would have loved to give credit where it's due!

Commando #4973: Mountie Hunter

Mountie Drew Fraser and Ross McKinley were partners and best friends. But when Drew enlisted in the Canadian Army, Ross was left behind.

However, Mountie life was far from quiet for Ross as the destruction of the war in Europe had extended its deathly claw all the way to Canada. Trains and supply lines were being targeted with ruthless precision, destroying vital supplies for the Allies. So ruthless in fact it spelt only one thing – sabotage!

Hunting the German spies would push Drew to the edge and force him to make the ultimate sacrifice. But a Mountie always gets his man...

So reads the solicitation text for the issue of Commando below. 

Commando being war-themed magazine dating back to the early 60s, I had not expected to come across a story involving the RCMP in its catalogue. Indeed, looking at this specific issue on Commando's website, no other book was revealed from clicking the "Mountie" tag included in its listing.

The issue has a publishing date of November 2016. I purchased the digital version for the Kindle. The story begins in 1940 and tells the tale of two friends on the force over the course of the next five years or so. It was written by Alan Hebden, drawn by Vicente Alcazar, and its cover is the work of Janek Matysiak. 

It doesn't break any new ground, and as the two join the military we get away from the Mountie adventure aspect for the most part. Since the war stories are Commando's stock and trade , that's hardly surprising.

Character development is not a key goal, either, since Commando has rarely used the same ones in multiple tales anyway. Several pages in, you'd still be hard-pressed to tell Ross and Drew apart.

Still, it's entertaining enough, and since Mountie fiction is difficult to come by these days, relatively speaking, it's a solid addition to a collection. 

Canmore NWMP Barracks

What follows is a partial copy from the Travel Alberta website in reference to a tourist attraction. I like to store these things in the event that a site is updated and some of the material modified or removed.

The Northwest Mounted Police barracks, built in 1893, is Canmore's third oldest building after the Canmore Hotel and the Ralph Connor Memorial Church.

The two Mounties stationed at Canmore constructed the barracks from logs cut with dovetail notches and chinking mixed from mud and straw. The Mounties also added an open veranda that was not part of the approved plan. Finally, they built a barn and a corral for their horses.

Inside, the barracks included a jail, two bedrooms, an office, and a kitchen. Usually, the Canmore barracks were home to only one member of the NWMP at a time, occasionally two.

In 1918, Corporal Charles H. Clarke moved into the barracks with his wife, Dora, and their five children. The Clarkes built an addition on the east side of the building in 1923 with a sitting room and another bedroom to better accommodate the family. The barracks are maintained as it was when the Clarkes lived there.

The NWMP abandoned the barracks in 1929. The Department of Interior, which held the lease, at first rented the barracks but then sold them in 1931. The Town of Canmore bought the barracks in 1989, and a year later, the Alberta government declared it a provincial historic resource.