and in
gallantry under the Union Jack.

Meanwhile back on the prairie, the Mounted Police were alive to every
movement and much was done to save people from their own overweening
desire to get into the gold country by any route that might show
possibility of success. Thousands had gone in by the front door of the
coast and then over the passes, but a good many tried to enter by the
back door, going by Edmonton and then over the routes that had been
trodden years before by great explorers like Alexander Mackenzie and
Robert Campbell. Hence Commissioner Herchmer thought it wise to send
patrols out over this vast region of the Peace, Athabasca and Mackenzie
rivers in order to prevent the loss of any of these more or less
inexperienced gold-seekers.

The big patrol of that period was made by Inspector J. D. Moodie, who
was sent out from Edmonton on September 4, 1897, to discover the best
route for those who intended to get to the Yukon by the way of the Peace
River and then over the Mountains. Moodie was accompanied by Constable
F. J. Fitzgerald, Lafferty, Tobin and a French half-breed guide Pepin.
They went part of the way with horses, part with dogs and part with
boats. There was endless hardship through difficulty as to supplies and
transportation and this long patrol to Fort Yukon took a year and two
months. Moodie made a detailed report and his complete diary was
published. Some idea of what the patrol involved may be gathered from
the following paragraph in the report: "We arrived at Fort Graham on
January 18, and were then entirely out of supplies for men and dogs.
There was no dog-feed here and very limited supplies in the Hudson's Bay
Store. Hearing that fish could be secured from some lakes about 25 miles
away I next day sent out some of the men to fish with nets through the
ice while others tried their luck after moose. Neither, however, were
successful. I sent out in different directions to find Indian camps
which were supposed to be somewhere within 50 miles of the post. These,
however, could not be located. The dogs were almost starving, the snow
was five feet deep in the bush and no guides to be had. I had therefore
reluctantly to give up all idea of going farther till spring." In spring
a start was again made and Fort Yukon reached as stated in about
fourteen months after leaving Edmonton. Moodie's description of the
route and the difficulties was not such as to encourage anyone else to
try it. In that way