Bears, Wolves & Mounties.
New writers created exciting Stories of the West and North!
Bears, Wolves & Mounties: The Northwestern Genre & Pulp writers.
Jack London created the Northwestern Genre in 1903 with the publication of his novel THE CALL OF THE WILD. The genre thrived for the first half of the 20th Century.
In 1907, Robert W Service saw his The Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses published. Like Jack London, Robert Service lived in the Canadian Klondike. He based his popular ballads on his own adventures and local stories: “The Shooting of Dan McGrew,” “The Cremation of Sam McGee” and “Clancy of the Mounted Police.” Service earned the epithet “The Bard of the Yukon.” With memorable lines like “There are strange things done in the midnight sun. By the men who moil for gold…”
The Northwestern Genre was defined.
A number of great Pulp Writers followed Jack and Robert’s lead…
…quickly gaining an international following with their own thrilling adventures set in the savage Northcountry.
Countless magazines, novels and movies appeared. Northwestern writers told the gripping stories of bold adventurers (often scarlet-coated Mounties), fiercely independent women, loyal sled dogs, wild wolves and that almost mythic Northcountry.
Dog stories. Besides London’s heroic Buck and White Fang, James Oliver Curwood gave us Kazan the wolfdog and Baree, son of Kazan. And Jack O’Brien released SILVER CHIEF: Dog of the North. O’Brien told the story of a legendary husky-wolf mix and his bond with a North-West Mounted Police Sergeant.
And bears, of course.
I knew some black bears. In my younger wanderings through our own Northern Appalachian forests, I had met them.
My fave books include James Oliver Curwood’s GRIZZLY KING and Walt Morey’s GENTLE BEN.
And the classic short story “The Bear that Thought He Was a Dog” by Sir Charles G D Roberts.
Roberts created the Realistic Animal Story. Which meant that a lot of his tales ended as they do in the real wilderness — tragically. But not this story (Left) of Woof, the Bear that thought he was a Dog! Read More.
And Stalwart Mounties brought Law and Justice to the vast Canadian Northwest.
For more about the North-West Mounted Police in Pulp Fiction Magazines, see My Complete Web-Archived Post Mounties, Wolves & Pulp Writers: North-West Stories and A De Herries Smith
If You are interested in Bears, Wolves & Mounties, you have gotta see:
“THE WRITERS OF THE NORTH-WEST MOUNTED POLICE” — MY MOST POPULAR LITERARY HISTORY POST!
“Thanks for a wonderful in-depth article on Mountie fiction. I’m a big fan of the Mounties and I really enjoyed the amount of details you provided and found many, many more books to put on my wish list.” Jack Wagner, creator of Mon Legionnaire
“I just discovered your blog recently and need to dig deeper into it. That post on Mountie fiction is great!” Western writer James Reasoner
An extensive look at the writers who created the magnificent Mythology of our North-West Mounted Police. I have picked my Top 10 Mountie Fiction Writers in some detail — and a look at many other authors. Amply illustrated with marvelous magazine and book covers. READ MY ARCHIVED ARTICLE ==> The GREATEST AUTHORS OF NORTH-WEST MOUNTED POLICE FICTION.
Why were the North-West Mounted Police established?
In 1867, Scotsman John A Macdonald saw the triumph of his long labours. He had fought hard for the confederation of Canada, an independent “Dominion under God.”
The North-West Mounted Police were created by Prime Minister MacDonald in 1873 to protect the First Nations from white whiskey traders’ incursions.
The Mounties’ Motto “Maintain the Right” was of Biblical origin: Psalm 82:3.
Psalm 82:3 commanded judges, who took their oaths before God, to act justly and protect the vulnerable.
“Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.” It called for defending the rights of the undefended. It emphasized the importance of social justice and maintaining their rights in the legal system. Do the Right Thing, eh?
Macdonald disliked the British concept of “Law and Order.” He spoke about the Scottish concept of “Law and Justice” in Parliament. And made it an essential part of the North-West Mounted Police Act.
For the History of our Mounties, See “Canadian Mounted Police – Fort Whoop-Up, Five Thousand Outlaws and the Great March West…” ARCHIVED at Canadian Mounties: Creation & History of the Royal Mounted Police.
From THE RED SERGE: Stories of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police written by Harwood Steele:
He was as tough as his own huskies.
A fact he’d taught most of the North through years of doings like those concerned with the murder of Siwash Pratt. But the greeting words of Constable Tavistock foreshadowed his having to take a man described as “gone crazy” five hundred dog-sled miles to hospital, in the year’s worst travel season — though he was tired and strung up after a long, hard trip, sick of “lunatic patrols,” longing for the settlement’s Christmas party.
So he groaned, yet merely asked, “Violent?”
For more works of Harwood Steele, see TO EFFECT AN ARREST: Adventures of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police by Harwood Steele – Book Review
“Live Free, Mon Ami!” – Brian Alan Burhoe
