Discussions

It is ironical that the old Safeway site on Tenth and Victoria is once again to be the location of a Police service. In the 1920’s this location was the site of the Winter Fair Building, and was used as a RCMP horse barn. In the morning of October 30th, 1920 tragedy hit the Mounties when flames raged through the Building. During this stable fire, many of the unsung heroes who often performed ‘above and beyond the call of duty’ lost their lives. During the efforts to save the horses two Royal Canadian Police Officers were injured. When the doomed horses became frightened, they reared up, and so those trying to save them could do nothing. Thirty-one of the horses perished in the inferno. One well trained horse managed to save the man who had gone into the fire to save him. Constable Larkin went into the stable for his mount. He wrapped the reins around his wrist and pulled the horse toward the door. A fireball falling from the roof then struck them. Even though the horse was suffering from serious burns it dragged the unconscious Constable Larkin through the door. Later the horse was put down to prevent it from suffering from its deadly burns.  
The stable disaster in Brandon was not the first time the Mounties faced fire in one of their stables. Earlier that year the Regina riding school also went up in flames, this was at a time when the Federal Police Force was moving toward motorized patrols. They were still using horses on some patrols, but they then had a mechanized fleet of 33 vehicles and 28 motorcycles. The history of man and horse in the RCMP is so much a part of Canada that they will always be linked in the minds of officers and in the public imagination, and its memory is kept alive with the “Musical Ride”  
The first Mounties were called the North West Mounted Police and they came west in 1874. They endured a heroic march on which every man was dependent upon his horse, which were forced to suffer more from exhaustion and starvation than did the men they were partnered with. A second travesty for the Mounted Police, which threatened the lives of man and beast, was in 1898 on Inspector J. D. Moodie’s exploratory expedition from Edmonton to the Yukon. All thirty horses perished from exhaustion and so the dogs were fed horsemeat, which allowed the men to survive. A third case of hardship and death of Mountie horses was from 1905 to 1907 during the construction of the Peace-Yukon trail. This all-Canadian road would link Northern communities. Again the conditions were unbearable, and by September of 1906, many of their horses had died. In the summer of 1907 an additional 129 miles, (208 km) of the Peace-Yukon road was built. During the process of this impossible effort another 26 horses died. In the early days, the horse and Mountie were inseparable: this relationship was crucial in providing service to the large isolated areas of the west in difficult terrain and bitter weather. During these times officers have rescued their mounts and likewise mounts have rescued their Mounties. The loss of horses in the fire at the Winter Fair Building was deeply felt by the men who daily worked with the animals, and the legacy of horses working for the Mounties and the country must never be forgotten.  
 
Source: Help, Faye Holt.  
 
http://www.calverley.ca/Part13-Peace%20Keeping/13-13.html  
 
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