Publisher's Synopsis
Rusty always had the goal of becoming a commissioned officer, and this book covers how and why he comes up through the ranks from sergeant and then to staff sergeant and after that achieving his final goal of becoming an inspector.
During the nine years in which this book takes place, not only was Rusty rising quickly through the ranks of the North West Mounted Police, but the North-West Territories and the Dominion of Canada were changing just as quickly. The original function of the Mounties was to keep the peace in the North-West Territories before large numbers of immigrants came into the west. Rusty and his comrades found that as their role regarding the Native population decreased, the need to protect and enforce laws with regards to the incoming settlers increased.
Yet, the frontier role of the North West Mounted Police did not go away altogether. Rusty found himself sent to help to enforce the jurisdiction and sovereignty of the Dominion of Canada in the Klondike region of the Yukon Territory. He also helped to define the international boundary between the United Sates and Canada within the far North and above the Arctic Circle with regards to the Yukon and Alaska Territories, respectively. This last case of fronter enforcement gave Inspector Rusty the needed seniority to be appointed a superintendent in 1895.
On a personal level, Rusty unofficially trained a new generation of Mounties, often using his earlier training as a "Boy Mountie" to his advantage. While a sergeant, Rusty met Constable Murdoch in 1887 and Constables R.B. Cross and William Cody in 1888. Later on, as a staff sergeant, Rusty had to retrain Sergeant James Fitzjames-Cozier in 1889 and Constable Hitchcock in 1890. When Rusty became an inspector in 1891, he finally had to train and, to a certain extent, look out for Constable McLeod, who was the last of the new generation of Mounties.
These stories occur from 1886 - 1895. It took approximately two years for Rusty to go from a sergeant to a staff sergeant. He was appointed to the rank of inspector in 1891 before finally being appointed to his last rank of superintendent in 1895. So, join Rusty and the Mounties as they have many new challenges and adventures in the North-West Territories, both in Western and Northern Canada.
"From the United States, Great Britain, Europe and old Canada, the West will be built and settled by a large industrious and civilized race of people, that will add to the strength and the dignity of this Dominion of Canada."- Sir. John A. Macdonald.
