Yukon who is who

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James Morrow Walsh (1840 -1905)
	
James Walsh was born in Prescott, Upper Canada to Lewis and Margaret Morrow Walsh. He worked at many different jobs before attending training courses offered to militia officers during the Fenian raids of 1866. He received a commission in the 2nd (Ontario) Battalion of Rifles in the Red River expeditionary force during the Red River rebellion but turned it down to marry Mary Elizabeth Mowat.((Roderick C. Macleod, “James Morrow Walsh.” //Dictionary of Canadian Biography,// 2019 website: biographi.ca/en/bio/walsh_james_morrow_13E.html))

Walsh had good connections with the governing Conservative party in Ottawa and in 1973 was offered a commission as superintendent and sub-inspector in the newly organized North-West Mounted Police (NWMP). He helped to recruit members and accompanied them to Winnipeg. He was appointed acting adjutant and riding master and then inspector in the spring of 1874. The following year rank designations changed, and he became a superintendent. In 1875, he was sent to the Cypress Hills in command of B Division at a post he was allowed to name for himself. Fort Walsh because the most important western post for the next seven years as Walsh managed to keep the peace when Sitting Bull and a thousand Sioux settled in Canada. American newspapers called him “Sitting Bull’s boss.”((Roderick C. Macleod, “James Morrow Walsh.” //Dictionary of Canadian Biography,// 2019 website: biographi.ca/en/bio/walsh_james_morrow_13E.html))

Walsh was soon suspected of encouraging Sitting Bull to stay in Canada, although the Canadian government wished him to leave. Walsh was transferred to Fort Qu’Appelle, Saskatchewan in 1880, then sent on leave to Brockville, and only returned to Fort Walsh after Sitting Bull returned to the States. Two years later, Walsh was forced to resign after it became known that he had a child with a Blackfoot woman and relationships with Sioux women. Walsh moved to Winnipeg and was involved in the coal business and became a friend of Clifford Sifton. When the Liberals came to power in 1896, Walsh wrote to Prime Minister Wilfred Laurier to explain why the NWMP should be reduced in size. In 1897, the police were very involved in keeping peace during the Klondike gold rush.((Roderick C. Macleod, “James Morrow Walsh.” //Dictionary of Canadian Biography,// 2019 website: biographi.ca/en/bio/walsh_james_morrow_13E.html))
	
In 1897, the federal Minister of the Interior, Clifford Sifton, appointed Walsh as the senior official in the new Yukon Judicial District. His title was Chief Executive and Commissioner of the Yukon Territory within the Northwest Territories, but his position was precarious. Walsh was not named Lieutenant Governor of the Northwest Territories as that position was already adequately filled to perform other necessary duties, and the Yukon Territory had no supporting legislation until the Yukon Act was passed in 1898.((Linda Johnson, //At the Heart of Gold: The Yukon Commissioner’s Office 1898-2010.// Legislative Assembly of Yukon, 2012: 10)) Walsh was given authority over all government officials and the police in the Yukon district, and he had the power to amend the regulations issued by the Governor in Council. However, he spent the winter enroute [at Big Salmon] and did not arrive in Dawson until 21 May 1898, nine months after his appointment. He had already decided to submit his resignation.((David Morrison, //The Politics of The Yukon Territory, 1898-1909.// Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1968: 12, 13.))

F.C. Wade, the new Registrar of Land, wrote his friend Sifton that Walsh feared his ability to cope with the Yukon situation. He refused to make important decisions in case they interfered with the work of his successor. He and the police kept good order in the territory, but he was not good at caring for the indigent sick, building and repairing roads, and settling legal disputes between miners. He did nothing to fix problems in the Gold Commissioner’s office or lessen hardships imposed by the mining regulations. He was heard to frequently say that Dawson was a short-lived placer camp, and everyone should make money quickly and leave.((David Morrison, //The Politics of The Yukon Territory, 1898-1909.// Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1968: 12, 13.))
	
In the winter of 1897-98, officials of Canada and the North-West Territories were engaged in a jurisdictional dispute over Yukon liquor licensing. The Executive Council for the territories had responsible government status and claimed that the Lieutenant Governor was obliged to accept the advice of the territorial ministers. Clifford Sifton declared that no permits would be issued until the issues were straightened out. However, a member of the territorial Executive Council was sent to Dawson to collect license fees from hotel and saloon operators. These were previously licensed by the police without fee. When Walsh arrived in Dawson, he ordered drinking establishment to ignore the license fee. The territorial councillor brought a test case to the court, but before a decision was rendered the Canadian government removed Yukon from the authority of the North-West Territories government.((David R. Morrison, //The Politics of the Yukon Territory, 1898-1909.// University of Toronto Press, 1968: 18-19.))  
	
A sequence of events, later called the Dominion Creek scandal, provided the federal Conservatives an opportunity to criticize the Laurier administration. In November 1897, Thomas Fawcett closed Dominion Creek to staking after discovering claim-jumping and errors in the records. In April 1898, prospectors began to stake the hill and bench claims along Dominion, and it was decided to close these new claims as well. A rumour spread that the claims were extremely rich and it was evident that, as soon staking was opened, there would be a stampede. Commissioner Walsh decided to open the creek for staking to those with special permits on 11 July. He then revised his order on July 9 to reserve certain areas for those who had attempted to file claims before staking was closed. Rumours spread that some prospectors were informed of the change on July 8 and rushed to stake claims ahead of the crowd. Complaints reached Prime Minister Laurier but Sifton was able to put off an inquiry into the growing scandal until October when William Ogilvie was appointed commissioner and given the power to investigate the complaints. Walsh’s actions embarrassed the government when it was disclosed that a cook in his employ was one of the early stakers.((David R. Morrison, //The Politics of the Yukon Territory, 1898-1909.// University of Toronto Press, 1968: 14-15.))  
	 
Walsh had to be persuaded to remain until his replacement, William Ogilvie, arrived. Walsh was in ill health and he returned to Brockville where he stayed until his death.((Roderick C. Macleod, “James Morrow Walsh.” //Dictionary of Canadian Biography,// 2019 website: biographi.ca/en/bio/walsh_james_morrow_13E.html))