First Musical Ride

"Pride" & the Birth of the Northwest Mounties' Musical Ride

The Force

In May 1873, the Parliament of Canada established a central police force, and sent 150 recruits west to Manitoba. In July 1874, the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP), numbering 275 members, marched west, headed for southern Alberta, where American whisky traders were operating among the Aboriginal people. In 1904 King Edward V11 conferred the title of "Royal" to the North-West Mounted Police (RNWMP). In February 1920, the force was merged with the Dominion Police, a federal force with jurisdiction in Eastern Canada. The merged force's name became the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), and headquarters was moved to Ottawa from Regina.

The Ride

From its inception, the North-West Mounties relied on skilled riders to carry out police duties across the Prairies. To break the monotony of endless riding drills, members of the Force commonly competed amongst themselves and performed tricks on horseback.

In 1913, Sergeant-Major Griffin of Regina, during his regular rounds as riding master, discovered many men in the riding school whose ability would qualify them for the best of cavalry regiments. Griffin himself had been a contestant in the Olympic games, and he found several others who had likewise been contestants. It was therefore suggested that 1914 be marked by grouping some of the best riders together in an exhibition of the Musical Ride. April 17th, 1914 saw the newly organized Musical Ride perform in Edmonton Alberta at the stock pavilion which was later to become the Edmonton Gardens.

The following officers and enlisted men were selected for this inaugural exhibition: Officer-In-Command Sergeant-Major Griffin; Ringmaster Inspector Proby; Riders Corporal Vanderlip, Constables James, Jeffries, Reed, Wilson, Pepler, Spurgeon, Noakes, Pitts, Watson, Lewis, Brocke, Harper; Off Men Constables Foster and Pope; Music by Trumpeter Olson.

August 8th, 1914 saw the British Empire's declaration of WW1 thus ending the Musical Ride until resumed in 1921. Members of our cavalry entered the war zones in Europe, many giving their lives for the freedom that we Canadians enjoy today.

The Colour Photo

Edmonton was a wild & wooly boomtown in 1912, and amidst all the organized chaos was a venturesome pioneer photographer named Hugo Viewegar. Hugo was a German, who, seeing the inevitability of WW1 looming on the horizon, emigrated to Canada in 1912 and established his "Viewegar Studio". He soon became highly respected by the newspapers as well as the general public and was commissioned as the official photographer at the newly established Government House.

True colour photography was actually possible at the time, but not available in Canada. The Lumiere Bros. of Lyon France introduced their patented "Autochrome" process in Paris in 1907. An intricate and expensive photographic art. Hugo attended and learned the process first hand from the Lumiere Bros. He later had some autochrome plates in his possession when he came to Canada.

Once alerted, Viewegar recognized the historical significance of the inaugural exhibition of the Royal North-West Mounties' Musical ride, so, in addition to his photo coverage for the Western Standard News (above illustrated), he arranged for a private session with one rider and his mount, where he captured a colour Autochrome for his own private collection. This photo is now justifiably acknowledged as being not only the oldest, but the one and only true colour photo in existence of a Royal Northwest Mounted Police member, prior to the forming of the one national force, now the RCMP. Enormous historical value.

This colour reproduction is exactly as the original appears today - no manipulation or re-touch. Lumiere Bros. Autochromes (1907-1930), the birth of colour photography, were intricate and delicate. Strangely, they owed their existence to the humble potato. Layered between two glass plates, microscopically ground potato starch with added colour emulsions in perfect proportions made it possible. Once properly time exposed, they produced colour portraits as resonant and luminous as have ever been captured by the camera. Given their organic composition, each and every Autochrome was an individual work of art, and could not be manipulated or re-touched in any manner. Having been passed down through his family, technology now allows us to reproduce this photo on Giclee Canvas ready hang and display. The edition is strictly copyright and limited, each numbered & signed by Viewegar's grandson with Certificate of Authenticity.

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