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| Wildhorse Creek Gold Rush |
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The Police ComeI think the actions of my band frightened the residents of Galbraith’s Ferry. I am told that in response Mr. Baker wrote a letter to Ottawa in 1887 asking them to send in Mounted Police to help restore peace. That July Colonel Sam Steele and a group of Northwest Mounted Police arrived in Galbraith’s Ferry. My people and I were weary of what was going to happen.
I was surprised to find that Colonel Steele was a very good man. While he was in town he gained the trust of both the Europeans and my Ktunaxa band. After many long talks Steele finally convinced me to bring the two Ktunaxa prisoners back to Galbraith’s Ferry. He promised me that they would receive fair treatment. He held a trial for them where they were not proven guilty. Colonel Steele said, "It was clear that they knew nothing of the murder." He then set my men free and gave them food and supplies for their trip home. Kapla and Young Isidore had been freed, but there was still the problem of Joseph’s Prairie. I knew that Colonel Steele liked the Ktunaxa people and felt that Joseph’s Prairie was rightfully our land. After all, we had lived there for hundreds of years before European settlers ever came to the area. Even though Colonel Steele was a man of great honour he had to obey his superiors’ orders. It was unfairly decided by the white men that Joseph’s Prairie now belonged to Mr. Baker. Steele came to me one day in sadness to tell me that my people were to be forced off the land. He told me that he thought this was very unfair, but he had to obey his orders:
"By all the laws of right and wrong the place belongs to you [Isadore] and for me to tell you that this place belongs to another is for me most unpleasant."
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