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Detailed Description
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| Related Items: |
 Stampede,
Canadian Illustrated News, 1874 |
 Roche
Percée, Canadian Illustrated News,
1874 |
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Dead Horse Valley, Canadian
Illustrated News
1875, by Henri Julien
Unfortunately, the route chosen by the North-West Mounted
Police for their epic march across the Prairies did
not follow the long-established trails of the Métis.
Instead Commissioner George A. French decided to march
straight west just a few miles north of the international
border. The route passed through the most inhospitable
parts of the country. The heat and the lack of water
and forage soon took its toll on the horses, and later
on the men themselves. By the time the police reached
the western foothills, their uniforms were in rags and
they had lost over a third of their mounts.
[more]
Julien was just 22 years old when he received an
offer to accompany the North-West Mounted Police on
its historic march across the Prairies. He was working
in Montreal as an engraver for the Canadian Illustrated
News, which at the time was Canada's leading pictorial
weekly newspaper. Although photography was well developed
by the 1870s, publishers were unable to reproduce
photographs and text on the same page and relied on
artists and engravers for illustrations to accompany
their articles. Although Julien had been with the
News for only five years before receiving this prestigious
assignment, he already had proven himself a capable
newspaper artist.
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