William Dempster
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William John Duncan Dempster (21 October 1876 – 25 October 1964) was a member of the
North-West Mounted Police The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) was a Canadian para-military police force, established in 1873, to maintain order in the new Canadian North-West Territories (NWT) following the 1870 transfer of Rupert’s Land and North-Western Territory ...
(NWMP) in the
Yukon Territory Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...
during the early 20th century. He gained notice for his involvement in finding the Lost Patrol, three NWMP officers and an ex-NWMP officer/guide who disappeared on the trail between
Fort McPherson Fort McPherson was a U.S. Army military base located in Atlanta, Georgia, bordering the northern edge of the city of East Point, Georgia. It was the headquarters for the U.S. Army Installation Management Command, Southeast Region; the U.S. Ar ...
and Dawson City in the winter of 1910–11. The Dempster Highway in northern Canada is named for him.


Early life and career

Dempster was born in
Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
on 21 October 1876. He emigrated to Canada as a young man. In 1897, he joined the North-West Mounted Police and was posted to the Yukon the following year. He served in various communities in the north for the next ten years. In 1907, he began participating in the annual mid-winter
dog sled A dog sled or dog sleigh is a sled pulled by one or more sled dogs used to travel over ice and through snow. Numerous types of sleds are used, depending on their function. They can be used for dog sled racing. Traditionally in Greenland and the e ...
mail patrols between the NWMP detachments in Dawson City and Fort McPherson, a trip of through the wilderness.


The Lost Patrol

In the winter of 1910–11, the mail patrol was commanded by Inspector Francis Joseph Fitzgerald. The patrol included Fitzgerald, Constables George Kinney and Richard Taylor, and former constable Samuel Carter as guide. They left Fort McPherson on December 21, 1910. The time required for the trip depended heavily on the weather; previous patrols had taken as few as 14 days and as many as 56 for the one-way journey. Fitzgerald took enough supplies for 30 days and may have been seeking to set a new speed record for the trip. Weather conditions on the trail were poor, with heavy snow and low temperatures. Carter, who had only traveled the route in the opposite direction, was not able to find the path through the Richardson Mountains. In late December, the patrol encountered local Kutchin families but Fitzgerald did not choose to hire one as a guide. Conditions worsened after January 3, with temperatures averaging and strong winds. On January 12, with only nine days food remaining, they were still lost. Fitzgerald was determined to continue, and it was not until January 18 that they turned back to Fort McPherson. When the patrol failed to arrive in Dawson City by late February 1911, Corporal Dempster was dispatched with Constables J.F. Fyfe and F. Turner and First Nations guide Charlie Steward to find and rescue them. They departed Dawson on February 28. Dempster was initially confident of finding the patrol, given Fitzgerald's experience in the north. Dempster's patrol soon found evidence of trouble, including abandoned dog harnesses and gear, and campsites that showed Fitzgerald's patrol had lost their way. They later found parts of dog carcasses which indicated that the lost men had resorted to eating their sled animals. On March 22 and 23, the bodies of the four missing men were discovered from Fort McPherson. Dempster's patrol continued to Fort McPherson and then returned to Dawson City. On the return to Dawson, Dempster set a new record, covering the distance in 11 days.


Later career

After the loss of Fitzgerald's patrol, the NWMP tasked Dempster with making the patrol route safer. He worked on this through 1912 and 1913, making trail markers and building supply caches and shelters. Dempster continued to lead the winter patrols for several years, establishing several speed records, including 14 days in 1920. He was able to achieve his patrols safely, avoiding unnecessary risks and employing local First Nations guides when required. In 1917, he was asked to find a route from the Porcupine River to Dawson that did not cross
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
territory. He was able to find a route within three weeks through unexplored parts of the
Ogilvie Mountains The Ogilvie Mountains are a mountain range in the Yukon Territory of northwestern Canada. Geologically they are part of the Yukon Ranges, in the upper Laramide Belt of the North American Cordillera. Geography The range lies north of Dawson Ci ...
. First Nations he encountered on the way stated their surprise when his party appeared, saying: "this trail has never been travelled over by white men or Indians, although different parts are travelled by different Indians". The difficulty of the terrain meant that no other patrols were sent on the same route. He eventually reached the rank of Inspector, retiring from the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...
(successor to the NWMP) in 1934. At his retirement he was considered to be "the best trail man in the Yukon". Dempster married Catherine Smith in 1926. They had one son and one daughter. Dempster died October 25, 1964, at the age of 88. Shortly before his death, he was advised that the highway being constructed from Dawson to Aklavik would be named in his honour. The Dempster Highway, eventually routed to
Inuvik Inuvik (''place of man'') is the only town in the Inuvik Region, and the third largest community in Canada's Northwest Territories. Located in what is sometimes called the Beaufort Delta Region, it serves as its administrative and service cen ...
instead of Aklavik, opened in 1979.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dempster, William 1876 births 1964 deaths Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers Welsh emigrants to Canada