Saturday, August 06, 2005

Jackpot

Drove into Fort Macleod and headed for the Union Cemetery, down a gravel road. Sure enough the grave of Constable George Ernest Willmett is here and there is an added bonus - a photograph on a poster! I've been searching for a photo of GEW for three years and now hopefully can obtain a copy. I wonder if I'm the first family member to visit the gravesite in nearly a century. We also photograph the old RNWMP barracks on the outskirts of town - shortly to open as a heritage site.
To the Daisy May campground for overnight stop. Annette makes pasta and we sip a beer with Syd and Pat in their fifth-wheel.
Next morning to the Museum of the Northwest Mounted Police. They have the photograph of Constable Willmett originally deposited at the courthouse in Fort Macleod in 1912 in the case of Rex vs. Eberts. I am elated.
We proceed to the courthouse, built in 1902, and scene of the epic court battle in 1912. We head north for Nanton, via Claresholm and Stavely (where Reuben Steeves was drowned). Lunch at Aunt Alma's Country Kitchen - highly recommended home cooking. We are in grain elevator country where people ride horses and drive pickup trucks.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

well done for finding the grave of Constable Willmett.
Andy Willmett Thomas.