Policing the Great Plains: Rangers, Mounties, and the North American Frontier, 1875-1910

In the late nineteenth century, the Texas Rangers and Canada's North-West Mounted Police were formed to bring the resource-rich hinterlands at either end of the Great Plains under governmental control. Native and rural peoples often found themselves squarely in the path of this westward expansion and the law enforcement agents that led the way. Though separated by nearly two thousand miles, the Rangers and Mounties performed nearly identical functions, including subjugating Indigenous groups; dispossessing peoples of mixed ancestry; defending the property of big cattlemen; and policing industrial disputes. Yet the means by which the two forces achieved these ends sharply diverged; while the Rangers often relied on violence, the Mounties usually exercised restraint, a fact that highlights some of the fundamental differences between the U.S. and Canadian Wests. Policing the Great Plains presents the first comparative history of the two most famous constabularies in the world. Andrew R. Graybill is an assistant professor of history at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX.

Author: Andrew R. Graybill
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
Published: 11/01/2007
Pages: 293
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.89lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.42w x 0.59d
ISBN: 9780803260023

About the Author
Andrew R. Graybill is an assistant professor of history at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.