Outside was a bizarre hotel sign--a revolver pointed at a man's skull and the cryptic wording "No Jawbone". It was Kamooses' rendition of "In God we Trust- all others Cash" The hotel rules pasted on the wall in the lobby were indictive of the times:
Guests are fobidden to strike matches or spit on the ceiling, or to sleep with their spiked boots and spurs on.
Meals served in rooms will not be guaranteed in any way. Our waiters are hungry and not above temptation.
To attract attention of waiters or bellboys, shoot a hole through the door panel. Two shots for ice water, three for a deck of cards and so on.
All guests are required to arise at 6 am. This is imperative as the sheets are needed for tableclothes.
A deposit must be made before towels, soap or candles can be carried to rooms. When boarders are leaving, a rebate will be made on all candles, or parts of candles not burned or eaten.
No kicking, regarding the quality or quantity of meals, allowed. Assaults on the cook are prohibited.
Quarrelsome persons, also those who shoot off, without provocation, guns or other explosive weapons, and all boarders who get killed, will not be allowed to remain in the hotel.
When guests find themselves or their baggage thrown over the fence, they may consider that they have received notice to leave.
John Healy was the manager of the rowdiest of all the trading posts, peddling rotgut whiskey to Alberta's Blackfoot Indians. However, in 1873, 13 of Healy's whiskey runners drank their own hootch, shot and killed at least 30 Assiniboine Indians at Cypress Hill, Saskatchewan. The Hudson's Bay Company complained and even J.A. MacDonald rose up in the House of Commons to condemn the "whiskey sodden" American brigands.
To preserve western Canada for Canadians, he suggested that corps of militia be sent out west. So was born the North West Mounted Police. Their forts were the beginnings of present day Fort McCleod and Calgary. This signalled the end of Healy's whiskey running and one of his men,rather than leaving, built a two story hotel near Fort McCleod's barracks.
-taken from The Taming of the Canadian West-by Frank Rasky. 1967
