Jerry Potts – Plainsman

Founded in 1966, the Glenbow-Alberta Institute (now Glenbow Museum) specializes in western Canadian history. The first four volumes published in the Glenbow’s Occasional Paper series were written by Hugh A. Dempsey, archivist – later, curator and director – at the Glenbow. This volume (No. 2) focusses on Jerry Potts (1840-1896), a North-West Mounted Police scout. Dempsey recounts Potts’ life amongst First Nations groups and European traders, then turns to Potts’ engagements with the R.C.M.P. in 1874 and beyond. The booklet stresses Potts’ familiarity and kinship with Indigenous groups as well as his capabilities as a guide as particularly valuable to his R.C.M.P. employers. Throughout, Dempsey selects anecdotes that depict exciting, humorous, and violent events in Potts’ life in the North-West.