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Obituary -
Port Dover Native
Led Colorful Life
The colorful life of P. D. Walker, Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, aged 80 years, a veteran fur trader who "rode the range" in the days of a fenceless west, trekked over the old Pembina trail to the Yukon in 1898 in search of gold, and donned the N.W.M.P. uniform in the 1885 Riel Rebellion, ended in hospital in Prince Albert, early in December.
Mr. Walker was well-known in the fur trade of Western Canada and the north, having been actively associated with it since he joined the Revillon Freres Trading Company at Edmonton 45 years ago. Still extremely active despite his age, he was acting as fur buyer for the Hudson's Bay Company at the time of his death. He died a few hours after being admitted to hospital Friday afternoon.
For a number or years Mr. Walker was post manager for Reveillon Freres at Athabaska Landing and in 1917 went to Prince Albert as district manager of the company. When the firm was taken over by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1936 he continued with the latter company as fur buyer, a field in which he had established a reputation as an expert.
Born near Port Dover, Ont., in 18[65], the son of Dr. N. O. Walker, a widely-known physician in his day, and Mrs. Walker, he went west to MacLeod, Alberta, then Northwest Territories, in 1884. For a number of years he rode the range both in Western Canada and Montana. During the Riel Rebellion of 1885 he joined the Mounted Police as a special constable.
During the 1898 gold rush Mr. Walker joined a party of prospectors going to the Yukon via the old Pembina route north from Edmonton. Suffering great hardships and running out of supplies the party was unable to reach its goal and returned to Edmonton some months after starting out. Keenly interested in politics, he was a staunch Conservative throughout his life.
Surviving are one son, Col. D. E. Walker, D.S.O., Saskatoon, who commanded the Saskatoon Light Infantry in the Second Great War; two daughters, Mrs. F. L. Dupre and Mrs. W. L. Davis, both of Prince Albert; one sister, Mrs. Robert Tyrrell, Toronto; one brother, George Wallace, Idaho and six grandsons. This wife predeceased him in 1926. The late Mrs. Joseph Smythe, Lynn Valley, was a sister. J. B. Tyrrell, the well-known Toronto mining engineer and explorer is a cousin.
The funeral service was held in St. Alban's Cathedral, Prince Albert.
[Compiler's Comment: On 22 Oct 2007 we received an email from Robert Mutrie that said: Philip was 12 in the 1881 Census of Port Dover, and the 1901 Census of Maple Creek, Assiniboia District, Saskatchewan gave his birth date as 16 Jul 1868]
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Rainham Builders
Abt 1869 - 1946 (~ 77 years)