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For five decades from 1922, a 90-foot Robin Hood aimed his arrow at downtown Moose Jaw from the Robin Hood Mill. My father Roger Carter was born in Moose Jaw in 1922, and his father George worked at that mill. Dad recalled only that George was sales manager, that he had an office dominated by a map that had pins stuck on it, and that he travelled to Winnipeg and Minneapolis on business. I never talked to my Dad about his thoughts on the archer looming over his hometown, but I have a photograph of him as a boy dressed as Robin Hood; so, I assume that he was a fan of the legendary outlaw. This family history (and mystery as George made a small fortune in Moose Jaw that enabled him to retire to a grand home in Victoria in 1931 in his early 50s) has inspired me to look into the history of Robin Hood as symbol. Why was this English highwayman used by an American-owned company to promote flour made from the grain farms of the Canadian prairies? What were the messages conveyed and read through images of Robin Hood, including during the height of rum running days in the West, when a huge painting of an outlaw and bandit was placed as watchful sentinel over Moose Jaw?1
The symbol of Robin Hood established that the company, though American, was grounded in ancient British traditions. It tethered International Milling (the parent company) to the mythical hero of the common folk who was at the heart of British identity at that time.
Robin Hood declared that the company was run by the "same good old Anglo-Saxon race."2 To purchase Robin Hood products made from the grain of Saskatchewan farmers was a patriotic choice. The illustration of the outlaw used for nearly three decades in advertisements clearly resembled British kings, displaying deep fealty and allegiance to British institutions. Presiding over the city, Robin Hood laid claim to the land, in the heart of Treaty Four territory, as an outpost of the British Empire and no longer Indigenous land. The English highwayman declared that British traditions were now to reign, including the ancient foodways of the United Kingdom: white, pure and clean flour milled from...