The wild wild west (north?) at Atlin Lake is not dead

My cousin Bill sent me this great news article from 1985, showing that the old wild west lives on at Atlin Lake. Teslin Lake is connected to Atlin Lake, it lies in behind Atlin Mountain.

Thanks Bill!

This is a story from March 1985

ATLIN, British Columbia -- Mounties tracked down an eccentric, U.S.-born trapper wanted for terrorizing his neighbors in Canada's isolated, frozen north country, then shot him dead after in a gun battle in which an officer was killed, officials said Wednesday.

In a scene reminiscent of the 1932 hunt for the 'Mad Trapper of Rat River,' the gunbattle between 14 Mounties and 'Shesley' Mike Orros occured Tuesday in an area about 1,200 miles north of Vancouver, British Columbia.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police began hunting Orros, a landed immigrant from an undisclosed U.S. town, Monday after an isolated cabin was burglarized and robbed.

'The suspect was well known to us with a history of violence and instability,' a RCMP spokesman said.

An RCMP plane spotted the eccentric recluse walking alone on the frozen surface of Teslin Lake. Orros fired a single shot at the plane, then disappeared into the woods.

The trapper was located on the same lake by aircraft Tuesday and the squad of heavily armed Mounties, flown in by helicopter, moved onto the lake with tracking dogs.

'The tactical team hoped to keep the suspect in the open on the lake, but he managed to take cover in the bush,' the spokesman said.

Orros, armed with two rifles, then circled behind the Mounties and shot Constable Michael Buday, 27, in the back, killing Buday instantly.

Police released few details of the ensuing shootout except to say Buday's colleagues shot and killed Orros.

The slain constable's mother described the gun battle as an 'ambush.'

'The fellow they were hunting knew the area well,' Margaret Buday said from her home in Tilley, Alberta. 'Mike never had a chance.'

Few details were released about Orros, but local residents said the trapper had terrorized the region for several years. He was widely known as an excellent but eccentric outdoorsman.

The RCMP said Orros was suspected of breaking into several cabins in the area during the past six years.

The episode brought back memories of the 1932 hunt for Albert Johnson, who has entered Yukon folklore as the 'Mad Trapper of Rat River.' Johnson killed a mountie investigating his trap lines, then killed a second in the manhunt before being shot himself.