“About six o’clock we came to the highroad, which crossed the end of our track – the highroad that has cost our country over thirteen million dollars – the far-famed and much-talked-of Dawson road. It was some two feet higher than our rough track, and separated from it by a large mud puddle, in which, after a lurch to one side and violent jerk from the horses, the wagon-wheels sank on the other. A volley of oaths was discharged by our half-breed, followed by a crack of his long whip, and a sharp struggle, and then the near horse fell back on his haunches and we stuck fast. Down rolled the best valise, out sprang Jehu, carrying with him into the mud our biggest blanket. Mr. C-, in slippers, sat on the top of the wagon demanding his boots, which were somewhere at the bottom; somebody else was searching wildly for a rope and axe, which proved to be nowhere; everybody was giving a different opinion on the best means of extricating ourselves, only uniting in one thing, namely, abuse of the driver, who stood knee-deep in mud, hitching up his trousers and muttering something about le détour.”

Mary Agnes FitzGibbon - A Trip to Manitoba 1874

Source: FitzGibbon, M. (n.d.). Chapter XIX: A Trip to Manitoba or “Roughing it on the Line”. Souvenirs of Lord and Lady Dufferin – From Winnipeg by Red River. Retrieved June 3, 2020 from https://explorion.net/trip-manitoba/chapter-xix

In The Pioneer Years 1895-1914 by Barry Broadfoot, P. 195 it states that Peter Broadfoot led this small train out of town. This image gives us a sense of what it was like for Mary FitzGibbon arriving in Red River Settlement. University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections, Red River Cartes-de-visites. Retrieved June 4, 2020 from Libraries - Red River Settlement

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