“East Braintree, which celebrated its 100th birthday in 2014, was first established as a construction camp during the building of a 97 mile-long aqueduct to supply Winnipeg with fresh drinking water from the Lake of the Woods. Aqueduct construction began in 1914 and was completed in 1919. A railway, the Greater Winnipeg Water District Railway, was built in 1914 to haul in supplies for the construction of the aqueduct.  Most of the early settlers first saw the rich-looking riverbank soil along the Boggy and Birch Rivers when they arrived in the area to work on building the aqueduct.  There was plenty of timber for building material and firewood.  The area abounded in geese, ducks, deer and other game.  Wildberries were plentiful in season, although this was also the season when swarms of insects - mosquitoes, black flies, sandflies, deerflies, horseflies and “bulldogs” - tormented both people and animals.”

Lorna Annell, local resident, author and historian

Source:   Annell, L. (2020). “McMunn and East Braintree – A brief history written by Lorna Annell”. Rural Municipality of Reynolds, Eastman Adventure Country website. Retrieved June 17, 2020 from http://www.rmofreynolds.com/p/mcmunn-and-east-braintree

A typical contractor’s camp; bunkhouse for the men. June 26, 1915 at Mile 51, Contract 32. The Winnipeg Aqueduct Construction Company had camps about every two miles along the way. There were similar camps at Mile 77 and Mile 79, in Contract 33. Photo courtesy Don Livingstone. Source: Feilberg, E., & Annell, L. (1989). Pioneer History of Glenn, East Braintree & McMunn (P.110). Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10719/2239350

Back to Ross Church Bell Monument Heritage Tour page |   Top

Previous page: Clean Water for Winnipeg
Next page: Scrip - ‘essentially the largest land swindle’