Dawson Trail Art & Heritage Tours

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A Rich History The Sale of Rupertsland Simon J. Dawson: Surveyor, Civil Engineer, and Politician Anishinaabe Chief Showed Dawson the Way Lumber for the “Mother Church of Western Canada” Troubles at the Red River Colony: Surveying Gives Rise to Tensions Women in the ‘New West’ “Compagnie de la Graisse” Early Animal Shelter Eagle Bus Lines Métis Kinscape Métis Women Entrepreneurs Hauling for the C.P.R. on the Dawson Road Métis Carts Carry the Burden for the Wolseley Expedition First Reeve of Taché Signed his Name with an “X” The Legendary Midwinter Tramp of a Famous Lorette Resident Louis Riel Land Claim East of Lorette Rich Floras Leading to and past Pointe des chênes A Trip to Manitoba or “Roughing it on the Line” Canadian Pacific Railway Supersedes the Dawson Trail by 1885 The River Lot System Early Surveyors Meet with Resistance Last Survivor of the Old West: Alexandre Bériault Call To The Grey Nuns (Soeur Grises) A Long History of Health Services “A Most Beautiful Country” Mennonite Delegates in Sainte-Anne (1873) Bison Hunting Majestic Beaver Dam Of Mud and Straw Dawson Road Construction: Plagued with Troubles John Snow: Foreman of Road Building Workers Revolt: The “Dunking” of John Snow The Rise of Political and Social Turmoil The Governor-General’s Visit (1877) The Lost Treasure Corduroy Roads The Caribou Bog First Nations Employed on the Line (1868-1871) Working on the Dawson Road (1926-1928) A Naturally Abundant Landscape Forest Fire of 1897 Plight of a Luckless Traveler (1874) Harrison Creek: Gateway to Manitoba Birch River Station for Weary Travelers Manitoba Industrial Prison Farm Clean Water for Winnipeg East Braintree G.W.W.D. Worker Camp Scrip - ‘essentially the largest land swindle’ Red River Military Expeditions Dawson Route and Treaties No. 1 and No. 3 Chief Na-Sa-Kee-by-Ness and Road Negotiations Impact of the Homestead Act (1919)

RESEARCH ANNEXES

List of Reference Annexes Research Summary Chronology Bibliography External Links to Sources List of Images List of First Settlers (Ste. Anne Parish) FAQ / MythBusters Oral Histories Sitemap

The sketch of St. Boniface Cathedral below in 1858 captures its grandeur and hints at the influence the Church exerted over the Red River Settlement. It burned down in 1860 and in 1861-62, some woodsmen from Saint-Boniface went to the outer parish of Ste-Anne-des-Chênes known for its épinettière forest to find strong oak, pine and elm with which to rebuild a fourth cathedral. Sadly, that forest burned in 1863 around the time the first sawmills started to be established there, its first settlers having gone there as early as the 1830s.

The Ste. Anne region was always rich in small game, firewood and wood for construction, something the Settlers in Red River needed and was becoming increasingly scarce in the parishes near Fort Garry.

These lumbermen were accompanied by missionary Jean-Baptiste Thibault, who is said to have celebrated the first mass in the region among them and their families.

In those days, before the Dawson road, the trail to Ste-Anne from Saint-Boniface was known as le “chemin de Gaudet” and had been surveyed by him. Gaudet later worked as a surveyor assisting Simon Dawson during the 1857-58 Hind and Dawson Expedition.

Sources:

Library and Archives Canada. (n.a.) St. Boniface Cathedral, Red River Settlement (1858), William Napier. The Canadian West. Retrieved June 21, 2020 from https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/canadian-west/052910/05291032_e.html

Société historique de Saint-Boniface. (2010-2020). Richer (Thibaultville). Accueil / Au pays de Riel / Lieux / Richer. Retrieved June 21, 2020, from http://shsb.mb.ca/Au_pays_de_Riel/Lieux/Richer

Cathédrale Saint-Boniface Cathedral. (2020). “Mother Church of Western Canada”. Retrieved from June 21, 2020 from https://www.cathedralestboniface.ca/main.php?p=62

Villa Youville Inc. (1976). Paroisse de Ste. Anne des Chênes 1876-1976 (p.12). Published by « le Comité historique du Centenaire, » Ste-Anne, Manitoba. Retrieved June 3, 2020 from http://www.mb1870.org/localhistory/125%20-%20La%20Paroisse%20de%20Ste.%20Anne-des-Chenes.pdf

Third St. Boniface Cathedral, Red River Settlement 1858, by William Napier. Source: Library and Archives Canada/William Henry Edward Napier fonds/c001065k (n.a.) St. Boniface Cathedral, Red River Settlement (1858), by William Napier. The Canadian West. Ref. No.: C-001065. Retrieved June 21, 2020 from https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/canadian-west/052910/05291032_e.html

The Fourth Saint-Boniface Cathedral was started by Bishop Taché, who succeeded Bishop Provencher in 1853, and measured 150 feet by 60. It was opened for worship in 1863 but was torn down in 1909 for lack of space.Cathédrale de Saint-Boniface. (2020). “Mother Church of Western Canada”. Retrieved June 29, 2020 from https://www.cathedralestboniface.ca/main.php?p=62

Villa Youville Inc. (1976). Paroisse de Ste. Anne des Chênes 1876-1976 (p.12). Published by « le Comité historique du Centenaire, » Ste-Anne, Manitoba. Retrieved June 3, 2020 from http://www.mb1870.org/localhistory/125%20-%20La%20Paroisse%20de%20Ste.%20Anne-des-Chenes.pdf

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