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 story is told of one luckless settler arriving in a pitiable state of exhaustion and dilapidation at the office of Donald A. Smith, M.P., in Winnipeg and proclaiming: “Well, look at me, ain’t I a healthy sight” I’ve come by the Government water route from Thunder Bay and it’s taken me twenty-five days to do it. During that time I’ve been half starved on victuals I wouldn’t give a [...]. The water used to pour into my bunk at night, and the boat was so leaky that every bit of baggage I’ve got is waterlogged and ruined. But that ain’t all. I’ve broke my arm and sprained my ankle helping to carry half a dozen trunks over a dozen portages, and when I refused to take a paddle in one of the boats, an Ottawa Irishman told me to go to hell and said that if I gave him any more damned chat he’d let me get off and walk to Winnipeg.”

An unhappy traveller

Source: Fritz, D. L. (1986, August 24). Special history study on the Dawson Trail and other routes relating to Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota (p.21). U.S. Department of the Interior, National Parks Service, Denver Service Center, Central Team. Denver, Colorado. Also Special history study on logging and lumbering as associated with the areas now in AC 16304. Retrieved June 3, 2020 from http://npshistory.com/publications/voya/dawson-trail-shs.pdf.

This man’s unhappy lament was repeated by numerous travelers. Others complained about the various station-masters as being “brutes” or “mean and surly”. The baggage handling frequently got low marks.

Another observer, who visited Prince Arthur’s landing on Thunder Bay saw American agents attempting to lure Canadian immigrants away from the Dawson Route, arguing that Minnesota and/or Dakota were more hospitable places.

Fritz, David L. (1986, August 24). Special history study on the Dawson Trail and other routes relating to Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota (P.20). U.S. Department of the Interior, National Parks Service, Denver Service Center, Central Team. Denver, Colorado. Also Special history study on logging and lumbering as associated with the areas now in AC 16304. Retrieved June 3, 2020 from http://npshistory.com/publications/voya/dawson-trail-shs.pdf.

“The place has been known by the immigrants who passed over the Dawson route as “Hungry Hall”.” Source: The Manitoban : [Vol. 1, no. 6 (May 1892)]. Retrieved from https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.8_06661_6/13?r=0&s=1

Emigrants had to bring their own provisions and because trips often took longer than expected, it was not unusual for travellers to arrive at the N.W. Angle starving. Soon it came to be known as “Hungry Hall” Source: Grant, George Monro (1835-1902). (1873). Ocean to ocean: Sandford Fleming’s expedition through Canada in 1872 (P.96). Being a diary kept during a journey from the Atlantic to the Pacific with the expedition of the engineer-in-chief of the Canadian Pacific and Intercolonial railways. With sixty illustrations. BC Historical Books. Diaries. Retrieved June 3, 2020, from https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcbooks/items/1.0221770

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