Do you know the story of the Dawson Trail?

In the middle of the nineteenth century, the lands that are currently part of Manitoba were inhabited by a diverse group of peoples. What is now Manitoba was primarily populated by First Nations peoples who are the original stewards and inhabitants of the land; the descendants of French and Scottish coureurs de bois; and a number of Métis peoples, born of the encounter between the Indigenous peoples of the region and French and Scottish settlers. At this point in history, much of the population of the territory that is now Manitoba was concentrated along the banks of the Red River in the south of the province. Together, they made up a flourishing and prosperous colony. Although the colony was besieged by a number of external and internal threats and occasional conflict, the economy of the Red River Colony — founded as it was upon agriculture, hunting, and the fur trade — was quite prosperous, resulting in a relatively peaceful state of coexistence and collaboration among its inhabitants.

However, the nascent colony was more or less isolated from the headquarters of the colonial government in Ottawa. This state of isolation represented a significant obstacle for merchants who sought to sell their wares on the lucrative markets of Eastern Canada. Moreover, many settlers from Eastern Canada were looking for a more reliable route to access and to colonize the fertile lands of Western Canada. At the same time, many inhabitants of the Red River Colony wished for the establishment of a route to the East that didn’t pass through the United States, given their fears of a possible American annexation of their territories. These political and economic pressures eventually impelled the Federal government in Ottawa to establish a route linking Western Canada to the rest of the young country.

To this end, a certain Simon J. Dawson was tasked with the job of surveying the lands between the Red River Colony and the Great Lakes region in Ontario. Dawson’s contribution to the project was such that it was after him that the route was named. In a report delivered to the House of Commons in 1869, Dawson described the monumental project as follows: “I have the honour to submit to your report on the best means to open a line of communication between Lake Superior and the Red River Colony.” Just before delivering this speech, his proposal was approved by the federal governments and the hard work of constructing the route began.

With a length of 852km, the fruit of this project is the Dawson Route, which links Fort William - today, Thunder Bay - to Fort Garry on the banks of the Red River. Fun fact: at its beginning, the Dawson Trail was not a highway as we would conceive of it today. Indeed, it ran through bodies of water as well as sections of land, and the journey from Thunder Bay to the Red River Colony took a whole month! The route was used by many travellers and merchants until 1885, the year that the Canadian Pacific Railway was completed, uniting the two coasts of the newly-born country by rail.

Although it was a little bit neglected over the past few decades, the Dawson Trail is currently experiencing a period of revitalization. Thanks to the hard work and dedication of volunteers from the region, interest in the history of the trail is becoming increasingly pronounced. One of the fruits of this revitalization is the project “Dawson Trail Treasures,” which was conceived by residents of the region to highlight the natural, cultural and historic legacy of the Dawson Trail. The project offers a self-driven heritage tour as well as a tour that showcases the work of professional artists who live along the trail.