Transportation in Saskatchewan - Trails

Trails

Historically buffalo and Red River cart trails criss-crossed the prairies. Métis fur traders and brigades would follow these trails freighting supplies for the Hudson's Bay Company. Originally following trails created by bison, trails connected together trading posts, North-West Mounted Police forts and barracks. The Dominion government boundary survey trail, the North-West Mounted Police Red Coat trail, American–Canadian boundary trails, telegraph trail, railway trail and rebellion trails were later trails. Due to the hard compaction of prairie sod, the remnants of this trail are still visible via satellite imaging to the trained historian eye.

From Winnipeg, Manitoba through to Edmonton, Alberta was the famed Carlton Trail also known as the Saskatchewan or Edmonton trail. The trail went from Fort Ellice east of the present Manitoba Saskatchewan border northwest to Fort Carlton, and followed the North Saskatchewan River, and onwards to Jackfish Lake and thence across the present Alberta Saskatchewan border.

Fort Qu'Appelle, Prince Albert and the territorial capital, Battleford were the main centers in the 19th century. From these extended a variety of trails as spokes extend from the hub on a wheel.

The boundary survey trail was a 30-foot (9.1 m) wide trail cut through timber and brush by a surveying team marking the 49th parallel beginning between 1872 and 1874. In 1874, the North-West Mounted Police were dispatched to Fort Whoop Up (Alberta). They travelled through the United States to the Manitoba border, and from there were to follow the boundary survey trail to Fort Whoop Up. There actual route extended through Roche Percee, the Cypress Hills, Ponteix, and near Medicine Hat. 1875 marked the beginnings of the Telegraph Trail which was a 132-foot (40 m) wide trail from Fort Pelly, to Fort Carlton, Humboldt, Prince Albert, Battleford, and onwards to Edmonton. This was to be the initial stages for the transcontinental railway to travel through the more populated areas of the fur trade area and the North-West Territories' capital, Battleford. The southern area of the North-West territories was deemed in Palliser's report to be a vast desert and unfit for human habitation.