par Kermoal, Nathalie

On the 17th of February 1997, a plaque was unveiled atthe Alberta Legislature in Edmonton. Simultaneously, the same event was beingcommemorated at the Fort Garry Hotel in Winnipeg. Members of the Métis Nationof Alberta and Manitoba as well as representatives of the Ministry of CanadianHeritage and local historic associations came together on that day ofcelebration. No monument was inaugurated and no tribute was paid to any personin particular. Instead, these representatives were gathered to underline thenational historical importance of the Carlton Trail, a transportation routethat marked the development of the Northwest during the 19^thcentury.

 

Article disponible en français : Pistes métisses de l'Ouest canadien

Essential Trade Routes

Thisroute, or trail, which was 1,400 km long, stretched from Fort Garry (nowWinnipeg) to Fort Edmonton. It followed approximately the same path as thepresent-day Yellowhead highway. For centuries, Native hunters travelledregularly along this path leaving behind them a scattering of artefacts thatarchaeologists in the 20^th century would later come to discover. Inthe middle of the 19^th century, the number of Métis freighterstravelling the route increased. These people filled many roles as interpreters,guides, messengers, transporters, traders and suppliers, thus quickly becomingessential partners in the fur trade, as well as in the conveyance ofmerchandise. Trails and rivers were their routes of communication, and the RedRiver Cart was their preferred means of transportation.

Inaddition to bison hunting, their economic activities centred around the furtrade and the transportation of merchandise.  This made these men and women essential partners indeveloping the West and even Canada itself. Métis workers were in high demandbecause of their abilities and endurance. Today, despite the fact that it isdifficult to retrace certain trails (the trails have grown over), the Métishave left their mark on the territory. They not only built trails across theland, but they also constructed temporary and permanent villages close tostreams, rivers and wooded areas. These were easily recognisable, because ofthe long elongated shape of their farm lots. Some of their villages wereSaint-Boniface, Saint-François-Xavier, Saint-Laurent, Batoche, Willow Bunch,Edmonton, Saint-Albert, Lac Sainte-Anne, etc. Often, new immigrants wereintegrated into these Métis communities.

19^th centurymaps indicate the presence of Métis settlements and also reveal theircommercial activities. For example, S.J. Dawson's 1859 map shows the scope andcomplexity of the trails of the time. The map was created using informationgathered from the Métis. It accompanied Dawson's report on the Red RiverExpedition, which was mandated by the Government of Canada in 1857-58 inanticipation of eventual large-scale colonisation in the West ^{(NOTE 1)}. Because they were participatingin activities that were essential to the proper functioning of the fur trade(such as trapping, fishing, commercial hunting, making pemmican, transportingfreight), the Métis had a crucial role to play in maintaining the mercantileeconomy throughout the 19^th century. In fact, they worked for boththe Hudson's Bay Company and the Northwest Company until the merger of the twoin 1821. They were able to do so freely, as they did not have any attachmentsto either company. The land and river transportation system was at the heart ofthe lives of the Métis people, many of whom led a very nomadic existence.

The Carlton Trail

TheCarlton Trail, "after crossing Southern Saskatchewan close to the futuresettlement of Batoche, crossed Northern Saskachewan and was developed in openPark Land, on the left bank of the river providing shelter from the possibleconflicts with the tribes of the plains which threatened more southerly routes."^{(NOTE 2)}. Givenits length, the trail crossed geographically diverse regions and was henceknown by names, which differed in accordance with one's location on the trail.In Minnedosa, the trail was called little Saskatchewan or Minnedosa trail. InShoal Lake (where the Northwest Mounted Police had a post), it was called theFort Ellice (Saint-Lazare) trail ^{(NOTE 3)}.West of Fort Ellice, people spoke of the Qu'Appelle Trail. Travellers thatheaded east on the route called it the Fort Garry Trail. In Saskatchewan andAlberta, people called it the Saskatchewan, Carlton, Battleford, or theEdmonton Trail ^{(NOTE 4)}.

Itrequired two months of travel to get from Fort Garry to Fort Edmonton byhorse-drawn cart. At Fort Edmonton, a trail went towards the north to join thewaterways of the Athabasca and Mackenzie Rivers. A trail also headed west fromFort Edmonton towards Jasper, passing through Saint-Albert and Lac Sainte-Anne.Another headed towards the south passing through Tail Creek (close to RedDeer), Fort MCleod, reaching all the way to Montana (in the Milk River region).From Carlton House, the trail headed towards Green Lake. Merchandise and furswere transported towards Île-à-la-Crosse and then towards La Loche or MethyePortage. Later, fleets of boats owned by the Hudson's Bay Company headedtowards Athabasca. In the 1870s, the celebrated Métis leader Gabriel Dumont wasreported to have worked on the upkeep of the Green Lake Trail, contributing tothe construction of bridges over rivers and ravines and helping to clear theway for a twelve-foot wide route ^{(NOTE 5)}.The Green Lake Métis were involved in the fur trade until its eventual demisewhen they became traders, labourers and freighters ^{(NOTE 6)}.

In the1890s, the Carlton Trail stopped being used for transportation, as parts of theCanadian Pacific railway began to extend further north. The train graduallyreplaced carts as a means of transportation.

Other Trails

Inaddition to the Carlton Trail, many other trails were developed within Canadaand also between Canada and the United States. These trails crossed the wholeNorthwest, through prairies and wooded areas (including the Boreal Forest) andalso crossed a transitional area called the Parkland.Different routes were developed as trading posts were created in Canada and theUnited States. American garrisons "[also] had the habit of asking the Red Riverfor supplies of beef or wheat necessary to their survival" ^{(NOTE 7)}. The Métis transportedmerchandise to Pembina or Saint-Paul, Minnesota and carried back Americanproducts produced at a better price allowing them to bypass inspection by theHudson's Bay Company.

The Métiswould leave Fort Garry and head along the Red River passing throughSaint-Agathe (Manitoba). From Pembina, there were three possible routes: twopassed over the plains and one through the woods. The first two followed eitherthe west bank or the east bank of the river. The first went as far as FortSnelling and the other Saint-Cloud. The third trail started south of Wild RiceRiver and continued south towards Saint-Cloud and finally to Saint-Paul (TheMétis followed along the east bank of the Mississippi River). This trail wasknown by many names such as the Saint Paul (or Pembina) Trail or the Crow Wing Trail.

Theorigins of the trails are relatively unknown, however, traffic between FortGarry and Saint-Paul was substantial in 1849 and remained so throughout the1850s and 60s. It seemed that the Saint-Paul Trail was created to avoidpossible attacks by the Sioux people. After 1870, in addition to dealing withdepleting bison herds, the Métis also lost access to the bison fur tradebetween Red River and Saint-Paul, because of increased tariffs and numerouscustoms control points between Canada and the United States. The American armyfrequently patrolled the border. Subsequently, north - south trading, notablybetween Pembina and Saint-Joseph was no longer profitable. Furthermore, becausecontraband was too risky, the Métis were forced to take their activities toWestern Canada and to the states further west (especially Montana) allowingthem to follow the bison herds.

Along theAssiniboine River, the Métis took the Pelley Trail (constructed in 1829), whichled to Fort Pelley. This trading post was built at a strategic point andreceived furs sent from York Factory ^{(NOTE 8)},which was established on the western shore of the Hudson Bay. Other routesexisted across the Northwest allowing easier transportation of supplies toMétis trading posts and missions.

CatholicMissions in Western Canada depended heavily on Métis labourers to transportmerchandise. In theory, because they were isolated from each other, they had tobe self-sufficient. In practice, the scarcity of merchandise and the difficultyand high cost of transportation meant that they were at the mercy of theHudson's Bay Company, which was not always willing to transport products at alower cost. As a consequence, the Oblates built warehouses to store productsthey needed. From 1869 to 1889, Notre-Dame-des-Victoires, at Lac La Biche(located between the basins of the Mackenzie and Churchill Rivers), served as awarehouse for merchandise destined for missions in the North. In order toensure the transportation of building materials and perishables, a road wasbuilt between the Mission and the Athabasca River. This avoided a problempresented by certain rivers in the region, which had water levels too low fortravel ^{(NOTE 9)}.

The Métistravelled in caravans or in a line of wagons that would criss-cross thecountry. The Red River carts were particularly well adapted to travel on thePrairies. Nevertheless, travel was impossible if the terrain was too rugged.Numerous carts had to stop at rivers or lakes to load or unload merchandise orbundles of furs. Fleets of boats, also operated by the Métis, which travelledto and from the Athabasca and the Mackenzie rivers, were thus provided withfresh supplies.

Over time,the main corridors used by the Métis to transport merchandise and services,which linked the North and the West to the rest of Canada and the United Stateswere replaced. They gave way to steamships, the railway, and eventually roadsand trucks.

Trails of Memories

The Métisdid not only crisscross the land with these routes, in order to transportmerchandise or just to get closer to bison herds. The Exodus continually pushedthem further west. After the events of 1870 in Red River, which established thetemporary government led by Louis Riel, the Métis were more marginalised thanever before. As a consequence, the question of Métis land ownership wentunresolved and certain families decided to leave Manitoba and to take theirchances elsewhere. Most of those families followed the Carlton Trail.

Inaddition to the Métis, numerous well-known travellers made use of these trails;it ws a sign of the times, as Canada was undergoing great expansion. Theseindividuals include Robert Rundle, first Wesleyan missionary to the StoneyNation in Alberta, the explorers John Palliser and Henry Youle Hind at the endof the1850s, as well as other missionaries such as Father Albert Lacombe. Manyother people also followed these land trails including: emigrants settlers,travellers, sport hunters, missionaries, adventurers, and dignitaries. Inaddition, the Northwest Mounted Police and the Northwest Field Force used theseoverland trails during the Native and the Métis events of 1885 ^{(NOTE 10)}.

Since the daysof the fur trade, things have certainly changed. However, the Carlton Trail isstill present in collective memory of the Métis. David Garneau, great greatgrandson of Laurent Garneau, a well-known Métis businessman, after whom anEdmonton neighbourhood is named, presented an exposition in 2008 entitled"Along the Carlton Trail". It was inspired by the travels made by his ancestorand the other Métis for business or by obligation because of the Exodus. Theartist tells the story using a technique described as "beading", which recallsthe bead work done by Métis women ^{(NOTE 11)}.He follows their steps on the route in the 1870s, from Red River, passingthrough Sainte-Madelaine (today non-existent), all the way to Edmonton in the1880s. By drawing inspiration from 19^th century cartography, Garneauclearly depicts the abundance of rivers in the region, in order to emphasizethe Métis influence on the history of these towns and villages. He regularlytravels the Yellowhead Trail by car taking photographs of the animals killed onthe road. The strange shapes of "road kill" transformed into artwork stress theeffects of settlement on nature. He says, "I travel this route as if it were ahunting trail! I trap animals, I make pelts and I try to sell them" (NOTE 12). In 2004, the Métis organised anexpedition with a bit of a heritage twist to it. They called it the "Red RiverMétis Heritage Journey". During this trip they used Red River carts andfollowed the old Métis routes.

The Métistrails were unavoidable for centuries because, aside from rivers, there were noother routes that could be travelled. However, in time, the land changed,giving place to a new colonial reality that depended on agriculturaldevelopment, railways, and immigration. After 1885, the Métis became more andmore dispersed. Even if the old trails never fully disappeared from officialmaps, at the beginning of the 20^th century they remained marginal,just like the people that used to travel them. Today, the few sections oftrails that remain attest to the central role the Métis played in developingthe country. They are also clues that tell the story of an ever mobile, migrantpeople that, because of its transportation and hunting activities, ensured thesurvival of many settlers. Their heritage deserves to be better known.

 

NathalieKermoal
Associate professor

Faculty of Native studies and of the Campus St. Jean of theUniversity of Alberta

 

NOTES

Note 1. Étienne Rivard, «Territorialité métisse et cartographie du Nord-Ouest canadien au XIX^esiècle : Exploration cartographique et toponymique », CEFCO, volume 14, n^o 1 et 2, 2002, p. 15.

Note 2. Marcel Giraud, Le Métis canadien, Paris, Institutd'ethnologie, 1945, p. 981.

Note 3. It is also called the TouchwoodPathway (because it goes through the Touchwood hills).

Note 4. Frank Hall, « Carlton Trail :First Western Highway », Manitoba Pageant(printemps 1969), volume 14, n^o 3, p. 2 et 3.

Note 5. Tough, Frank et Alison Magill, The History and Development of the GreenLake - Carlton Trail, Saskatoon, Infinity Research, Development &Design Inc., 2003, p. 6.

Note 6. The North-West Companyconstructed a fort there in 1782.

Note 7. Giraud, p. 975.

Note 8. Harry Baker Brehaut, « The RedRiver Cart and Trails : The Fur Trade », ManitobaHistorical Society Transactions Series 3, n^o 28, 1971-72, p.12-13.

Note 9. Huel, p. 60-61.

Note 10. Hall, p. 2.

Note 11. Garneau speaks also of theinfluence of the pointillism technique of Seurat as well as the influence ofthe painting of Australian Aboriginals.

Note 12. David Garneau, « Along theCarlton Trail », Artist Statement,2008, p. 3.

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Harry Baker Brehaut, « The RedRiver Cart and Trails : The Fur Trade », Manitoba Historical Society Transactions Series 3, n^o28, 1971-72, p. 1-21.

William G. Fonseca, « On theSt. Paul Trail in the Sixties », ManitobaHistorical Society Transactions Series 1, n^o 56, 1900, p. 1-7.

David Garneau, « Along the CarltonTrail », Artist Statement, Exhibitionat the Godfrey Dear Art Gallery, September 25-October 31, 2008, p. 3.

Marcel Giraud, Le Métis canadien, Paris, Institutd'ethnologie, 1945, 1316 p.

Frank Hall, « CarltonTrail : First Western Highway », Manitoba Pageant (printemps 1969), volume 14, n^o 3, p.1-3.

Raymond Huel, Proclaiming the Gospel to the Indians and the Métis, Edmonton,University of Alberta Press, 1996, 387 p.

Étienne Rivard, « Territorialitémétisse et cartographie du Nord-Ouest canadien au XIXe siècle :Exploration cartographique et toponymique », CEFCO, Volume 14, n^o 1 et 2, 2002, 7-32.

Frank Tough et Alison Magill, The History and Development of the GreenLake - Carlton Trail, Saskatoon, Infinity Research, Development &Design Inc., 2003, 41 p.

 

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