Movin' On.

Transportation Corridors in the Tri-Lakes Area

TRAILS- Historically these were well established tracks which went from one important native place to another, to follow game or furs or fish. They would follow the line of least resistance, clinging to the high ground and circumventing swamps and low spots. In the early settlement days these same tracks were used by pack horses and later by the sleighs and wagons of the settlers and freighters. Most freighting was done in the winter as the horses could pull a sleigh more efficiently than a wagon.

The Foley (Moberly)Trail came west from St Albert past Devil's Lake, more or less following the south shore of the Sturgeon River, then the south shore of Lac. Ste Anne to the Catholic Mission at the settlement. It then continued west along the north shore of Isle Lake crossing the Pembina River at the Lobstick junction and continuing on to Jasper House on the Athabasca River in the Rocky Mountains. In 1858 John Moberly became Hudson's Bay factor at Jasper House and the trail was officially recognized for the first time. In 1909 parts of the trail were upgraded into a road bed for the Canadian Northern Railway. The old railroad grade was later used as the base for the paved highway #633 of today.

The Old Mill Trail followed the north shore of the North Saskatchewan River west from Edmonton and continued upriver. John Walter and D.S. Fraser used it as a supply trail for their logging operations along the river.

The Lac. Ste. Anne Trail joined these two trails together, following the high ground between the two major fishing lakes and the two river valleys. It is probably as old as the occupation of this land by humans.

The Woollard Stopping House and General Store (NE-18-53-3-W5) was operated by my father's paternal grandmother from about 1904 until it burned down in 1908. It provided meals, team fodder and a place to sleep (in the hayloft of the barn) for the teamsters and travellers on the trail.

The Lent Stopping House (SW-4-53-3-W5) was operated by my father's maternal grandparents along the Trail north of the Paul Band Reservation from about 1902 until the railroad came through Duffield in 1910.

RIVERS- A birch bark canoe in a flowing stream was one of the most efficient ways to move through the west in the early days for those who wanted to travel. The traders and voyageurs of the Hudson's Bay and North west companies stuck close to the main rivers, built their posts along the banks and moved goods up and furs down the rivers every season in canoes or York boats. When European lifestyles arrived in the form of towns and farms, water transport was used on the upper reaches to move to timber which could be rafted downriver to build the new towns.

RAILROADS- Duffield, Wabamun, Fallis, Gainford and Entwistle were all towns along the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. Onoway, Darwell, Lake Isle and Magnolia were on the rival Canadian Northern Railway Line. Lac Ste.Anne was also on this line but had a much longer history. Both railroads were planned and executed in the heady westward expansion of pre World War One days.

HIGHWAYS and ROADS- Along with survey and settlement came roads. Some were widened, graded and ditched versions of the old trails, some were new and ran straight along the newly gridded road allowances. They bridged streams and filled swamps and went from one place to another in a planned, European way to define the country. With the advent of car and truck transportation some of these grew into paved, divided high speed transport links.

Pack Saddles to Tete Jaune Cache - James G MacGregor
McClelland and Stewart Ltd. - 1962

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