The plaque on the cairn that sits in the rest stop on Highway
#201 east of Broadview reads as follows:
Near this marker you can still see the ruts created by wagons
and Red River Carts as they traveled along the historical trail from Fort Ellice
to Fort Qu’Appelle. This early highway was the major link in the system of
trails which connected Fort Garry with Fur trade posts throughout the prairie
west. From the 1830’s cart trains carrying furs and provisions regularly passed
this way. Many famous explorers and adventurers used this trail; Palliser,
Hector, Hind and the Earl of Southesk among them.
From the 1850’s most traffic to the Saskatchewan region used
this route. After the coming of the railway in 1882, the trail lost much of its
earlier importance, but portions were used for a number of years by the early
settlers.
