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©Keeseekoowenin 1998
The Little Saskatchewan River is a tightly-meandering tributary of the Assiniboine, flowing south out of Lake Audy and Clear Lake (footnote 1), generally following a southeast course through a fertile deeply-entrenched heavily-treed valley. The "Little Saskatchewan" has had several other names. It was referred to as the River St. Peter by LaVerendrye. In 1806, Alexander Henry speaks of it as the "Rapid River". The Okanase people called it Keeseesatchewan, "Rapid Flowing River".
Early Europeans called "Riding Mountain" the "Fort Dauphin Mountain". The Okanase Band called the mountain Wowwaswajicus, "The Hill of the Buffalo Chase".
The valley to the south of "The Bend" at 36-17-22 -- now known as Old Strathclair (as distinct from Strathclair Station) -- was recognized by members of the Dickson and Hind exploratory expeditions as one of the best in the northwest in terms of beauty and settlement potential. (footnote 2) There were fertile alluvial soils, an abundance of good water, wood, pasture and gravel deposits, as well as a relatively easy transportation route for water cargo. (footnote 3) The rolling hills and open grasslands which had been kept fire-clean for buffalo pasture were appropriate for ranching enterprises.
The area north of "The Bend" is dotted with sloughs and lakes interspersed with stands of poplar, spruce, and birch, and offered excellent hunting, trapping and fishing. Elphinstone is located on the northern edge of the better quality agricultural land and is bordered on the north by rough terrain and coarser soils more suitable for timber. The true beauty spots are in the National Park to the north.
To the west ran the Carlton Trail, also known as the "HBC Trail" or the "Ellice Trail" which started at Fort Garry and went northwesterly to Alberta, passing through the Fort Carlton Post south of Prince Albert. It passed through Fort Ellice, but skirted Riding Mountain. At a place known as "The Forks" (13-15-21) the Carlton Trail branched off. At the branching, an established Ojibway trail ran to the buffalo plains along the east side of Riding Mountain on a Lake Agassiz beach ridge. The route offered firm ground, easy grades, and the driest sites for camping. The branch broke off northward to the Bend, following the Saskawjewun/Minnedosa River to Sahkeegun Lake/Lake Audy (footnote 4) and north to Gilbert Plains (named for Gilbert Bone), Fort Dauphin, and the Swan River Valley. It became known as the Strathclair-Dauphin Colonization Trail for settlers in the 1880's headed for the fertile Dauphin Valley, and even on further to the north and West. One could arrive from Brandon across the Big Plain to Prairie City (Minnedosa) to enter the Riding Mountain.
Later, there was also the Dominion Government Telegraph Trail which began near the St. Peter's Reserve near present-day Selkirk, ran northwest to and through the Narrows of Lake Manitoba, northward around Lake Dauphin, further north around the Duck Mountains, and on west to Edmonton, also skirting Riding Mountain.
Footnotes
1. Clear Lake has 2,947 hectares, with a depth of 35 meters. It has a small drainage basin of 75 square miles, with three small continuously-flowing steams. Wasamin Creek is the only outlet stream, and is not continuous. See Human Intervention in the Clear Lake Basin of Riding Mountain National Park, Fishery by Rounds, Bazillion and Braun 1992. (back)2. H. Y. Hind, Report of the Assiniboine and Saskatchewan Exploring Expedition. Toronto: John Lovell, by Order of the Legislative Assembly, 1859. (back)
3. "Strathclair: A Prairie Town with a Past, Present and Future," by William G. Hillman, in Geography of Manitoba: Its Land and Its People, edited by John Welsted, John Everitt, and Christoph Stadel, University of Manitoba Press. (back)
4. Named for James C. Audy, a Hudson's Bay Company officer who as a clerk was in charge of the Riding Mountain House for a few winters. (back)
