David Thompson, Legendary
Mapmaker
After Britain successfully defended its remaining
North American lands in 1814, the two countries
established relations civilized enough to
enact an International Boundary Commission
according to the 1814 Treaty of Ghent. The
Commission enlisted David Thompson (legendary
explorer/mapmaker credited with reaching the
Pacific Ocean via the Columbia River in the
late 1700’s) to survey the Canadian/American
boundary from St. Croix River west to the
Lake of the Woods.
Cairns Still Standing: David
Malaher, in the Rupert’s Land Newsletter,
No. 7, writes about his recent search for
Thompson’s survey markers left at 4
locations, sites for the Commission to consider
when making the final boundary decision about
the most northwesterly point of the western
side of Lake of the Woods. Thompson chose
the Northwest Angle Inlet (the ultimate choice
of the Commission), Monument Bay, Portage
Bay and Rat Portage. Malaher reports finding
two stone cairns erected by the Thompson survey.
The final boundary cuts between Ontario and
Minnesota west from a point south of Thunder
Bay, turning northward at Rainy River, through
Lake of the Woods past Big Island, then west
to turn south again along the Manitoba border.
This unusual cut north, then west, then south
leaves a small portion of the United States
entirely unattached to the America mainland
which is accessible only west through Manitoba
or south across the lake.
The Dawson Trail
By the 1820’s, the fur-trading rivals
Hudson’s Bay Company and the Northwest
Company had merged, freeing the area to more
trade with less competition. Rivalry between
Britain and America for nation building continued,
though. To encourage settlement and to exert
authority over the Canadian west being opened
by exploration and considered for annexation
by the United States, the Canadian government
purchased land from the Hudson’s Bay
Company to develop in the south, and in 1857,
engaged Simon J. Dawson to survey and construct
a road between Lake Superior and the Red River.
After exploring the area, Dawson began work
in 1868 to build the road from Fort William
to Fort Garry, along the fur-trader routes
to Lake of the Woods. This route was across
land to Lake of the Woods, then by water to
the northwesterly corner of the lake, where
construction of the road was to recommence
towards the Red River. While one crew worked
from east to west, another had begun building
in the west, and was moving eastward to meet
near Lake of the Woods.
The Metis of the Red River area responded
with anger when the survey’s chains
made inroads onto their lands; this uprising
pushed the government into investing more
money to get the work done quicker, so that
they could send troops to deal with the Metis.
To get there, those troops had to assist in
the road construction. When the workers reached
Lake of the Woods, the soldiers did not stay
around to help. They hurried forward by the
old Winnipeg River canoe route north out of
Lake of the Woods to enforce the peace at
the Red River settlement. Dawson Trail was
completed, but was widely used for only a
few years, as by the 1800’s, the Canadian
Pacific Railway became the favoured transport
west.
When the Dawson Trail was the only Canadian
route to the prairies, more than 3,500 immigrants
travelled it, heading for settlements to the
west. Today, the Northwest Angle section of
the trail from the Manitoba border to the
western shore of Lake of the Woods, is a swampy,
wooded, obscured trail. At the trail’s
end, on Harrison Creek, are remnants of the
buildings that once provided rest and comfort
to 19th century travellers along their journey
to new homesteads.
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