The Carlton Trail : The Broad Highway into the Saskatchewan Country From the Red River Settlement, 1840-1880

This volume traces the history of the Carlton Trail, an overland travel route that connected Fort Garry (in present-day Manitoba) to Fort Carlton (burned in 1885, in present-day Saskatchewan). Used by First Nations peoples, fur traders, the North-West Mounted Police, and settlers prior to the twentieth century, R. C. Russell depicts the Trail as an artery of change and interaction. He highlights figures who traversed the Trail (such as the HBC’s George Simpson and missionary George McDougall) and weaves the Trail into major events in western Canadian history (such as the Battle at Duck Lake). Russell also discusses the Trail’s changing role as surveyors, telegraph lines, and railroads crossed the prairies. Illustrations and photos depict the Trail and its surrounding geography.