1880 – 1882
Reverend Armstrong
Louis Olivier Armstrong was a key figure in the development of southwestern Manitoba as a settler destination. Born in 1850, he was ordained as a reverend in Ontario in 1873 and worked first in Quebec before moving to Emerson, Manitoba. Emerson, in 1879, was the second largest commercial centre in the province and the gateway to all points farther west.
Armstrong put together a series of lectures explaining the merits of southwestern Manitoba. He forwarded pamphlets to fellow clergy in England where they made their way into English papers and into the homes of thousands of potential immigrants. An 1881 edition of the London Illustrated Graphic printed: “ . . . the fertility of the soil . . . will soon attract a large population to [southern Manitoba] which in beauty and variety of scenery is said to excel any other part of the North-West, whether British or American.”
Armstrong desired to see southwest Manitoba settled by middle-class Church of England farmers. He was also a staunch supporter of efforts to build a rail line to the area. Though Emerson never got a railway leading west (in 1878 it got one running north-south), Armstrong was successful in encouraging English farmers to take up homesteads in the southwest.
The Muddy Section of the Boundary Commission Trail
The Boundary Commission Trail served as the link between east and west. It began as a First Nations and Métis trail, was later used as a fur trading route and finally as the avenue traveled by Boundary Commissioners surveying the 49th parallel between 1872 and 1874. Settlers arriving in Emerson discovered a ready-made road to lead them to places farther west.
When the year 1880 was only a few days old, Armstrong made a three-week long trek to Turtle Mountain country. His goal was to make a personal inspection of the lands that he was promoting so that he could more authoritatively advocate for the area. Armstrong followed the Boundary Commission Trail during this trip, except for the portion passing north of Turtle Mountain, which was too wet to traverse. Instead, he blazed a trail that bypassed the muddy and awkward ravines close to the forested mountain and struck out onto the more level prairie to the north. This trail branched off from the Boundary Commission Trail about a mile and a half (2.4 kms) west of Wakopa and met up with the Trail again at the Old Deloraine Land Titles Office. It was known as the Boiler Trail or the Northern Trail. On this first trek to Turtle Mountain, Armstrong established a stopping place where the Boiler Trail forded Waubeesh Creek. This stopping place grew into the village of Turtle Mountain City, which evolved into the town of Waubeesh, which in turn served as the basis for Whitewater: a town that flourished into the 1960s.
Later in the summer of 1880, Armstrong served as a land guide to Dr. A. R. C. Selwyn who headed a Dominion Government coal exploration party westward. The spring and summer of that year were incredibly wet, and portions of the Boundary Commission Trail, under normal conditions quite passable, were at that time underwater. Therefore, the party took the detour provided by the Boiler Trail. This route was named after a massive boiler – the source of power for coal drilling machines – that Selwyn's crew hauled with great difficulty through Turtle Mountain country to the coalfields farther west.
In 1881, Armstrong resigned from his duties as a land guide. After another visit to Turtle Mountain in November as an agent and land commissioner for the South Western Colonization railway line, he sold out and moved with his family to Winnipeg.
. . . . .
Author: Teyana Neufeld, 2009.
Sources:
Armstrong, L. O. Meet You on the Trail or West Before the Railroad, Volume I Southern Manitoba and Turtle Mountain Country, 1880. Winnipeg: Boundary Commission—NWMP Trail Association, 1991.
Other Features Nearby
(1888-1929) The All Saints Church was established by a group of Church of England settlers. It served the area for over 30 years.
(At least 1887-1964)
(At least 1901-1967) In 1948 Bluevale School moved to present location.
(1901-1967) In 1948 Bluevale School moved from previous location to present location.
(Pre 1600 - 1885) The Boundary Commission Trail was the first “highway” to the west, carrying First Nations to and fro, Métis on buffalo hunts and finally Europeans looking for rich farmland.
(1873) The Boundary Commissioner Trail is still visible in this location. It is used by a local farmer to run cattle down to the Souris River.
The 51.8 miles of the Canadian National Railway from Greenway to Adelpha was completed in 1905.
The 28 miles of the Canadian National Railway from Adelpha to Deloraine was completed in 1914.
(1879) The first lignite coal to be discovered in Manitoba occurred nearby Wakopa.
(1914 – 1961) Coatstone was a stop on the Wakopa Subdivision of the Canadian National Railway.
The CPR reached Deloraine in 1886.
(1908 – 1936) Desford was the name of a station along the Great Northern Railway.
(1880) Dodd's Store (operated by Mr. Kingdon in 1885) was the first store on the site of what would become the community of Adelpha. The store was a stopping place along the Boundary Commission Trail.
(1908 – 1936) Fairburn was a stop on the Great Northern Railway line from St. John North Dakota to Brandon, Manitoba.
A small plot of land is set aside where the rail bed of the Great Northern Railway crosses the present-day No. 3 Highway. This was the location of the Fairburn train station.
(June 1st,1888- June,1967) School grounds are now a road side park.
(1879) Two brothers, Oliver and Herb Smith, were the first permanent homesteaders in the south-west, before the section, township and range system of surveying the land was implemented.
(1882 – 1883) George Morton launched a cheese-making project west of Whitewater Lake. He may have been successful if he hadn't overlooked a couple key factors . . .
(1905 – 1936) The Great Northern Railway covered the almost 70 miles between Brandon, Manitoba and St. John North Dakota.
(1914 – 1961) Hazeldean was a stop on the Wakopa Subdivision of the Canadian National Railway.
(May 1, 1884-1966) Hazeldean School moved from the first site to the second and present site.
(May 1,1884-1966) Hazeldean School moved from previous location to present location.
(1880) This Hudson's Bay Company post was managed by Agent C. Burns.
(1802-1805) The Hudson Bay Company operated a winter fur trading post south of Whitewater Lake for a few years. It was not a success and was soon abandoned.
Located in the golf course clubhouse, 7kms southeast of Deloraine.
PHONE: 204-747-2411
The Mandan Trail was a primary artery of travel and trade between the Assiniboine River Forts and the Missouri River where the Mandan First Nations lived.
(1925 – 1968) The first cemetery of the Mennonite Church in southwest Manitoba.
(1939 – 1960) Mennonites from Eastern Europe and Russia immigrated to the Whitewater area in 1923 and built this church.
(1914 – 1961) Mountainside was an early prairie community and a stop on the Wakopa Subdivision of the Canadian Northern Railway.
(1884-1967) In 1898 Mountainside School moved to the second school location.
(1884-1967) In 1898 Mountainside moved from its previous location to a location next door to the Mountainside Store.
Newcomb's Hollow is a pretty spot where a small interpretive centre for the Old Deloraine Land Titles Office has been built with a replica of the old Office.
(1802-1805) The North West Fur Trading Company set up a post only a few miles from their rivals, the HBC.
(1882 – 1886) Old Deloraine was established just north of the Land Titles Office, but moved when the railway came through the area.
(1881) The area's very first permanent pioneers were laid to rest in this scenic cemetery.
(1880 – 1886) Homesteaders in southwestern Manitoba had to first make their way to the Old Deloraine Land Titles Office, managed by George Newcomb, to register land claims.
(1880) The Old Wakopa Cemetery is the resting place of some of the earliest homesteaders of the Turtle Mountain region.
(1894-1967) New school was built in 1957. In 2000 it was purchased by Glenn Buhler and made into a restaurant - Windy Willows, which is closed now. Still standing as of 2012.
(1888-July 30th,1967)
(1892 – 1966) The grounds of Strathallen School are still in occasional use today as a community gathering place and baseball field.
(1882) Turtle Mountain City existed for not even a year before the town of Waubeesh appeared not a mile to the north.
(1883 – 1887) Waubeesh flourished where Turtle Mountain City did not, but only for a few years before being bypassed by the railroad.
(1885-1961) In 1918 West Lake School moved to second and present location.
(1885-1961) In 1918 West Lake School moved from previous location to 1/2 mile north to present location.
(1886 – 1960s) Whitewater village flourished on the shore of Whitewater Lake for over 75 years.