Dawson Trail Arts & Heritage Tour Exhibit Location: Dawson Trail Park Proposals are sought for an artistic commission to create an exhibit for a 20 ft x 10 ft outdoor space in the Dawson Trail Park in Richer, Manitoba. The work or works will render the artist’s vision or artistic representation(s) of two stories that will be featured in the exhibit. Interpretive exhibit panels will accompany the exhibit(s) along the lines of the text and images that follow below. Each of the two stories represents a different aspect of the history of the Dawson Trail in Manitoba. The first is the story of the lost gold of the Wolseley army’s pay somewhere along the Dawson Trail that has never been found. It is a fun story that includes some mystery and celebrates an old tale that all the locals know about and has been told and retold many ways. This story is also representative of the clashes and conflict that were commonplace between the Indigenous inhabitants of the region and the Government of Canada who sent Wolseley’s Army (The Red River Expedition) to the North-West to quell the Resistance. The second is the story of the history and significance of lumbering in this region. The first settler families that established themselves in the Richer area owned and operated sawmills which supplied lumber to the fast-growing Red River Settlement for construction and heating. Logs from this region were used for everything from the building of the St. Boniface Cathedral to the construction of the Dawson Trail’s corduroy road. Story 1: The Lost Treasure of the Dawson Trail
Somewhere along this dotted line lies a legendary treasure waiting to be found. Dawson Trail - treasure trail? Story by Michael Posner in Blom, R.R. (1980, April). Taché Rural Municipality 1880-1980 (P.36). Commissioned by The Council of the Rural Municipality of Taché. Derksen Printers, Steinbach: Manitoba. Retrieved from University of Manitoba digital collections June 3, 2020, http://hdl.handle.net/10719/3055598
There are at least three stories of treasures lost along the Dawson Trail. Two stories concern the payroll for Col. Garnet Wolseley’s Red River Expedition troops. According to one version, a soldier was travelling on horseback along the Dawson Trail with about $10,000 worth of gold, the payroll for the troops with Wolseley’s Red River Expedition of 1870-72. First Nations, who did not appreciate the presence of the army in their territory and had launched several complaints already by this point that they had not received the compensation promised to them
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by the government for the right of way through their territory for the road, started to trail him around Brokenhead. While the soldier was able to keep ahead of them for a bit, they were quickly gaining on him as the horse began to tire from the heavy load. It is said that he threw the gold in its leather pouches into the brush at the side of the trail which allowed the horse to outrun his pursuers, arriving safely at upper Fort Garry without the gold.
Illustration of Canadian soldier getting away from his pursuers without the gold. Manitoba Regional Tourism Network. (2007). Tales of the Dawson Trail. Eastern Manitoba Tourism Guide. Print It has always been suspected that the soldier had thrown the gold into a swamp where it would have sunk to the bottom. Others have speculated he hid the money in a log cabin along the trail intending to come back for it.
Period British gold coins. Retrieved from https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/Sovereign_Victoria_1842_662015.jpg
In another version, the soldier is killed by his pursuers with a blow to the head with a hatchet giving the place its name - Brokenhead River, or Tête-Ouverte, as a result, but this version of the story ignores the fact that it has been called Brokenhead since at least 1842, or “Pashandibewsibi” in Anishinaabemowin (Ojibway), meaning “river of the scalped head”.
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In yet another version, a Mr. Lawson of England stole a gold bullion worth close to one million dollars, crossed the Atlantic Ocean to Canada and made his way westward by following the trail of the Wolseley Expedition. The legend goes that he buried the barrel of gold bullion every day and travelled in the night only for English detectives to catch up with him on the banks of the Whitemouth River where he slashed his wrists not to reveal to his captors where he had buried the gold. Various sources Sources: Blom, R.T. (1980, April). Taché Rural Municipality 1880-1980 (P.37-39). Commissioned by The Council of the Rural Municipality of Taché. Derksen Printers, Steinbach: Manitoba. Retrieved from University of Manitoba digital collections June 3, 2020, http://hdl.handle.net/10719/3055598 Dornez-Laxdal, D. (1993). « Reflets d’un passé au lac Bossé ». No publisher. Godard (and Bourgouin) Family. Print Manitoba Regional Tourism Network. (2007). Tales of the Dawson Trail. Eastern Manitoba Tourism Guide (P.22-24). [Note that the date for the lost treasure story of 1868 in this article is wrong. Wolseley’s army did not come through this region until 1870-72.] Print. Winnipeg Tribune, Winnipeg, Manitoba, CA, August 20, 1966 (P.114), “Dawson Trail – treasure trail?” by Michael Posner. Retrieved June 8, 2020 from http://hdl.handle.net/10719/2291440 Story 2: A History of Lumbering in the Richer Area
Joseph Smith’s sawmill was one of many in the region toward the end of the 1800s. Given the abundance of spruce trees in the Sainte-Anne-des-Chênes area, logging was one of the main industries 3
in the early days of the colony. Joseph Smith owned a lumber camp in Richer and a sawmill in SainteAnne-des-Chênes. Here we see a few men cutting boards with a steam saw at Mr. Smith's home. Archives de la Société historique de Saint-Boniface, Collection générale, SHSB 30341. Retrieved June 25, 2020 from http://shsb.mb.ca/moulin-a-scie-smith
Sawmill of the (Charles) Saindon family in the vicinity of Richer around 1930. For many years, the forestry industry remained the main economic activity in the community of Richer. There were therefore many sawmills in operation in the area. But excessive logging caused the forest to disappear and many residents had to leave Richer to settle on better land or in the towns. Source: Archives of the St. Boniface Historical Society, Fonds Paroisse de l'Enfant-Jésus de Richer, SHSB 8910. Retrieved June 30, 2020 from http://shsb.mb.ca/Richer/Moulin_a_scie_Saindon_1930_SHSB8910
Located about 40 kilometres southeast of Winnipeg, the village of Richer has a history that is intimately linked to that of its neighbouring parish of Sainte-Anne-des-Chênes. As in the case of Sainte-Anne, what attracted the first settlers to the area, which was then called Côteau-de-Chênes, was the woods. The region is rich in small game and in firewood and construction wood. In fact, during the winters of 1861 and 1862, many lumbermen came here to gather the wood needed to build the third St. Boniface Cathedral. These lumbermen were accompanied by missionary Jean-Baptiste Thibault, who is said to have celebrated the first mass in the region.
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Photo of the local lumber industry in Lake of the Woods area (unknown date). Forestry History Society of Ontario. Forestory, Volume 10, Issue 1, Spring 2019. Retrieved from The Agreement Forest Program, Caterpillar Tractors, Wild Turkeys and Much, Much, More
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Source: Hauling firewood to St. Boniface along the Dawson road near Lagimodière blvd. Pioneer History of Glenn, East Braintree and McMunn, P72. UM Archives
Lumber for Saint-Boniface Cathedral The sketch of St. Boniface Cathedral below in 1858 captures its grandeur and hints at the influence the Church exerted over the Red River Settlement. It burned down in 1860 and in 1861-62, some woodsmen from Saint-Boniface went to the outer parish of Ste-Anne-des-Chênes known for its épinettière forest to find strong oak, pine and elm with which to rebuild a fourth cathedral. Sadly, that forest burned in 1863 around the time the first sawmills started to be established there, its first settlers having gone there as early as the 1830s. The Ste. Anne region was always rich in small game, firewood and wood for construction, something the settlers in Red River needed and was becoming increasingly scarce in the parishes near Fort Garry. These lumbermen were accompanied by missionary Jean-Baptiste Thibault, who is said to have celebrated the first mass in the region among them and their families. Sources: Library and Archives Canada. (n.a.) St. Boniface Cathedral, Red River Settlement (1858), William Napier. The Canadian West. Retrieved June 21, 2020 from https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/canadianwest/052910/05291032_e.html Société historique de Saint-Boniface. (2010-2020). Richer (Thibaultville). Accueil / Au pays de Riel / Lieux / Richer. Retrieved June 21, 2020, from http://shsb.mb.ca/Au_pays_de_Riel/Lieux/Richer 6
Cathédrale Saint-Boniface Cathedral. (2020). “Mother Church of Western Canada”. Retrieved from June 21, 2020 from https://www.cathedralestboniface.ca/main.php?p=62 Villa Youville Inc. (1976). Paroisse de Ste. Anne des Chênes 1876-1976 (p.12). Published by « le Comité historique du Centenaire, » Ste-Anne, Manitoba. Retrieved June 3, 2020 from http://www.mb1870.org/localhistory/125%20-%20La%20Paroisse%20de%20Ste.%20Anne-desChenes.pdf
Third St. Boniface Cathedral, Red River Settlement 1858, by William Napier. Source: Library and Archives Canada/William Henry Edward Napier fonds/c001065k (n.a.) St. Boniface Cathedral, Red River Settlement (1858), by William Napier. The Canadian West. Ref. No.: C-001065. Retrieved June 21, 2020 from https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/canadian-west/052910/05291032_e.html
The Fourth Saint-Boniface Cathedral was started by Bishop Taché, who succeeded Bishop Provencher in 1853, and measured 150 feet by 60. It was opened for worship in 1863 but was torn down in 1909 for lack of space.Cathédrale de Saint-Boniface. (2020). “Mother Church of Western Canada”. Retrieved June 29, 2020 from https://www.cathedralestboniface.ca/main.php?p=62
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