Grande Prairie

Grande Prairie is a city in northwest Alberta, Canada within the southern portion of an area known as Peace River Country. It is located at the intersection of Highway 43 (part of the CANAMEX Corridor) and Highway 40 (the Bighorn Highway), approximately northwest of Edmonton. The city is surrounded by the County of Grande Prairie No. 1.
Grande Prairie was the seventh-largest city in Alberta in 2016 with a population of 63,166, and was one of Canada's fastest growing cities between 2001 and 2006.
The city adopted the trumpeter swan as an official symbol due to its proximity to the migration route and summer nesting grounds of this bird. For that reason, Grande Prairie is sometimes nicknamed the "Swan City". The dinosaur has emerged as an unofficial symbol of the city due to paleontology discoveries in the areas north and west of Grande Prairie.
History.
Grande Prairie was named for the large prairie which lies to the north, east, and west of it. In the 18th century, the prairie was occupied by bands of the Dane-zaa (Beaver) peoples, who began trading with the North West Company at Dunvegan in the early 19th century. The earliest recorded reference to the prairie was by trader Samuel Black in 1824. In 1880, a Hudson's Bay Company post called La Grande Prairie was established by George Kennedy north of the present city, at what is now the Town of Sexsmith. In the late 19th century, the prairie was settled by Cree and Iroquois from around Jasper and Lac Ste. Anne. When 17 townships were surveyed for homesteading in 1909, a land rush soon followed, with many settlers arriving over the Edson Trail. In 1910, the Grande Prairie Townsite was sub-divided. By 1912, it included a bank, hotel, post office, and land office, making it a district metropolis. In 1916, it became the terminus of the Edmonton, Dunvegan and British Columbia Railway from Edmonton.
The Edson Trail from Edson to Grande Prairie was opened in 1911 as a means for settlers to reach the Grande Prairie area. It was basically nothing more than a tract of clear cut bush and forest, and thus was a very difficult route for many settlers, especially during wet weather. Because of this, large scale settlement came late compared to other major farming regions further south in Canada. Grande Prairie was incorporated as a village by the Province of Alberta in 1914, but it was not until the arrival of the railway in 1916 that farmland quickly expanded as waves of settlers came into the Peace region.
The arrival of the railway and the increased settlement in the area drove up Grande Prairie's population past the 1,000 mark, allowing it to incorporate as a town on March 27, 1919. A local recession in the 1920s caused a temporary depopulation of Grande Prairie. But the population rebounded afterwards by the 1930s, by which time the population had reached 1,464. Settlement continued unabated even into the 1930s during the Dust Bowl era because the Peace Region was able to escape the severe drought conditions that plagued the Canadian Prairies further south at the time.
The Second World War saw the US and Canadian military establish Grande Prairie as a part of the Northwest Staging Route for the construction of the Alaska Highway from Dawson Creek to Alaska. Although Dawson Creek was chosen as the major starting point of the construction of the Alaska Highway, Grande Prairie was a major stopover point for military aircraft during the war, and benefited economically from this.
Although Grande Prairie was well located in the southern edge of the Peace Country, it was competing with the towns of Peace River and Dawson Creek for the title of the most important centre of commerce and agriculture in the region until the late 1950s, when its population growth began to outstrip these towns as oil and natural gas exploration was underway in the Peace Region, especially since the first major discovery of oil further south in Leduc near Edmonton in 1947 and the construction of a large pulp mill in the early 1970s.
The construction and paving of Highway 43 (originally sections of Highways 2, 34, and 43 from the BC border to the Yellowhead Highway just west of Edmonton) in 1956 cut down on the travel time by road significantly, further enhancing Grande Prairie's accessibility and economic status.
The town of Grande Prairie was incorporated as a city in 1958. At that time, its population was approximately 7,600.
The opening of the Procter & Gamble kraft pulp mill in 1972 and the discovery of the Elmworth deep basin gas field spurred an economic boom. Grande Prairie's population went from just over 12,000 in the early 1970s to over 24,000 by the time the oil boom went bust in 1981.
In the five years from 2001 to 2006, Grande Prairie was one of the fastest growing cities in Canada, growing from 37,000 to 47,000 people.After 2006, and with another recession, the population decreased slightly, followed by a slow increase to just over 69,000 by 2018.
Geography.
Grande Prairie is located just north of the 55th parallel north, and is northwest of Edmonton, lying at an elevation of above sea level. The city is surrounded by farmland to the north, east, and west. To the south lies a vast boreal forest with aspen, tamarack, lodgepole pine, jack pine, and black spruce extending well into the foothills of the Canadian Rockies south and southwest of the city.
Bear Creek goes through the city from the northwest to the south end and is a tributary of the Wapiti River to the south. The Bear Creek Reservoir is the small body of water by Grande Prairie Regional College in the northwest part of the city, and is ringed by marshy wetland. The terrain immediately surrounding Grande Prairie is largely flat to gently rolling, but rises gradually to hilly terrain closer to the foothills to the south and southwest. On clear days, some peaks in the Rockies are visible to the southwest from Grande Prairie.
The city lies on the southern edge of aspen parkland, which is a transitional biome between boreal forest and prairie. The Peace River Country contains the northernmost area of aspen parkland in North America. However, much of the aspen parkland in the region has long since been destroyed by extensive farming and oil/gas drilling activity.
Climate.
Grande Prairie has a northern continental climate typical of northwestern Alberta and northeastern British Columbia, classified as humid continental ("Dfb"), bordering closely on a subarctic climate ("Dfc") with old data under the Köppen climate classification. Winters are generally very cold with some mild spells. Summers are often fairly cool to pleasantly warm in the daytime, but nights can be cool despite the long summer days typical for its latitude. Hot days over are rare, occurring on average only two to three days a year, which is not unexpected this far north. Winter conditions can vary tremendously from year to year. Winters have been known to be mild enough to produce "brown Christmas" conditions, where little or no snow may fall until after Christmas due to unusually mild early winter conditions.
The average January temperature is , while the average July temperature is . However, temperatures as low as and as high as have been recorded; the extreme humidex and wind chill readings are , respectively. The city receives of precipitation annually, including of rain and of snow. Snowfall amounts, however, vary greatly from year to year. Being fairly close to the foothills of the Canadian Rockies, it can get quite windy in Grande Prairie, especially in the spring and fall. Chinooks may occur in and bring winter thaws to the Grande Prairie area.
Grande Prairie has 314 days with measureable sunshine per year on average, and just above 2,200 hours of bright sunshine or about 46.1% of possible sunshine, ranging from a low of 31.2% in November to a high of 59.1% in July.
Summers can bring thunderstorms, although they are not as frequent nor as severe as those further south in Central Alberta. Rainfall can vary from year to year, but the Peace Region is noted for never having experienced truly severe drought conditions more typical of Southern Alberta and neighbouring Saskatchewan. Tornadoes are rare but not unheard of in the Peace Region. A tornado struck the downtown area and east side of Grande Prairie on July 8, 2004. Although the tornado was considered a very weak one (F0-F1 on the Fujita scale) and the weather was not severe at the time, it was still strong enough to damage houses and flip vehicles. There were no casualties or deaths.
Demographics.
In the 2016 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, the City of Grande Prairie recorded a population of 63,166 living in 23,676 of its 26,204 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2011 population of 55,655. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2016.
The population of the City of Grande Prairie according to its 2015 municipal census was 68,556, a change of from its 2007 municipal census population of 50,227.
In the 2016 Census, 11.9% of residents were visible minorities, while 12.6% were aboriginal and 75.5% were white. The largest visible minority groups were Filipino (5.0%), Black (2.1%), South Asian (1.9%), and Chinese (0.8%).
As of 2016, 85.7% of residents claimed English as their first language. Other common mother tongues were Tagalog (2.9%), French (2.6%), German (1.1%) and Spanish (0.7%).
In the 2011 Census, the City of Grande Prairie had a population of 55,032 living in 21,180 of its 22,979 total dwellings, a change of 16.8% from its 2006 adjusted population of 47,107. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2011.
58.5% of residents identified themselves as Christian at the time of the 2011 census while 39.2% indicated they had no religious affiliation. The largest denomination was Catholic (23.1%), followed by Other Christian (14.8%), United Church (6.0%), Anglican (5.3%), Pentecostal (3.4%), Lutheran (2.7%) and Baptist (2.1%). The largest non-Christian religion in Grande Prairie was Islam, making up 0.9% of the population.
Crime rate.
Until recently (including 2015), Grande Prairie topped the list for the national average for the Crime Severity Index, but in the 2016 report published by "Maclean's", the city was in 12th place. The Crime Severity Index was 150 per 100,000 people, compared to the national average of 70.96. Grande Prairie was 13th on the Violent Crime Severity Index with 139 per 100,000 people versus a 75.25 average for all municipalities included in the report.
Economy.
Grande Prairie possesses a diversified economy. Major industries include oil and gas, agriculture, forestry, and food services.
Agriculture was the first economic mainstay of Grande Prairie since settlement began in the early 20th century. It remains part of the local economy today. A variety of crops such as barley, wheat, canola, and oats are grown in the area. Livestock such as cattle and buffalo (bison) are also raised in the area. Despite being north of the 55th parallel, the climate is mild enough to allow for farming on a large scale to prosper. Longer daylight hours during the summer at this latitude aid in crop production. The Peace Country is the northernmost major farming region in North America. Land within the region is still being cleared for new farmland.
Although some oil and gas drilling has been ongoing in the area since the 1950s, oil and gas exploration did not begin to occur on a large scale until the late 1970s. It was in the mid to late-1970s that the Elmworth gas field was discovered and developed, causing the city to grow rapidly until the oil boom ended in 1981. Today Grande Prairie's location atop both the Montney and Duvernay geological formations have seen local extraction activities focused on natural-gas condensate and shale gas. As a result of this focus the region has maintained relatively high levels of activity when compared to areas where conventional resources, shallow gas or heavy oil are the primary resources.
Forestry is a major part of Grande Prairie's economy, for large tracts of forest lie to the south in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies. International Paper (formerly Weyerhaeuser Canada) kraft pulp mill, opened in 1972 by Procter & Gamble, is one of Grande Prairie's largest employers. Canfor runs a sawmill and lumber yard operation on the west side of the city. Norbord (formerly Ainsworth) oriented strand board plant opened in late 1995.
Grande Prairie serves as the economic and transportation hub for a trading area of nearly 250,000 people. Grande Prairie is also on the CANAMEX trade route linking Canada, the United States, and Mexico.
Government and politics.
Since its start in 1930, the Grande Prairie provincial district (and later the Grande Prairie-Wapiti district) has elected a candidate of the government party in every election, except for two exceptions. Alberta politics being what it is, Grande Prairie was able to do this by electing a UFA in 1930, a Social Credit candidate in 1935 then consistently electing a rightist candidate in every election from 1940 to the present.
Arts and culture.
Live music can be found in several downtown bars and intermittently at all-ages locations such as Tito's Restaurant and the GP Curling Club. Summer-long music festivals have been organized by community-minded individuals and charitable organizations. Grande Prairie has a wide range of local music genres including country (such as Tenille Townes, Brad Sims, and more), reggae (Tasman Jude), metal (Arrival Of Autumn), folk, rock and much more
Cultural venues include Revolution Place (a concert hall and hockey rink — the local AJHL team, the Grande Prairie Storm, plays there), the Grande Prairie Museum, the Art Gallery of Grande Prairie, 214 place, the tallest commercial building in the city, and Second Street Theatre. Grande Prairie is also home to a professional musical theatre company, "Broadway Live Broadway".
The Reel Shorts Film Festival is a five-day international festival of short films in Grande Prairie that takes place at Grande Prairie Live Theatre's Second Street Theatre in early May.
The Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum, located 15 minutes west of Grande Prairie is a building with many exhibits, a large theatre, classrooms, a Paleontology Lab, a gift shop and a restaurant. The museum is named after Philip J. Currie, from the University of Alberta, who has contributed to the understanding of the link between dinosaurs and birds.
Sports and recreation.
In 1995, the city hosted the Canada Games. The event was televised nationally on CBC Television. Hundreds of athletes competed in the events and the city gained status and recognition as a result. The city played host to the 2010 Arctic Winter Games from March 6–13, 2010.
There are a number of parks in Grande Prairie, including the large Muskoseepi Park in the Bear Creek valley which winds its way throughout the city. Muskoseepi Park has excellent walking and bike trails extending nearly the entire length of Bear Creek, from the northwest to the southeast of the city. The park also contains the Ernie Radbourne Pavilion, the outdoor Bear Creek Swimming Pool and the outdoor Muskoseepi Park Pond which converts into a skating rink in the winter.
Crystal Lake in the northeast part of the city also has parkland, preserved wetlands (great for birdwatching), and walking/bike paths around its entire circumference.
Nestled within spruce and pine trees, on the south east side of the city, just a couple of minutes from downtown, is Evergreen Park. The park and facilities are home to the annual Grande Prairie Stompede event, which draws upwards of 30,000 people annually. The park is the largest full featured exhibition facility north of Edmonton, and can cater to upwards of 10,000 people at a time. It has a restaurant (open daily) and a lounge, and hosts events such as agricultural shows, rodeos, chuckwagon races, horse racing, sportsman and RV shows. A variety of halls, convention spaces and conference facilities all with paved parking are available. The largest building, the Entrec Centre has of space, with a main hall, and has hosted many concerts and trade shows in the past. Evergreen Park also has a 76 spot RV and Marine Campground which is open in the summer from May to October, as well as an archery centre, an equestrian facility, and 12 baseball diamonds.
Grande Prairie has three 18-hole golf courses, The Dunes Golf and Winter Club, the Bear Creek Golf Club, and the Grande Prairie Golf and Country Club. A fourth golf course, Grovedale Golf Course, is also located approximately to the southwest of the city.
Early in 2017, a new nine hole course, "The Bear Paw Golf Course", with a par level of 3 opened up in the "South Bear Creek Recreation Area."
Grande Prairie has three 18-hole disc golf courses. Thrill Hill in the Swanavon neighbourhood, South Bear Creek, and Coop Community Course at Evergreen Park.
Downhill skiing is popular in Grande Prairie, which has a local ski hill called Nitehawk and is located south of the city on the south bank of the Wapiti River. Aside from skiing, Nitehawk also has the only North American natural luge track certified for international events, and over the summer months freestyle ski jumpers practice using the Northern Extreme water ramp facility. It is also active in luge as a naturally refrigerated venue, hosting the FIL World Luge Natural Track Championships in 2007.
Cross-country skiing is also common during the winter. The Wapiti Nordic Ski Club is one of Canada's premier cross country skiing and biathlon facilities, and is just south of the city. There are over of both classical and skate skiing trails, as well as of nightly lit trails. There are also snowshoe trails as well as dog friendly trails. In the summer, the trails are used for hiking, mountain biking, and running.
The foothills south of Grande Prairie and around Grande Cache are visited year-round for hiking in the summer and for snowmobiling and other winter sports in the winter. Kakwa Wildland Park on the Alberta-BC border, about south of the city, is a mountainous natural area and is known for the Kakwa Falls.
On the South side of the city, off of Resources Road, is the Wapiti Shooters Club. The club was founded in 1949, and due to the many upgrades over the years is considered one of the finest shooting clubs in Alberta. It offers Shotgun (Trap, Sporting Clays, and Skeet), Handgun (outdoor 12 lanes, indoor 6 lanes), and a outdoor covered rifle range. The club is also used for business functions, birthday parties, RCMP, Sheriff, and Safety training. Over the years many top level coaches and athletes from all over Canada have trained or entered into events at the club. In addition, the club is currently developing a long () rifle range suitable for high power rifles, north of the city.
Grande Prairie also has a new and modern health and fitness facility known as the Eastlink Centre. It is a large indoor fitness facility that has two indoor pools: a 50-meter, deep water Olympic sized pool, and a 25-meter, wheelchair accessible, higher temperature, shallow water Program Pool. Other aquatic amenities include a splash park, a lazy river, waterslides, and a surf simulator. The facility also includes a large weight room, squash and racquetball courts, fitness classes, a daycare service, a multi-use basketball court, a summer outdoor 5,000 sq. ft. concrete skateboard park, and additional other amenities and programs. The Eastlink Centre is located in the city's southwest and connects St. Joseph High School, the Grande Prairie Gymnastics Centre, the Coca-Cola, and Charles Spencer High School. In March 2012 the Eastlink Centre received an award for its exceptional accessibility features.
The Outdoor Bear Creek Swimming Pool, in Muskoseepi Park, was reopened in the summer of 2019, after extensive modifications. The new renovations include a Tots Pool, a Zero Beach, Spanish Steps, Lily Islands, a Games Area, and a Waterslide.
The Leisure Centre (previously known as the Rec-Plex) is located in northwest Grande Prairie near the Bear Creek Reservoir. In December 2011, after the Eastlink Centre opened, the majority of the Leisure Centre was closed, with unrealized plans to reopen in the second half of 2013. Currently the swimming pool and gym remain closed, but the indoor soccer pitch is open for a variety of sports.
Over the years Grande Prairie has played host to many tournaments including:
The city also has the following ice hockey teams:
Transportation.
Air.
The Grande Prairie Airport is located at the west end of the city and serves the region with daily scheduled flights to Calgary and Edmonton. Two airlines, Air Canada Express and WestJet Encore, offer service to the airport. The airport has seen growth in both passenger and aircraft traffic in recent years, and now serves just under a half a million passengers annually. The Grande Prairie Airport was originally developed in the 1930s as a grass only strip at its present site. In 1941 in support of the war effort, and the building of the Alaska Highway, the facility was expanded for utilization by the Royal Canadian Air Force and the United States Air Force. In 1950 the airport came under the authority of the Federal Government until February 1, 1997, at which time it was transferred to the City of Grande Prairie.
The terminal, built in 1981, was renovated in 2009 making it twice its original size. In 2014, one of the two asphalt runways was extended to , with the other one being . A forthcoming expansion includes an upgrade to the parking system. Currently the airport has no customs capabilities (although a temporary customs facility was set up for the 2010 Arctic Winter Games).
Swanberg Air formerly operated out of the airport until they ceased operations in 2011. They flew cargo, scheduled, and charter passenger services in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia.
City public transit.
Grande Prairie Transit is a small public transit system with modern buses and a route system integrated throughout the city.
Intercity bus.
Greyhound Canada offered scheduled bus service from its Grande Prairie terminal to Edmonton and Dawson Creek. This service was terminated in October 2018. Red Arrow once connected Grande Prairie to Edmonton, but that service was also cancelled. Bus service to Edmonton is now provided by Cold Shot Bus Service.
Highways and roads.
Highway 43 is the main east–west highway through the city providing a connection from Edmonton to the southeast through to British Columbia to the west. Highway 43 meets Highway 2 a few kilometres north of the city at the Four Mile Interchange, then continues south into the city, via the city bypass, and exits the city at the west end near the airport. The short stretch of Highway 2 extending just north and just west of Grande Prairie was renumbered to Highway 43 in the late 1990s to link with the rest of Highway 43 ie: the Yellowhead Highway from Edmonton. This explains why newer maps no longer show both short stretches as Highway 2. The renumbering was also due to Highway 43 now being a part of the CANAMEX trade route and being widened to a four-lane divided highway.
The four lane Highway 43X bypass, skirts the northwest corner of the city from the Four Mile Interchange to Highway 43 just west of the airport. The "Four Mile Interchange" (previously called "Four Mile Corner") is an interchange so-named because it is north of Richmond Avenue (100th Avenue, at 100 street). The Highway 43X bypass was completed in stages, over several years, and was fully opened to traffic in September 2019. The Highway 43X Bypass permits traffic to go around the city's north west region, and reduces traffic on the city bypass, which was built in the 1960s, had become fully engulfed within the city, and was somewhat congested with traffic.
Highway 40 is the primary access road into Grande Prairie from the south, and extends southward to Grande Cache, and Jasper National Park. It is part of the shortest fully paved route to Alaska from the lower 48 states, so Grande Prairie sees many vacationers heading to Alaska by road during the summer via Highway 40 northward into Grande Prairie, then Highway 43 westward towards Dawson Creek, BC, which is "Mile 0" of the Alaska Highway.
Rail.
The City of Grande Prairie has rail freight service provided by CN. Trackage runs south from Grande Prairie to Grande Cache and Hinton, where it joins CN's main transcontinental line. CN also operates local freight service out of Grande Prairie on former Northern Alberta Railways tracks - north to Sexsmith and Rycroft, and west to Beaverlodge and Hythe.
Savage Alberta Railway, which operated from 1999 to 2006, was owned by North American RailNet and had its headquarters in the city prior to being purchased by CN.
Education.
Elementary and secondary schools.
Four school districts operate schools within Grande Prairie.
The Grande Prairie Public School District (GPPSD) operates 18 schools.
Grande Prairie Roman Catholic Separate School District No. 28 operates ten schools within Grande Prairie.
The Peace Wapiti School Division No. 76 (PWSD) operates three schools in Grande Prairie that serve students of the surrounding County of Grande Prairie No. 1.
The Northwest Francophone Education Region No. 1 operates École Nouvelle Frontière for students in kindergarten to grade 12.
Aside from the two outreach schools that provide alternative curriculum for high school students, Grande Prairie's high schools are the Grande Prairie Composite High School (GPPSD), St. Joseph's Catholic High School (GP&DCS), Ecole Nouvelle Frontiere, Charles Spencer High School (GPPSD) and Peace Wapiti Academy (PWSD).
Post-secondary.
Grande Prairie Regional College was originally incorporated as the Grande Prairie Junior College in 1965 and opened its doors in 1966. After being renamed Grande Prairie Regional College (GPRC) in 1970, construction of the present campus began in 1973 based on a plan prepared by Canadian architect Douglas Cardinal. The first phase opened in 1974 followed by the second phase in 1991. The President of the GPRC is Robert W Murray.


Billy Caldwell

Billy Caldwell, baptized Thomas Caldwell (March 17, 1782 – September 28, 1841), known also as Sauganash ("Zhaaganaash": [one who speaks] English), was a British-Potawatomi fur trader who was commissioned captain in the Indian Department of Canada during the War of 1812. He moved to the United States in 1818 and settled there. In 1829 and 1833 he negotiated treaties on behalf of the United Nations of Chippewa, Ottawa and Potawatomi with the United States, and became a leader of a Potawatomi band at Trader's Point (Iowa Territory). He worked to gain the boundary long promised by the British between white settlers and Indians, but never achieved it.
Born in a Mohawk refugee camp near Fort Niagara, Billy was the son of a Potawatomi mother (Misheswans) (Caldwell Oral Family History - Ontario) and William Caldwell, a Scots-Irish immigrant to North America and a Loyalist British officer during the American Revolutionary War. He became multilingual, learning Potawatomi, English, and French.
After moving to the United States in 1818, Caldwell became a fur trader and learned the Potawatomi language, an Algonquian language; he negotiated with numerous tribes in the Lake Michigan area. He gained their respect and also acted as a translator and negotiator between the government and American Indians. In 1829, Caldwell represented the Chippewa, Ottawa and Potawatomi peoples of the United Nations Tribes in negotiating the Second Treaty of Prairie du Chien with the United States. For his work, the US granted him a 1600-acre tract, known as the Caldwell Reserve, along the Chicago River. Eighty acres is included within the Cook County Forest Preserve.
Together with Alexander Robinson, Caldwell also negotiated the Treaty of Chicago in 1833 for the United Nations Tribes. The US had appointed the two mixed-race men as chiefs in 1829 to fill vacant positions, to encourage the United Nations Tribes to sign the cessions. The treaty led to the final removal of American Indians from that region, to west of the Mississippi River. In 1835, Caldwell migrated with his people from the Chicago region west to Platte County, Missouri.
As a result of the Platte Purchase in 1836, Caldwell and his band were removed from Missouri to Iowa Territory, to the area of Trader's Point ("Pointe aux Poules") on the east bank of the Missouri River. While living at Trader's Point, Caldwell led a band of approximately 2000 Potawatomi. Their settlement became known as Camp Caldwell. In 1841 Caldwell died; scholars believe it may have been because of cholera.
Early life and education.
Soon after the American Revolutionary War, Billy Caldwell, was born in 1782 (as documented through two autobiographical letters) in a Mohawk refugee camp near Fort Niagara to a Mohawk woman. His father was William Caldwell, a Scots-Irish immigrant who came to North America in 1773 and served as a Loyalist soldier in the war. Living first in Virginia, in 1774 his father had fought as an officer with Lord Dunmore and was wounded. After recovering, he went to Fort Niagara in New York, where he fought with the partisan Butler's Rangers against Patriot colonists in New York and Pennsylvania.
After the war, Caldwell abandoned Billy and his mother, moving to the Detroit area. He resettled as a Loyalist in Upper Canada, where he was granted land by the British Crown. In addition to clearing land for his own farm, he helped develop the town of Amherstburg, in present-day Ontario.
In 1783, the senior Caldwell married Suzanne Baby (daughter of Jacques Baby dit Dupéron), of French-Canadian descent. They eventually had eight children together. In 1789, when Billy was seven, his father took the boy to live with him and his Canadian wife, who wanted to rear him in the Catholic faith. Billy was given a basic Anglo-Canadian education and became Catholic. Living with his father's family, Billy learned to speak both English and French, after having grown up learning the Iroquoian Mohawk. Although Billy worked on his father's farm as he was growing up, he wanted a different life.
Career.
In 1797 at the age of 17, Billy Caldwell entered United States (US) territory for the first time, to learn the fur trade business (he traded for much of his life). He kept his British Canadian loyalties and learned Potowatomi, an Algonquian language, for dealing with the several tribes of that language family near Lake Michigan.
Billy Caldwell Jr. was considered the left hand of the Great Leader Tecumseh, One of North America's greatest European resistance movements.
In 1812, after the Battle of Fort Dearborn, Caldwell at age 32 returned to Canada to enlist in the British service; he looked for his father's help to gain a commission. The senior Caldwell by then was a Lieutenant Colonel and had gained commissions for his sons by Suzanne. The regular army did not accept Billy Caldwell, but he was commissioned as a captain in the Indian Department. By then he had become influential among the Ojibwa, Ottawa and Potawatomi, Algonquian-speaking tribes inhabiting the area around Lake Michigan. Severely wounded in his first combat action, Caldwell Jr. recovered and participated in several more battles along the northern frontier. He was disgusted that the British abandoned their First Nations allies at the Battle of the Thames, when General Proctor made an early retreat before the US forces. By account of natives at the battle, Caldwell was one of the last to see Tecumseh alive, walking away after the battle mortally wounded in the chest. In addition, through this period Caldwell had worked with the British in the hope they would deliver the long-promised boundary between European and First Nations settlement, but each war ended with their ceding more land to the Americans.
In 1814, the Canadians appointed the senior Caldwell as Superintendent of Indians for the Western District, a position for which the younger Caldwell had competed as well. He was appointed second to his father. In 1815 Amherstburg, Ontario's Commandant, Reginald James, suspended Caldwell Sr. because of problems in supplying the Indians; he appointed Billy Caldwell as Superintendent. The Indian Department quickly found that he could not manage the work and "eased him out" the following year, in 1816.
The younger Caldwell inherited a plot of land in early 1818 after his father's death, but decided to return to the US. He settled in the Fort Dearborn area (now Chicago); he had long been recruited by Americans because of his influence with the local tribes. He worked hard to gain the Americans' trust. At the same time he continued to work with a local fur trade firm and became active with the tribes in the area.
He became more politically active and in 1825, Caldwell sought an appointment to become a justice of the peace. In August 1826, Caldwell served as a judge in Peoria County, Illinois's first election. Also in 1826, he was recommended to the Governor of Illinois to hold the Justice of the Peace position for Peoria County. That year, he became an appraiser for the estate of John Crafts, a local trader who died during the year of 1825. In 1827, Caldwell worked for the United States to secure information related to a possible Winnebago uprising.
In 1829, Caldwell became one of several chiefs to represent the United Nations of the Chippewa, Ottawa, and Potawatomi in negotiations with the United States in the "Second Treaty of Prairie du Chien". The US was working on Indian Removal, the process that would be authorized by Congress in 1830. At the same time, their agents were also negotiating with the Winnebago for cessions and removal.
"Through his involvement in the process, he became recognized as a chief of the United Nations," and was so introduced by their spokesmen. Also negotiating as a chief was Alexander Robinson (also known as "Chechepinquay" or The Squinter), a mixed-race Potawatomi who was Caldwell's long-time friend. He later said that Dr. Wolcott, the US Indian Agent to the United Nations, arranged for both Robinson and Caldwell to be selected as chiefs to fill two vacancies. It was an example of US intervention into tribes' processes for identifying their own leaders. Wolcott wanted to have chiefs who would favor the treaty, fearing that unless all the chiefs' positions filled, the United Nations would not sign. The US granted both Robinson and Caldwell large plots of land under the treaty for their parts in influencing the other chiefs to sign the land cession.
Caldwell was given 1600 acres on the Chicago River. In 1833, he helped found the first Catholic church in Chicago, Saint Mary of the Assumption. It was located at what is now Lake Street west of State Street.
In 1833, together with Robinson, Caldwell was one of the chiefs representing the United Nations of the three tribes in negotiating the Treaty of Chicago. By this, the Potawatomi ceded the "last of their Illinois and Wisconsin lands and their last reservations in Michigan." Caldwell and his band migrated west in 1835, first settling in Missouri west of the Mississippi River. The treaty provided for a $10,000 payment each to Caldwell and Robinson, and a $400 lifetime annuity for Caldwell, with $300 annually for Robinson. Before the US Senate ratified the treaty in 1835, it reduced the lump-sum payments to the men to $5000 each, but left their annuities intact. Robinson and some other Métis remained in Illinois on their private tracts of land, but most of the United Nations Tribes removed to Missouri and then to Iowa.
Caldwell Reserve.
The US had awarded Caldwell's Reserve, 1600 acres on the Chicago River, to "Sauganash" in 1829 as a result of his services in negotiating the "Prairie du Chien" treaty. In 1833, likely due to the declining fur trade and development opportunities, Caldwell began selling off his land by contracting with the land speculator Arthur Bronson from New York. According to his land patent, to be legally binding, each deed had to have a president's endorsed signature upon it. All unsold parcels were to be reserved for Caldwell's heirs forever, in trust with the US Bureau of Indian Affairs. The land patent was not completed until 1839, and the deeds did not gain a president's signature until 1841, after Caldwell and his band had left the area for the West.
In all, six land sales took place from Caldwell's Reserve. These land transactions included: 80 acres to George W. Dole and Richard Hamilton in June 1833 for $100; 160 acres to Richard Nicolas, Sarah Amantus, Eleanor Hamilton, and infant heirs of Richard Jo and Diana W. Hamilton in July 1833 for $200; 160 acres to Philo Carpenter in July 1833 for $200; 720 acres to Arthur Bronson in 1833 for $900; 160 acres to Captain Seth Johnson in November 1833 for $200; 80 and 160 acres, respectively, to Julius B. Kingsbury in November 1834 for $300. To date, the Northern 80 acres of Caldwell's Reserve were never legally conveyed for sale with a president's signature of approval. They are included within the Cook County Forest Preserve and Wildwood community of Chicago.
Marriage and family.
Caldwell married La Natte about 1804, who died after the birth of their first child, Alexander. She was the niece of the powerful Potowatomi chief, Mad Sturgeon. Alexander died in 1832 in his twenties from alcoholism.
Caldwell married again, but his second wife also died within a year after the birth of their first child.
Before leaving the Chicago area, Caldwell married a third time, on November 18, 1834. His bride was "Saqua" (also called "Masaqua") LeGrand, a Métis woman of Potawatomi and French descent. They had a daughter and son born after they migrated west. Only the son, "Pe-y-mo," survived to adulthood. Later in the nineteenth century, "Pe-y-mo" entered the historical records when trying to sell the last 80 acres of Caldwell's Reserve in Chicago.
Indian removal.
In 1835, Caldwell and his band of Potawatomi left the State of Illinois and relocated in Platte County, Missouri.
In 1836, as a result of the Platte Purchase, Caldwell and his band were removed from this reservation to Trader's Point on the east bank of the Missouri River in the Iowa Territory. The Potawatomi band of an estimated 2000 individuals settled in a main village called "Caldwell's Camp", located where the later city of Council Bluffs, Iowa developed. (This was on the eastern bank of the river, opposite the present-day city of Omaha, Nebraska.)
From 1838 to 1839, Caldwell and his people were ministered to by the notable Belgian Jesuit missionary Pierre-Jean De Smet, based in St. Louis, Missouri. The Jesuit priest was appalled at the violence and desperation that overtook the Potawatomi in their new home, in large part due to the whiskey trade. After De Smet returned to St. Louis, the Catholic mission was abandoned by 1841.
Caldwell died on September 28, 1841; scholars believe it may have been from cholera. His wife "Masaqua" died in the winter of 1843. Together they had one surviving son, "Pe-y-mo". Pe-y-mo married and had his own family, and they lived for some time with the Kickapoo in Kansas. In the late nineteenth century, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States.
Legacy and honors.
 Map of Chicago 1980.


Mistissini


Big Sheep Mountains

The Big Sheep Mountains are located in the eastern area of the U.S. State of Montana in Dawson County, Montana. They are the easternmost mountains in Montana. Nearby towns include Circle, Lindsay, and Glendive.


Flathead Lake

Flathead Lake () is a large natural lake in northwest Montana and is the largest natural freshwater lake by surface area that is west of the source of the Missouri River in the contiguous United States.
The lake is a remnant of the ancient, massive glacial dammed lake, Lake Missoula of the era of the last interglacial. Flathead Lake is a natural lake along the mainline of the Flathead River. It was dammed in 1930 by Kerr Dam at its outlet on Polson Bay, and the lake level was raised by . It is one of the cleanest lakes in the populated world for its size and type.
Geography.
Located in the northwest corner of the state of Montana, south of Kalispell, it is approximately long and wide, covering . It is a similar size as Minnesota's Mille Lacs Lake, but smaller than Red Lake. It is about half the area of San Francisco Bay (main bay). It is larger in surface area than Lake Tahoe, but it is much smaller in volume due to Tahoe's depth. Flathead Lake has a maximum depth of , and an average of . This makes Flathead Lake deeper than the average depths of the Yellow Sea or the Persian Gulf. Flathead Lake is in a scenic part of Montana, southwest of Glacier National Park and is flanked by two scenic highways, which wind along its curving shoreline. On the west side is U.S. Route 93, and on the east, is Route 35.
The lake is bordered on its eastern shore by the Mission Mountains and on the west by the Salish Mountains. The Flathead valley was formed by the glacial damming of the Flathead River and sustains a remarkably mild climate for a region located this far north and inland; the Pacific Ocean is almost to the west. The mild climate allows for cherry orchards on the east shore and vineyards for wine production on the west shore. There are also apple, pear and plum orchards around the lake as well as vegetables, hay, honey, nursery tree, Christmas tree, sod/turf, and wheat production bordering or near the lake.
There are several islands in the lake. Wild Horse Island is the largest at . Melita Island is a island on Flathead Lake, located about one-half mile off the west lakeshore. At its highest point Melita is above water level. The closest access is from Walstad Landing (one and a half miles), a state-maintained landing off Highway 93, approximately 15 minutes north of Polson. The island is owned by the Boy Scouts of America, and is used as a summer camp and for other activities.
History.
Once known as "Salish Lake", this body of water was named for the Salish Indians. Early European Americans called them the Flathead Indians because of a misinterpretation of early Native American sign language. A common misconception is that the name is derived from a practice of head flattening more common among tribes such as the Chinook. There is no evidence to show that the Salish ever had this custom. Since the late 19th century, the Salish were mostly removed to the Flathead Indian Reservation, located at the southern end of the lake.
Kerr Dam, built near Polson, regulates the lake's water level, generates hydroelectric power, and provides water for irrigation to support agriculture in the area. The lake has an irregularly shaped shoreline and a dozen small islands, the largest of which is a state park called Wild Horse Island. These islands cover .
The Flathead River and the Swan River (known also as the Bigfork River where it enters the lake) are the lake's major tributaries. The lake is inhabited by the native bull trout and cutthroat trout, as well as the non-native lake trout, yellow perch, and lake whitefish. Local residents have reported sighting other aquatic fauna in the lake as well, such as sturgeon and the Flathead Lake Monster.
The non-native opossum shrimp, ("Mysis diluviana"), were introduced by Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks in the Flathead drainage basin to encourage production of larger kokanee salmon; they migrated into Flathead Lake and have altered the ecosystem.
Fishermen had introduced lake trout 80 years prior but remained at low densities until the non-native Mysis became established. The bottom-dwelling mysids eliminated a recruitment bottleneck for lake trout by providing a deep water source of food where little was available previously. Lake trout subsequently flourished on mysids; this voracious piscivore now dominates the lake fishery. The formerly abundant kokanee were extirpated, and native bull and westslope cutthroat trout are imperiled. Predation by Mysis has shifted zooplankton and phytoplankton community size structure. Bayesian change point analysis of primary productivity (27-y time series) showed a significant step increase of 55 mg C m−2 d−1 (i.e., 21% rise) concurrent with the mysid invasion, but little trend before or after despite increasing nutrient loading. Mysis facilitated predation by lake trout and indirectly caused the collapse of kokanee, redirecting energy flow through the ecosystem that would otherwise have been available to other top predators (bald eagles).
Geology.
Flathead Lake lies at the southern end of a geological feature called the Rocky Mountain Trench. The trench, which formed with the Rocky Mountains, extends north into the southern Yukon as a straight, steep valley, which also holds the headwaters of the Columbia River. During the last ice age this trench was filled by an enormous glacier. As the glacier moved southward it carved out the trench. The Polson Moraine, near present-day Polson, Montana, marks the southernmost extent of the glacier during the last ice age and thus is the site of the glacier's terminal moraine.
The large size of the Polson Moraine indicates that the glacier stalled here for many years before retreating. As the climate warmed, a portion of the glacier in the Mission Valley receded more slowly than the main body, which kept the lake basin from being filled with sediment. Eventually this ice also melted, forming a lake behind the moraine. Once the water reached the top of this moraine dam, it began to cut a channel through it. Most moraine dammed lakes drain quickly because water cuts entirely through the moraine. However, Flathead Lake remains because a bedrock hill buried underneath the Polson Moraine prevented the moraine from being completely cut through so the meltwater never completely drained.
At one time, probably when the valley was partially filled by a glacier, the level of Flathead Lake was about higher and drained through the valley west of Elmo, Montana, which is at the end of Big Arm Bay, bottom center in the aerial photo above. Water carved out a wide, flat-bottomed pass with a deeper, narrow channel at the south edge of the pass. The deeper channel and traces of the dry riverbed are still visible from Route 28.
Fish.
Flathead Lake is home to a number of native and non-native fishes, and is managed cooperatively by both Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. The lake is home to the semi-annual "Mack Days" Lake Trout fishing contest, which aims to reduce the non-native "Mackinaw trout" or lake trout ("Salvelinus namaycush") populations, as well as educate people about the Flathead Lake Fisheries Management Plan. Like the majority of other nonnative species, they became established in the lake from the late 1800s-early 1900s. The introduction of lake trout has placed increased pressure on the ecologically similar threatened native bull trout ("Salvelinus confluentus").
Since the inception of this event in 2002, over 402,000 lake trout have been harvested. Another recent introduced non-native fish is the Dodd Fish, another name for yellow perch ("Perca flavescens").
In addition to these commonly-pursued game fish, the lake is also home to other native species that currently are not actively managed by government fish and wildlife agencies, including the longnose sucker ("Catostomus catostomus"), redside shiner ("Richardsonius balteatus"), and slimy sculpin ("Cottus cognatus").


Adam Grant Horne

Adam Grant Horne (1829 – 10 August 1901) was a Hudson's Bay Company employee at the Colony of Vancouver Island, a municipal politician and a businessman. He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and died at Nanaimo, British Columbia. He married Elizabeth Bate whose brother, Mark Bate, also an HBC employee, was the first Mayor of Nanaimo.
Horne arrived in British Columbia as a labourer in 1851 aboard the immigrant ship "Tory" and was in charge of the company store in Nanaimo when, in 1862, the company sold out. After operating a business on his own account in Nanaimo, he took further employment with the HBC first at its Fort Simpson post and then took charge of its Comox operation from 1865 to 1878 when the post there was closed as well. At that time Horne returned to business on his own account in Nanaimo where he also served as an alderman.
In 1856 Horne led what is thought to have been the first crossing of mid-Vancouver Island by a European. He was to ascertain whether a trail existed from the present location of Qualicum Beach, British Columbia, on Vancouver Island's east coast in the hopes of establishing trade with the Nuu-chah-nulth who lived on the west coast. At the mouth of the Qualicum River, Horne's party and their native guides observed a large fleet of Haida canoes approaching and hid in trees unable to warn the villagers of the impending attack. Afterwards, they observed the attackers as they left holding human heads. When they came to the mouth of the river, they came upon the charred remains of the village of Saatlaam and the mutilated bodies of its inhabitants.
Horne's expedition found the existing trail used by natives as a trade route across the island.
Horne Lake, at the headwaters of the Qualicum River, is named for Horne.


Grand Rapids, Manitoba

Grand Rapids is a town in Manitoba, Canada located on the northwestern shore of Lake Winnipeg where the Saskatchewan River enters the lake. As the name implies, the river had a significant drop at this point (more than in less than ). In modern days, a large hydro electric generating plant has been built. Cedar Lake, just a short distance up the river provides a natural water storage for this plant. Provincial Trunk Highway 6, the primary roadway in the region, crosses the Saskatchewan River at the Grand Rapids bridge.
Grand Rapids was on the main canoe route toward the west. Fort Bourbon stood here at one time. It also sits across the river from Misipawistik Cree Nation.
In 1894 fire destroyed a number of buildings in the Grand Rapids docks. The steamboat "Colvile" also caught fire and was destroyed.
History.
The first Fort Bourbon was built here in 1741 but was soon moved. Grand Rapids was the only significant obstacle on the Saskatchewan-North Saskatchewan between the Rocky Mountains and Lake Winnipeg. Going downstream the rapids were usually run demi-chargé using the south channel. Upstream the boats were pulled by towlines. In the 1780s the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) began to use York boats on the river. A log road was constructed so that these large boats could be hauled on rollers. Here in June 1819, in retaliation for the Battle of Seven Oaks HBC governor William Williams captured a number of North West Company men. The next year the Nor'Westers captured some HBC men at the same spot. See Pemmican War
In the 1870s the railroad reached Lake Winnipeg and steamboats appeared on the lake and river. In 1877 a long narrow-gauge railway using horse-drawn tramcars was built around the rapids. The spread of railways made the tramway obsolete and the HBC closed it in 1909. It was used for tourist excursions for the next forty years. By the 1980s remains were still visible and parts of the trail were still in use.
From 1882 to 1905, Grand Rapids was located in the District of Saskatchewan, a subdivision of the North-West Territories (NWT). After Saskatchewan was established as province in 1905, the portion of the old district east of the new provincial border, including Grand Rapids, became part of the Keewatin District of the NWT. In 1912, Grand Rapids became part of Manitoba because of the Manitoba Boundaries Extension Act.
Demographics.
In the 2011 Census, Grand Rapids had a population of living in of its total private dwellings.
Climate.
Grand Rapids has a humid continental climate (Koppen: Dfb) with vast seasonal differences. Summers are warm with occasional heat waves, although moderated by its relatively high latitude and proximity to the lake areas of Manitoba, resulting in seasonal lag in spring. In winter any moderation is eliminated because of lake freezing and its vast distance to oceans. As a result, winters are cold to severely cold. January has colder than daily means.


Portage la Prairie

Portage la Prairie () is a small city in the Central Plains Region of Manitoba, Canada. As of 2016, the population was 13,304 and the land area of the city was .
Portage la Prairie is approximately west of Winnipeg, along the Trans-Canada Highway (exactly between the provincial boundaries of Saskatchewan and Ontario). The community sits on the Assiniboine River, which flooded the town persistently until a diversion channel north to Lake Manitoba (the Portage Diversion) was built to divert the flood waters. The city is surrounded by the Rural Municipality of Portage la Prairie.
According to Environment Canada, Portage la Prairie has the most sunny days during the warm months in Canada.
It is the administrative headquarters of the Dakota Tipi First Nations reserve.
History.
Pre-Colonial Era.
Long before European settlers arrived in the mid-1800s, the Portage la Prairie area was first inhabited by several Indigenous nations (including the Anishinaabe/Ojibwe, Cree, and Dakota/Sioux peoples) at various times across millennia.
Though anthropological evidence suggests the emergence of pre-historic plains cultures in southwestern Manitoba as early as 12,000 years ago, inhabitable grasslands and human activity likely never emerged around present-day Portage la Prairie until the receding of Lake Agassiz 8,000-10,000 years ago.
Fur Trade.
Legend has it that notable coureurs des bois Pierre-Esprit Radisson and Médard des Groseilliers—both instrumental in the founding of the Hudson's Bay Company—may have been the first Europeans to visit the area as early as the mid-17th century. The name "Portage la Prairie", perhaps coined by these early explorers, is derived from the French word "portage", which means to carry a canoe overland between waterways, in this case over "the prairie". This particular "portage" route, used by Indigenous peoples even before the global Fur Trade, ran for 25 kilometres between the Assiniboine River and Lake Manitoba.
In September 1738, after the Assiniboine River fur trade had extended into Western Canada, Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye (a French-Canadian explorer and fur trader) built Fort La Reine north of the Assiniboine River. The fort served primarily as a French fur trading post, while also providing the explorers with a "home" operating base from which they would explore other parts of central Manitoba and western North America. The fort ceased operations after burning to the ground in 1759, toward the end of the French reign over the unsettled West. During intermittent periods between the years 1794 and 1913, both the Northwest Company and Hudson's Bay Company had successfully established and operated trading posts in the area (the two entities amalgamated in 1821).
Arrival of European Settlers.
In 1851, Archdeacon William Cochrane (Cockran) of the Anglican Church, John McLean, as well as other ambitious settlers, were among the first to acquire permanent land in the area from the local Indigenous people, around what is now Crescent Lake (formerly known as "The Slough").
A school was soon built as settlers poured in from the east and the community began to develop, followed by a church (St. Mary's La Prairie, 1854), and soon, numerous local businesses. The fertile soils of the Portage la Prairie area were "discovered" in the 1850s, giving birth to the future, agriculturally-based economy of the village; Cochrane encouraged people to start growing crops and gardens on their properties to fulfill the needs of the growing food demand. A local government was formed in 1857 and by the 1860s, there were sixty homes in the community.
Republic of Manitobah.
For a brief period between 1867-68, just before the province of Manitoba entered confederation, Thomas Spence—a councillor for Louis Riel's Provisional Government—controversially lead an organized movement to establish an independent state around the community of Portage la Prairie, known as the Republic of Manitobah. Spence's hopeful plans for a new republic were soon kiboshed as his movement was never recognized as an official government nor granted any royal assent by the British monarchy.
Birth and Growth of a Prairie City.
The 1870s was a decade of rapid growth for Portage la Prairie, as many more settlers moved to town establishing farms and opening new businesses. By this time, the village had an operating flour mill, a local newspaper, and a community fair; just to name a few of Portage's highlights. From the 1870s to the 1880s, the community increased in population by approximately 10 times (from 300 to 3,000). Freight and supplies were transported by oxcart and steamboat until the arrival of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) in 1880, the year after Portage was incorporated as a town. Thomas Collins was the first mayor of Portage la Prairie.
In 1907, Portage was incorporated as a city, and from that point on, managed to keep a gradual rate of growth and development, serving as a regional hub for agriculture, retail, manufacturing and transportation in central Manitoba.
During World War II, the Royal Canadian Air Force constructed Canadian Forces Base Portage la Prairie in support of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. The station was controlled by the RCAF but used naval personnel as high-frequency direction finding operators. The station's priority was German U-boat traffic. This site and CFB Rivers located at Rivers, Manitoba helped to increase the fix accuracy immensely.
Commercial cultivation of industrial cannabis was banned in Canada in 1938. However, in 1928, of industrial hemp was grown in Canada, with of that being in Portage la Prairie.
Geography.
The city became a major transportation centre due to its proximity to the river, and later, the location of the main lines of the country's national railways passing through the community. The CPR and Canadian National Railways (CNR) intersect in Portage; one of the few places in Canada where the two railways meet. This has made Portage la Prairie one of the most ideal places for railway aficionados to view trains; approximately 72 trains pass through the city each day. The Trans-Canada Highway, a major national transportation route, runs past the city and provides the community with business if highway travellers decide to make a trek into Portage.
The post-glacial flood plain surrounding Portage la Prairie is highly fertile, with rich, clay-loam soils abundant in nutrients. Portage la Prairie is therefore a major agricultural centre in Manitoba, and in Canada. The rural land surrounding the community is undoubtedly a breadbasket in North America, boasting some of the best soils on the continent for the production of a wide array of vegetables, berries, grains, and lentils.
The city has an aggressive tree-planting program and is known for its mature urban forest. A collection of some of the largest cottonwood trees in Canada line the west end of the main street known as Saskatchewan Avenue (as well as Crescent Road which runs adjacent to Crescent Lake), and, along with many other species like Manitoba maple, bur oak and green ash, are present throughout the city.
It is the home of former Prime Minister of Canada Arthur Meighen; a school and an avenue are named in his honour.
Climate.
According to Environment Canada, Portage la Prairie has the most sunny days during the warm months in Canada. Portage has a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification "", United States Department of Agriculture, Plant Hardiness Zone 3a) with warm summers and very cold, dry winters. The highest temperature ever recorded in Portage La Prairie was on 11 July 1936. The coldest temperature ever recorded was on 2 February 1996.
Demographics.
According to the 2016 Census, Portage la Prairie was home to 13,304 people, which was a 2.4% increase from the prior census in 2011. The land area of Portage la Prairie is , making the population density of . There are 5,794 private dwellings in the city, 5,576 which are occupied (96.2% occupancy rate). The median value of a dwelling is $150,297 in Portage la Prairie, almost half as low as the national median at $280,552. The average household has 2.3 people and the average family has 1.1 children. The median (after-tax) household income in the area is $46,963, lower than the national rate at $54,089. The median age of Portage la Prairie is 40.8, essentially par with the national median at 40.6 years old.
The census also reports that 89.9% of the residents' mother tongue was English, followed by French (2.5%) and German (2.5%).
Portage la Prairie is almost exclusively inhabited by people of Indigenous or European ancestry (97.2%). The racial makeup is:
Religiously speaking, most of the residents either practice a form of Christianity (66.4%) or have no religious affiliation at all (30.9%). 1.7% of the population practice a form of traditional Indigenous spirituality.
Education.
Public education falls under the Portage la Prairie School Division.
Other.
Portage Learning & Literacy Centre
Transportation.
Portage la Prairie railway station is served by Via Rail with both the Canadian and Winnipeg – Churchill trains calling at the station.
The Portage la Prairie Canadian Pacific Railway Station no longer receives passenger rail service, and is operated as a museum.
The Portage la Prairie Southport Airport is a former air force base and the primary airport in the city. The Portage la Prairie (North) Airport is also near Portage la Prairie and consists of a grass field.
Rider Express operates a intercity bus route Winnipeg to Regina once a week.
For road travellers, the city is served by the Manitoba Highway 1, part of the Trans-Canada Highway.
Local media.
Portage la Prairie receives all television stations from nearby Winnipeg. CHMI-DT channel 13, affiliated with Citytv, is licensed to Portage la Prairie, with studios in downtown Winnipeg.
Cable television is also available through MTS Ultimate TV and Shaw Cable systems.
Arts & Culture.
Museums.
Fort la Reine Museum is a heritage museum and Manitoba Star Attraction located on the east end of Portage, operational since Canada's Centennial in 1967. Today, the museum is home to an array of buildings from Portage and the surrounding region, and covers cultural and natural prairie history (local and regional) from the 18th century (the period of French exploration) to the present day. There are 25 buildings open to the public, each containing tens or even hundreds of artifacts, on display in an immersive history format.
Some of the highlights of the museum include a replica of the historic Fort la Reine and Hudson's Bay Company York Boat; a railway caboose and the 1882 official rail car of Sir William Cornelius Van Horne, builder of the Canadian Pacific Railway; a fully restored Ukrainian Pioneer Church; a number of houses that are more than 100 years old; a firehall with a fully restored 1931 Seagrave Fire Truck; the Old Officers Mess from the now-retired Canadian Forces Base in Southport; and a schoolhouse and church built in the 1880s from West Prospect (a pioneer farming community that no longer exists); and a Sioux tipi.
The museum also brings in interactive travelling exhibitions from across Canada and beyond, set up in the main gallery to educate visitors on topics covering anything from prehistoric cultures in Canada to climate change. The museum also hosts a number of annual cultural and theatrical events, including the National Indigenous Peoples' Day celebrations, Canada Day festivities, heritage-themed tea parties, holiday celebrations, and other seasonal events.
Festivals & Events.
Portage la Prairie celebrates a number of annual events and festivals, which include the Portage Exhibition & Fair ("Portage Ex") held every July since 1872, the Portage Potato Festival which takes place in mid-August, Whoop & Hollar Folk Festival in late August, and the Manitoba Air Show in June at Southport (held bi-annually). Concerts in the Park is a weekly summer concert series that is held in Island Park in July and August.
Galleries & Performing Art Venues.
Heritage Square, located downtown, is an outdoor community event plaza and centre of the community's arts and culture district with murals on some of the nearby buildings. Surrounding Heritage Square are the Prairie Cinema Centre, Portage la Prairie Regional Library, and Prairie Fusion Arts & Entertainment. Prairie Fusion houses the William Glesby Theatre, a popular performing arts facility, and the Portage & District Art Gallery, featuring a new display of the works of local visual artists every month. Prairie Fusion is considered to be one of the primary cultural gathering places of Portage, and brings in many theatre, dance, and musical performances and events.
Film.
Scenes for the documentary film "We Were Children" were shot at the former residential school in Portage la Prairie, now the Rufus Prince building.
Music Scene.
The punk rock band Propagandhi was formed in the city in 1986 by guitarist Chris Hannah and drummer Jord Samolesky. Award-winning Canadian country band Doc Walker also hails from the Portage la Prairie area.
Parks & Outdoor Recreation.
In central Portage la Prairie, residents and tourists can enjoy the amenities and beauty of the renowned Island Park. The sprawling city park is located on a peninsula, known as "The Island" (though not officially an island), and bounded by Crescent Lake, an ancient oxbow lake that is popular among birdwatchers, photographers, and canoeists/kayakers. Together, Crescent Lake and Island Park form one of Manitoba's most recently-designated Star Attractions. For much of the year, the lake serves as a major nesting site for flocks of migratory waterfowl, most notably the Canada goose.
Island Park features a network of walking trails, tennis courts, a large playground, picnic areas, two bandstands, a duck pond, deer sanctuary, various monuments, and an extensive arboretum. Nearby recreational opportunities include an 18-hole golf course, the Portage Fairgrounds, an outdoor water park (Splash Island), and Stride Place—home of the Portage Terriers hockey club and an indoor wave pool.
Just south of the Portage la Prairie by-pass is the Portage Spillway, where the Assiniboine River empties into the Portage Diversion. Not only does this area mark the importance of the river in Portage's history, but it is home to Portage Spillway-Wayside Provincial Park, a park that is especially popular with fishermen in the summer months. Also not far southwest lies Spruce Woods Provincial Park and not far north lies St. Ambroise Beach Provincial Park. The city is also home to kilometres of multi-use recreational trails running through the parks and forested areas, which provide an oasis for sightseers to view wildlife. Geocaching has become popular in these areas, as people are finding more innovative ways to get out hiking in this scenic urban forest.
Aside from parks, the Portage la Prairie/Central Plains Region features many fine campgrounds located within a 15-30-minute drive of the city, and offers a few public beaches including Delta Beach, home to the Delta Marsh Field Station/Wildlife Reserve (part of this beach/area was destroyed due to flooding in the spring of 2011), Jackson Lake (located southeast of Sidney, Manitoba, about a 35-minute drive west of Portage la Prairie) and Twin Lakes Beach, an hour northeast of Portage, also on Lake Manitoba.
Attractions.
Aside from Island Park, Fort la Reine Museum, and Prairie Fusion Arts & Entertainment (William Glesby Theatre), Portage la Prairie is home to a variety of other attractions to visit, including:
One of Portage la Prairie's most popular attractions, the Community Walkway, which parallels Crescent Lake's waterfront, is a , multi-use trail used for walking, bicycling, skateboarding and rollerblading, running past many grand heritage homes and the tranquil, picturesque sites along the lake.
The World's Largest Coca-Cola Can has also put Portage on the map and can be seen from the Trans-Canada Highway by-pass. It was constructed from an old water tower and is now located at the city's west end between the local Canadian Tire and Canad Inns hotel on Saskatchewan Avenue West.
Stride Place, formerly the PCU Centre, opened in February 2010 and features two National Hockey League regulation-size indoor arenas, one with seating capacity for 1,680, an indoor waterpark, and conference/event facilities. During the winter months, the Stride Place atrium is also home to the Portage Farmers' Market (taking place at various outdoor locations in the summertime). The BDO Centre for the Community is another local arena in the city's north end, used predominantly for youth and children's activities like hockey and ringette practice.
Portage la Prairie's City Hall is a limestone structure that was designed by Thomas Fuller, who also designed the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa. It was opened in 1898 as a Dominion Post Office and became City Hall in 1960. The building was declared a historical site in 1986. On the roof is a large, 1,000-pound bell that tolls for a few seconds daily at 9:00 am, noon, and 6:00 pm.
Portage la Prairie is also home to many other heritage buildings, some of greater architectural significance than others, highlighted on a historical walking tour organized by the city's Heritage Advisory Committee. St. Mary's la Prairie Anglican Church, first established in 1854 with its current sanctuary erected in 1898, is located downtown. Saskatchewan Avenue (the city's main thoroughfare) is home to several historical structures, as well as Tupper Street and Royal Road (named after the Royal Visit of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and King George VI in 1939). Crescent Road, which follows Crescent Lake for over 5 kilometres, is lined with many large, grand heritage homes dating back to the late 19th century and early 20th century.
Portage's largest hotel, part of Canad-Inns, is located in the west end of the city. This hotel includes the rink of the Portage Curling Club, Aalto's Garden Cafe, a pub known as Tavern United, and many banquet halls.
The community of Southport, located about south of Portage la Prairie, is home to the Southport Recplex featuring a fitness centre with a rock-climbing wall, gymnasium, and 5-pin bowling alley; aside from the proudly displayed military/air force history throughout the town and airport.
Military.
Portage la Prairie had a military airbase south of the community known as Canadian Forces Base Portage la Prairie, now 3 Canadian Forces Flying Training School. It was established as part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan during the Second World War and trained thousands of pilots for military service from around the world.
In 1990, the federal government transferred the assets of the property to Southport Aerospace Centre Inc., a not-for-profit property management and development company whose goal was to successfully manage the site. Royal Canadian Air Force pilot training continues at 3 Canadian Forces Flying Training School under private contract at Southport.
The 13th Field Battery of the 26th Field Artillery Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery is based out of Portage la Prairie.
During the Second World War an "Algerine"-class minesweeper commissioned into the Royal Canadian Navy was named after Portage la Prairie. The "Portage" was active during the war as an escort and afterwards as a training vessel. As part of the 100th Anniversary of the Royal Canadian Navy, in 2010, the Navy provided the city with a display on the ship that is located in City Hall.
Economy.
The local economy is largely dependent on agriculture and supporting industries (trucking, transportation, chemical/fertilizer, farm machinery dealerships, etc.). Portage la Prairie is also home to the McCain Foods and Simplot potato processing plants, which provide French fries for McDonald's, Wendy's, and various other commercialized restaurant chains. Viterra, owned by Glencore Xstrata and previously known as Can-oat milling, one of the largest oat mills in the world, and is now owned by Richardson International, is also located in the municipality. McMillan Industrial Park, located on the eastern fringes of Portage, also plays a major role in the city's economy. Numerous industries including food science labs and food processing facilities, construction companies, and manufacturing sectors are located in this expanding industrial area, beneficial for the creation of jobs in the community.
The city has developed into a regional retail service centre as large big box style stores began to operate on the west end of the city in 2007. The west end will continue to see future development with new retail outlets lined up. Many small towns and Native reserves use this as their primary shopping destination. Since Portage la Prairie is a commercial hub for the Central Plains Area, it serves some 50,000 people living within an approximately 50 km radius.
Portage la Prairie is a farming city, with an average of 122 frost free days, and a USDA Plant Hardiness Zone of 3a. Agriculture is the city's main industry.
Government.
The city is governed by a mayor and six councillors. Elected for his second, four-year term in 2018, the current mayor is Irvine Ferris.
Ian Wishart, Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba, was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba most recently in 2019 and has served the Portage la Prairie provincial electoral district since 2011.
Conservative Party member Candice Bergen (politician) was elected to the Parliament of Canada for the Portage—Lisgar riding most recently in 2019 and has served her federal constituency since 2008.
City issues.
Various new residential developments and an upsurge in renovating older homes is contributing to the improvement of housing stock in the community. All of these new housing developments are occurring on the south side of the town, on or near Crescent Lake and Garrioch Creek.
Flooding also poses an occasional problem in the rural area of Portage la Prairie, especially during the spring.
In 2010, MoneySense, as part of MSN's news site, rated Portage la Prairie in a tie for Canada's worst city to live in, with relation to population decline, but at the same time was ranked the 69th, out of 180 cities, best place to live in Canada. However, according to the 2012 MoneySense statistics, a series of polls in a number of different areas that relate to the benefits of living in a city, rated Portage la Prairie as the 49th best city, up from 60th in 2011, to live in overall (out of 190 Canadian communities), in Canada, and the 8th best in its population group. This is due to community revitalization programs and measures that have been taken to promote growth and industry, safety, culture, infrastructure, etc., which have significantly contributed to the growth, prosperity and strengthening economy of the community.
Sports.
Portage la Prairie is home to the Portage Terriers, who play in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League, and the Central Plains Capitals, who play in the Manitoba Midget 'AAA' and Manitoba Female Midget Hockey Leagues. In the 2014/2015 season, the Portage Terriers had a regular season record of 53 wins, 4 losses and 3 ties and had the best hockey record/winning percentage in the world. In that season, they also won the Turnbull Cup as champions of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League and hosted the RBC Cup for the National Junior A Championship, which they also won.
Stride Place is the city's main recreation facility and houses two arenas, an aquatic centre, a fitness centre, and indoor walking track. Outdoor sports facilities are located at the Republic of Manitobah Park. The Portage Centennial Arena (now called the BDO Centre for the Community) shared hosting duties of the 1999 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships with Winnipeg, Morden and Selkirk. The city, along with Winnipeg, also hosted the 2011 World U-17 Hockey Challenge. In 2015, the city played host to the Royal Bank Cup, Canada's national junior hockey championship, which was won by the host Terriers. Several sports films have been shot at Stride Place, including "Goon" and "".
The Uniroyal/Goodrich World Junior Curling Championships were held at the Portage Curling Club in 1990. Canadian women skipped by Cathy Overton-Clapham, won bronze and the men skipped by Dean Joanisse came fourth. The Portage Curling Club has twice played host to the Canadian Senior Curling Championships.
As part of the 2012–13 World Curling Tour the city hosted the 2012 Canad Inns Prairie Classic which was won by Kevin Koe. In the same year the 2012 Manitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts was held in Portage and won by Jennifer Jones.
In 2015, the city had a junior roller derby team.
Portage is represented in the Manitoba Major Soccer League by the Portage Aeros in the MMSL Major Senior Division 4 and by Portage United in the MMSL Major Senior Division 4. The Portage Blaze Women's Soccer Club plays in the First Division of the Winnipeg Women's Soccer League. Their home fields are located in the Republic of Manitobah Park in the south-east corner of the city. The park has a dozen different sized soccer pitches, many baseball/softball diamonds and a rugby pitch.
Portage was a popular stop on the Great Western Manitoba Harness Racing circuit, but in 2009 the horse race track and stands were removed to make way for the Portage Credit Union Centre, now called Stride Place. It is a community centre with two arenas (one the home of the Terriers) and a water park. The former horse race stands were known as the Pan-Am Stadium and played host to baseball during the Winnipeg Pan-Am Games in 1967.
Portage la Prairie also has a lot of youth sports. Hockey, soccer and baseball have youth sports leagues within the city. Football is played in the Winnipeg Youth Football League with many teams of varying ages using the name Portage Pitbulls. Basketball is also played in Winnipeg in the Rising Stars League and in various community clubs. Also there is a healthy competition between the four junior high schools in sports such as basketball, volleyball and curling.


James Isham

James Isham (1716–1761) was chief factor (master) at both York Factory and Fort Prince of Wales in Canada during the mid-1700s. He kept detailed journals that described life in the region, including flora and fauna that were unknown to people in England at that time. His journals are important historical documents and he is well known to scholars of the fur trade in Canada during the early years of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC).
Early years.
James Isham was born in 1716 in Holborn, London, to Whitby Isham and Ann Scrimshire, and was christened at St. Andrew Holborn . He had a brother, Thomas, and a sister, Ann.
James Isham shared a common ancestry with the Baronets of Lamport. In the late 1500s, Eusby Isham and Anne Pulton had ten children. Their son, John, was the grandfather of the first hereditary baronet and his brother, Henry, was James Isham's third (three-times) great-grandfather. The lineage of the Isham family can be traced back to Azor in the Domesday Book of 1086.
Isham left England in 1732 at the age of sixteen to work as a clerk/bookkeeper for the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) in North America. He was posted to (also called York Fort) at the mouth of the Hayes River and the Nelson River in Hudson Bay where Thomas McCliesh was master and Thomas White was second-in-command.
Fur trader and chief factor.
Isham became chief factor at York Fort in 1737 at the age of twenty-one after five years of service. He continued in this position until his death in 1761. His biographer, E.E. Rich, concluded that he was "the most acute and careful observer, the most sympathetic administrator, and the most voluminous writer of the fifty years which he represents. Neither heroic nor brilliant, Isham was also neither rash nor obstinate; he stood very near to his problems and he spared no pains. His character and his knowledge emerge clearly in his writings; most clearly emerges his thirst for knowledge."
Isham was responsible for the well-being and discipline of his men, the efficient running of the fort, and good relations with the Cree and Assiniboine traders who brought furs from further inland. The forts operated on an annual cycle that began with the arrival of the HBC supply ship from London. Once the trading goods and provisions were off-loaded and the furs put on board, the ship left until the following summer. Isham's attention then turned to repairing the fort, stockpiling food and firewood for the winter, and preparing trading goods for the spring season. At Christmas, all of the men who had been away hunting or fishing returned to the fort for the festivities. As soon as the ice disappeared on rivers, traders arrived and for several months Isham dealt with large flotillas of canoes loaded with furs. His men stacked and pressed the furs into bales in preparation for the ship which generally arrived in mid-August.
Isham was transferred to Fort Prince of Wales at the mouth of the Churchill River in 1741. As chief factor, he had two challenges to deal with – two exploration ships planned to stay there for the winter; and the stone fort needed to be rebuilt. The ships commanded by Christopher Middleton were searching for the Northwest Passage through Arctic waters to Asia. The presence of one hundred additional men (Isham had only forty) put a strain on resources and created tension between him and Middleton. The second challenge was the fort, which was built of stone following a military design popular in Europe. Unfortunately, the previous factor (Richard Norton) had taken shortcuts and workmanship was shoddy. Isham needed to renovate, included extending the ramparts to accommodate the recoil of the cannons.
Isham’s observations.
James Isham was curious about the new world he encountered on Hudson Bay. In 1743, he compiled his notes and sketches for the HBC's London Committee (board of directors). His ‘Observations on Hudson Bay, 1743’ were placed in the HBC Archives in London until his biographer published them two hundred years later. Isham's "Observations" includes descriptions of mammals and birds, as well as customs and the language of the Cree people who traded at .
In 1745, he returned briefly to London and while there delivered stuffed specimens of unusual birds to George Edwards who was writing a book, ‘A Natural History of Uncommon Birds’. Edwards acknowledged Isham's "commendable curiosity" and thanked him for providing "thirty different species of Birds, of which we have hitherto had little or no knowledge". Edwards created paintings for the book based on Isham's specimens, including the Snow Goose, Surf Scoter, Sharp-tailed Grouse, Whooping Crane, Sandhill Crane, and Sora.
Isham also wrote an extensive dictionary of "English & Indian" with common words, phrases, and sentences in Cree. Although he intended the dictionary to be used by future HBC servants to improve communication with their clients, he had no reliable way to record the Cree language since no phonetic script or scientific study of languages had yet been developed. The value of the dictionaries nowadays is that they provide a comprehensive sample of English words and phrases used in trade negotiations and everyday life at the forts. He was the first known person to bring certain Cree words into English – ne may cu sheeck (namaycush) for lake trout; shaganappi for rawhide thong; wa pis ka john (whiskey jack) for Canada jay; weywey (wavy) for Snow Goose.
Later life.
In 1746, Isham returned to the Bay and once again became chief factor at York Factory. For the second time in his career, two ships spent the winter in the vicinity of the fort. The crews of the Dobbs Galley and the California were looking for the Northwest Passage and, just as with the earlier voyage by Middleton, they were unsuccessful. Isham was pulled into the conflict between the two captains, William Moor and Frances Smith, during their time at York Factory. When they returned to England one of the crew published an article critical of Isham's support.
In 1748, Isham was recalled to England again. While there, he published a rebuttal to ‘A Voyage to Hudson’s Bay in the Dobbs Galley’ written by Henry Ellis. Isham was also one of the witnesses who testified before the British Parliament in 1749 when the HBC Charter was challenged. Eventually, the Charter was confirmed.
In the last decade of his career, Isham turned his attention to the French competition trading out of Montreal. The voyageurs made annual trips in large canoes, meeting the indigenous people in their own territories and returning in the fall to Montreal with a load of furs. Gradually, they built a series of forts along the HBC river routes so they could intercept the Cree and Assiniboine traders before they reached York Factory and other forts on the Bay. In 1754, Isham sent the first of nine groups of men inland to encourage distant tribes to come to York Factory to trade. Anthony Henday led the first group and became known as the first European to see the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains. Subsequent trips organized by Isham had some success in bringing clients to the Bay and they also increased the HBC's knowledge of inland routes, which would be essential in the following years when the company began to build forts inland to compete with the Montreal traders.
Isham died on April 13, 1761, of kidney failure, following twenty years of gout and kidney stones. He was buried at York Factory (the second site, which was abandoned a few years later).
Descendants.
James Isham married Catherine Mindham in 1748 on one of his trips to London. They had a daughter, Mary Lillys, who was christened at Saint Martin in the Fields, Westminster in 1750. Isham left for Hudson Bay soon after and saw his English wife and daughter only once when he returned in 1758 to deal with family business.
In 1754, his son, Charles Thomas Isham, was born at York Factory. The boy's mother was likely Swampy Cree but her name is unknown. In James Isham's will, he left everything to his son who also spent his career with the HBC.
Charles Thomas Isham married a Cree woman according to local custom and they had four children – Thomas, Mary, Jane and James. All four children were named in Charles’ will.
Jane Isham (sometimes Asham) married Joseph Heywood, who was a labourer and canoe man with the HBC from 1804 to 1820. They had three children – Charles, Ann and Elizabeth Heywood. When Heywood returned to England, Jane married Adam Mowat, an HBC labourer from the Orkney Islands.
The 1870 Manitoba Census shows that James Isham's great-grandchildren, Charles, Ann and Elizabeth Heywood, were all living in the Red River Settlement (Winnipeg). Charles (1814–1890) married Margaret Cook (1816–1858). Ann (1815–1898) married George Adams (1796–1865). Elizabeth (1818–1897) married James Knight Junior (1818–1897).


Augustin Langlade

Augustin Mouet, sieur de Langlade, (with a number of name variations) (1703 – c. 1771), was born in Trois-Rivières, Quebec. He was the son of Pierre Mouet, sieur de Moras.
Augustin obtained a fur trading license at Michilimackinac in 1728. That year he married Domiltilde, a widow with six children, who was the daughter of an Ottawa chief and the sister to another. This strengthened his standing in the area. He was largely responsible for the establishment of the fur trading outpost that became Green Bay, Wisconsin. In 1728 he also fought in the Fox Wars together with François-Marie Le Marchand de Lignery.
Augustin was a Canadian fur trader in that region. His son, Charles Michel de Langlade, was also involved in fur trading, and was a leader in the French and Indian Wars.