Manitoba Heritage Council Commemorative Plaques

Dawson Road

Parallel to this highway, about twenty miles to the south, ran the Dawson Road, first all-Canadian land and water route linking eastern and western Canada. From Fort William the route ran nearly 500 miles westerly, first by a series of rivers and lakes to Rainy Lake, Rainy River, and Lake of the Woods, thence overland to St. Boniface in the Red River Settlement. The road was begun in 1868 and completed in 1871. It was named for Simon James Dawson, noted Canadian land surveyor, who surveyed the route in 1858 and recommended that a road be constructed.