At the site is a BC Stop of Interest marker which relates a bit of the story of the Dewdney Trail. Fittingly, this marker stands quite near where the Dewdney Trail passed and five kilometres directly south of Mount Dewdney, named in honour of the trail's builder,
Edgar Dewdney. Seven kilometres to the west, along Highway 3, is a second BC Stop of Interest marker, placed to mark the location of what was known as the
Royal Engineers' Road, another section of the Dewdney Trail. This marker denotes the 25 miles of the Dewdney Trail which was upgraded to a wagon trail by the Royal Engineers. Both of these sites are within the Provincial Heritage Site known as the
Dewdney Trail.
ENGINEERS' ROAD
A wagon road across B.C. - this was the ambitious scheme of the Royal Engineers in 1860 as miners clamored for better access to the Southern Interior. Sent from England, these military engineers replaced the first 25 miles of the Dewdney Trail with a wagon road. Their work halted when attention shifted to the gold rich Cariboo.
DEPARTMENT OF
RECREATION & CONSERVATION
450 miles long, the major portion of the Dewdney Trail was engineered and built beginning in 1865 by
Edgar Dewdney, (November 5, 1835 - August 8, 1916), his having won the contract from the territory of British Columbia.
After the discovery of gold in the Similkameen region, the government deemed it necessary to connect the area with the coast, and Dewdney and Walter Moberly were awarded the contract, at $496 per mile, completing the first section of the trail, from Hope to Princeton in 1861.
Then, in 1863, gold was discovered at
Wild Horse Creek, in the East Kootenays, and it became necessary to extend the trail to Wild Horse Creek, near
Fort Steele. Dewdney completed the second, larger, section, from Princeton to Wild Horse Creek, in just seven months, at a cost of $75,000.
In truth, the marker here isn't entirely factually correct. The trail was only used for a couple of years before the gold seekers moved on and wagon roads were built to other destinations where gold and silver were found. Within five years the trail east from Princeton fell into disuse and nature began to reclaim it. Today, however, much of the Crowsnest Highway follows the original route.
THE DEWDNEY TRAIL
A bold venture, this trail crossed the mountains of southern B.C.,and kept the wealth of a new land from flowing to the U.S.A. Planned by the Royal Engineers, and built in 1860-61 by Edgar Dewdney, a young engineer, it led over the mountains to Princeton. After completion to the Rockies in 1865 it served for 25 years as a vital route to the Coast.
DEPARTMENT OF
RECREATION & CONSERVATION
Dewdney Trail (Manning Park Sections)
DESCRIPTION OF HISTORIC PLACE
The Dewdney Trail (Manning Park Sections), also known as the Royal Engineers' Road in Manning Park, is the portion of the Dewdney Trail between the park's west gate and Snass Creek that was improved by the Royal Engineers, and is still visible in places alongside Highway 3 in E.C. Manning Provincial Park in southwestern British Columbia.
HERITAGE VALUE
The Dewdney Trail (Manning Park Sections) is significant for its scientific, cultural, and aesthetic values, and particularly for its historical role as the main Canadian trading route over the Cascades from 1861 until motor roads supplanted it in the 1920s.
The Dewdney Trail (Manning Park Sections) is a rare surviving example of the physical infrastructure specified by the Royal Engineers for mule train traffic, particularly its specifications for maximum grade and width. It is also important as an excellent example of dry rock retaining wall technology employed to provide a lasting roadbed with the required width at a grade no steeper than 1 in 12.
The Trail is culturally significant for its association with the British Colonial Office's Columbia Detachment of the Royal Engineers, who were charged with building public works and surveying townsites, and who were particularly instrumental in securing British Colonial Office control of territory and trade in the then-unorganized Cariboo and Southern Interior lands that were later to become British Columbia.
The Dewdney Trail (Manning Park Sections) is important for being representative of all the remnants of trails blazed over the Cascade Divide connecting the Similkameen River valley and the Fraser Valley for trading purposes, including trails that pre-dated European trading trails (for example, Blackeye's Trail, which was used for Coast/Interior trade between First Nations.)
The Trail is important for its associated historic interpretive signage along Highway 3, which is a typical example of the classic green shield-form signage produced by the Province beginning in 1958, the provincial centennial year.
The Trail is of aesthetic value because its visible locations uphill from the present Highway 3 dramatically display the dry rock retaining walls to fine advantage.
CHARACTER-DEFINING ELEMENTS
Key character-defining elements of the Dewdney Trail (Manning Park Sections) in E.C. Manning Provincial Park include:
Site:
- entire route of the Trail within the boundaries of E.C. Manning Provincial Park
- particular sections of Trail visible or easily accessed from Highway 3 in the Sumallo Valley, such as the section directly above the park's West Gate, and the section directly above the roadside pullover at the Stop of Interest sign
Trail:
- geometry of the roadbed: original 4 foot width, and grade no steeper than 1 in 12
- associated land works, including dry rock retaining walls and excavations
- roadside interpretation, including stop of interest sign next to Highway 3
From Historic Places Canada
