The End of the Line

March 5, 2021

This article was done in partnership with the Lac du Bonnet & District Historical Society. It appeared in the March 11, 2021 edition of the Lac du Bonnet Clipper.

Lac du Bonnet has always been at the end of the line, a gateway to the wilderness. Built upon a solid foundation of industry, Winnipeg businessmen sought to capitalize on the area’s mineral and clay deposits, ample supply of timber and water power potential. Through the decades, the town became a transportation hub. Trains and roads brought goods in; horses, company trains and airplanes shipped them out.

In 1901, the CPR rail line terminated across from the brick plant where bricks and cordwood awaited shipment to civilization. J.D. McArthur arrived with the railway to find the Lac du Bonnet Mining, Developing and Manufacturing Co. in financial trouble. He purchased the company for an undisclosed sum and created his own economic empire using its assets. He expanded operations at the brickworks and built a large sawmill for harvested timber, shipping full train cars to the J.D. McArthur Lumber and Fuel yards in Winnipeg.

At the turn of the century, Winnipeg was a growing industrial centre. To facilitate their expanding needs, attention turned to the Winnipeg River for hydroelectric development. A site was chosen on the Pinawa Channel and work began in 1902. The Winnipeg Electric Railway Company’s first decision, based on logic and business, was to not construct a rail bridge over the Winnipeg River or a spur line to Pinawa, as there would be no outbound freight. All construction materials, including the 11, 250 kg. generators, were shipped by train to Lac du Bonnet, barged across the river, then transported by teams of horses over corduroy roads. Many unemployed men arrived in Lac du Bonnet seeking work. McArthur expanded his dry goods and general store to capitalize on the influx, though profits went to Winnipeg.

In 1906, a second generating station site was chosen at Pointe du Bois. The remoteness of the site made a rail line necessary, with bridges over the Winnipeg and Lee Rivers. Spur lines were approved for local cordwood businesses to ship their timber. In 1928, the Pointe line was extended for construction at Slave Falls. Development on the Great Falls generating station began in 1914, though due to WWI, construction stopped until 1922. The Pointe and Great Falls rail lines were company owned, hauling only freight and personnel bound for the generating station, despite disputes from homesteaders along both lines.

The road and airplane arrived in Lac du Bonnet in 1926. As before, goods were brought in and shipped out. Trains ran on the remote lines until they were replaced by roads. Airplanes expanded the reach of civilization, creating a new, lasting era of transportation.

The train may be long gone, but Lac du Bonnet remains a last stop, a gateway to cottage country. A collection of roads branch out in each direction, connecting communities once isolated. Recent repair work on the Pointe and Slave Falls dams had construction materials and workers move through Lac du Bonnet once again, while Tanco shipments still travel past town. Once a hub of transportation, Lac du Bonnet now provides centralized amenities for those seeking wilderness.

References:

Jim Mochoruk, Formidable Heritage Manitoba’s North and the Cost of Development 1870 to 1930 (Winnipeg, MB: University of Manitoba Press, 2004), 168-69, 183, 186-87, 190, 269.

Peter Lacey, Tramway to the Point: The Winnipeg Hydro Tramway 1907-1996 (Altona, MB: Friesen Printing, 1996), 17, 19, 29.

Aileen Oder, ed., Logs and Lines from the Winnipeg River: A History of the Lac du Bonnet Area (Steinbach, MB: Derksen Printers, 1980), 47.

“Settlers Seek Service but Railway Company Refuses.” Winnipeg Free Press, March 9, 1922.