Trails

By the mid– 1920’s, travel into the Narrow Hills was becoming more frequent and a well defined network of trails had developed. First broken by the trappers travelling on foot, horseback or dogteam, the trails were widened to allow wagons to pass.

During these years, as there was an increase of fisherman and trappers who came to reap the rich harvest, freighting trips became necessary to haul supplies in as well as the fish and furs out. These trips, undertaken by men such as Zac (Jack Pine) Anderson, who brought supplies in for the Narrows Hills Fire Tower in 1938,required even better routes, so many improvements were made. Wagon trips were tiring, often taking days to cover the route from Snowden to little Bear Lake. It also required the building of corduroy crossing at the many mud holes they encountered along the way. Later, tractors would replace the horses at the head of the wagon train and the trails were gradually improved to a standard that would allow car travel. Four main routes were developed. Two from the south into the Fishing Lakes area and two branching north from these.

The Fishing Lake Trail, later to be following by the southern stretch of the Hansen Lake road, Originated north of Choiceland and ran to Caribou Creek. From there it ran east to meet the Narrow Hills Trail at the point near the latter side of the Narrow Hills Fire Tower. This trail was bulldozed in the late 1940’s to allow travel capabilities for all sorts of vehicles.

Some miles east the Narrow Hills Trail pushed north of the Village of Love, winding its scenic way along the high "hog’s back"formed by the Narrow Hills Esker to its rendezvous with the Fishing Lake Trail. For many years this was the most frequently used trail and was the first to bring a car into part of the north.

Les Lee and Jack Forrester of Choiceland made several trips by car in the 1930’s. The trip would take up to four days, per trip! On one occasion, Lee had to walk miles to White Fox for parts for the 1924 Chevrolet Coupe in order to get home.

Early travelers on this trail, named hills and bends after incidents or things they found there. This led to such names as"Stovepipe Hill", "Bull Hill", "HairpinHill", and "Potato Hill".

A third trail known as the "Big Bear Road", ran north from the Junction of the Fishing Lakes and Narrow Hills Trails, to Big Sandy Lake. This trail was sometimes referred to as the "CPR" or "Hudson Bay" Trail, since it was cleared in the early 1900’s by surveyors from the Canadian Pacific Railroad and the Hudson Bay Company.

The two companies were trying to establish a railroad route that would run from Prince Albert through to Port Churchill, Manitoba. The Hudson Bay planned to build a big trading post along the way at Big Sandy Lake, which at that time was known as Big Bear Lake. The plan failed, however, when engineers encountered large muskegs at the south end of Big Sandy. They were forced to transfer their efforts to a new route farther east, but the clearing of the trail created access to the area for trapping and fishing.

Old-timers relate stories of the hardships and tragedy which befell the surveyors when storms and dwindling supplies caused the loss of many of their horses. Broken boards and harnesses can still be found to this day in the bogs south of Big Sandy.

The fourth major trail, known as the Cub Lake Trail, branched off the Fishing Lake Trail, just to the north of Lower Fishing Lake. This trail was located by Henry Fournier in 1930. It lead to the site of the Cub Lake Fire Tower, which was built by Fournier in 1932.

One other trail, the Bear Lake Trail, ran thirty-two miles north of Lower Fishing Lake and connected to Little Bear Lake. It was constructed in 1943 by the Nipawin Fish and Game Association to allow more anglers access to the choice Lake Trout in Little Bear Lake.

Many other trails, long since overgrown, can be located by following the blaze marks on the trees.