Description of Historic Place

The Battleford Trail Wheel Rut Area is a Municipal Heritage Property consisting of one city lot in the City of Swift Current. The designation applies to a fenced enclosure containing cart and wagon ruts that are remnants of the historic Swift Current-Battleford Trail.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of the Battleford Trail Wheel Rut Area lies in its status as a relic of an important late-nineteenth century transportation link between settlements at Swift Current and Battleford. The general route of the trail was likely used by First Nations in precontact times and, later, for local traffic between Swift Current and nearby settlements. The main trail was established and achieved its greatest prominence after the Canadian Pacific Railway arrived in Swift Current in 1883, when it became the Battleford District’s principal connection with the wider world. During the Resistance of 1885, the trail was strategically important as the route taken by Colonel William D. Otter and his troops as they marched from the rail depot at Swift Current to Battleford.

For a number of years, the trail carried a heavy traffic that included people, freight and the mail. After 1890, when the building of a rail line through Saskatoon made that city a closer connecting point for Battleford, the trail’s importance as main transportation artery declined. However, the trail was still being used for local travel as late as 1925.

Source:

City of Swift Current Bylaw No. 31-1982.

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of the Battleford Trail Wheel Rut Area resides in the following character-defining elements:
-the remnant wheel ruts in a small tract of native prairie grass.