"The Beautiful Plains"

Place names on early maps, it should be noted, are different than today’s names. Local place names on the 1873 survey maps for this area include:

Saskatchewan Trail,
Old Cart Trail,
The Beautifull Plain Ridge (sic)
and White Mud River.

We believe this junction is the point where western Canada’s colonists first saw the real beginning of the open Prairies. They had come through a long series of lowlands and marshes after leaving Fort Garry.

It was here that one early traveler coined the phrase, ‘The Beautiful Plains.’ The entire district later took up this designation, becoming known as the Beautiful Plains district and even the County of Beautiful Plains. The school division today still bears this name.