Saskatoon-Battleford Trail

The Saskatoon-Battleford Trail was not used extensively until the 1890s, when the first railway reached Saskatoon. Prior to this date, much of the overland traffic into Battleford (the capital of the North-West Territories) came from the nearest railway line at Swift Current via the Battleford-Swift Current Trail. However, when the railway reached Saskatoon the Saskatoon-Battleford Trail, a much shorter route, was used by traders, settlers, and the North-West Mounted Police. Traffic peaked along the trail between 1903 and 1905, when Barr Colonists (see Barr Colony) moved through the area en route to present-day Lloydminster.

James Winkel