This 150-km trail was used extensively by missionaries, traders, and the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP). One of the more prominent missionaries using the trail was Father Louis Cochin, who in 1884 established the Thunderchild Mission at Cochin, the southern terminus of the trail, 36 km north of North Battleford. The trail connected the mission to settlements such as Birch Narrows and Chitek Lake; its northern terminus was Green Lake, approximately 200 km northwest of Prince Albert. The Hudson's Bay Company post at Green Lake was one of the more prominent posts in north-central Saskatchewan since it connected many overland trails with the Churchill River, an integral waterway of the fur trade era. The NWMP also patrolled the trail extensively during the North-West Resistance of 1885.
James Winkel