Palliser expedition

With little information about the western prairies and the frontiers of European settlement in British North America, the basis of public knowledge prior to the expedition was largely speculation.[2] There were two main views of the west at the time; one view, which had been the dominant perception leading up to 1856, depicted the region as a remote and barren wasteland, an excessively rugged wilderness that had little prospect for economically useful resources or settlement.[5] With the increasing economic changes of the mid-19th century, the region began to be viewed differently, from the dominant landscapes to the growing potential for economic opportunities.[7] This other view was the expansionist view, which became popular in 1856 and 1857 and viewed the uncharted territory in the west as a "promised land" with many possibilities for agricultural prosperity.[5] With the expansionist view and the potential in the land, the western prairies began to also be seen as a place to settle and live as the barren and harsh wilderness was portrayed as a visionary countryside.[7]

One of the earliest visionaries of western Canada was Arthur Dobbs, who saw the agricultural potential and fertile soils in the mid-18th century.[7] Even with little information or supporting evidence regarding the land's potential, visions of the west were influential in portraying British North America as an untouched and unsettled wilderness full of opportunity.[7] In the 1850s, the image of the west was influenced largely by the British government.[7]

Thomas Devine created the first map of British North America's West in 1857,[8] which showed the territories of the Hudson's Bay Company.[5] The map described the land and its potential rather than focusing on the physical features of the landscape, and reflected the expansionist views of the west at the time.[5] Expeditions such as Palliser's and Henry Youle Hind's were direct results of the expansionist campaign.[5] With the increasing frequency of expeditions to the west, exploring the North West became more popular, specifically among young British men interested in experiencing the wilderness before it was taken over by settlers.[5]

Palliser, Hector, Bourgeau, and Sullivan sailed for New York on 16 May 1857.

A plaque in Arcola, Saskatchewan, commemorating the Palliser Expedition, as well as the March West and the Fort Ellice-Wood Mountain Trail.

In May 1857, Palliser and the group of men began the expedition.[2] They sailed from Sault Ste Marie by steamship across Lake Superior and Lake Huron.[2] They continued by canoes and by June 12 they had almost reached Isle Royale and continued through Thunder Bay, across the Kaministikwia River and into Fort William, the starting point of the routes they had set out to explore; the first stretch of land was between Lake Superior and Red River.[2] The expedition continued with horses and carts, with supplies provided by the HBC.[9] At Red River Palliser employed a number of Métis guides to assist on the trip west. These guides also acted as interpreters, scouts and armed escorts.[10]

In June 1857, the party explored White Fish River to determine the river connections and potential usage of the waterways along with the help of three local Ojibwas.[2] They travelled from Thunder Bay up the Kaministiquia River, climbed Mountain Portage, stopped at the Priest's Portage and crossed nine other portages.[2]

They continued via the Red River and across the prairies. They met Charles W. Iddings, an American surveyor, along the United States border. The expedition continued through Turtle Mountain, Fort Ellice, Roche Percée, along the South Saskatchewan River to Fort Carlton, then along the North Saskatchewan River, where they spent the winter of 1857/1858.

In the spring they marched west, and searched for mountain crossings west of modern-day Irricana. Palliser and Sullivan mapped the North Kananaskis Pass and North Kootenay Pass before returning to Fort Edmonton for the winter. Hector crossed the Vermilion Pass and discovered the Kicking Horse Pass. During the winter, Palliser, Captain Arthur Brisco and William Roland Mitchell went south to Rocky Mountain House to meet the Blackfoot and Northern Peigan First Nations.

In 1859, the expedition mapped the confluence of the Red Deer River and South Saskatchewan River, as well as the Cypress Hills, before turning again west. Hector crossed the Rockies through the Howse Pass, and tried unsuccessfully to push through to the Pacific Coast. Palliser and Sullivan crossed the mountains through the North Kootenay Pass and continued down the Kootenay River to Fort Colville, which by then was on American soil as a result of the Oregon Treaty of 1846 and placement of the boundary at the 49th parallel.

Sullivan explored the Columbia River and its tributaries as far west as the Okanogan Valley, while Palliser crossed over land to Midway, BC. Unable to find passes to the Pacific north of the 49th parallel, they reunited with Hector in Fort Colvile. From there, they travelled 598 miles (962 km) downstream on the Columbia River to Fort Vancouver and the Pacific Coast, then north to Fort Victoria. The expedition returned to the East Coast by ship through San Francisco and Panama (where they had to go overland to reach a ship to travel in the Atlantic), then to Montreal. From there, they finally sailed back to Liverpool.

Two of the main areas that were discovered on the expedition were the stretch of land which is known now as the fertile belt for the prosperous soil between Red River and the Saskatchewan River Valley and the Rockies.[7] The second expanse of land is through the prairies and extends across the American border, and has become known as Palliser's triangle.[7] They reported to the government that this region was too arid for subsistence agriculture, a finding that was overruled by later officials. That was much to the detriment of those who tried to farm there, particularly when homesteading was encouraged by government grants of land[2] From surveying the land, large amounts of fertile land were found which contributed to the change from an economy built around fur-trading to agriculture.[7] The knowledge and plans for western British North America became more clear after Palliser and Hind's expeditions, with the detailed records and observations they were able to create a more accurate representation and understanding of the west.[5] After three years of publishing details of the expedition, Palliser presented his report to the British Parliament in 1863. A comprehensive map of the surveyed areas was published in 1865.[12][5] They concluded that transport through American territory was more feasible. While they found several passes suitable for crossing the Rocky Mountains, they were prevented from proceeding to the Pacific by mountains further west. From this better understanding and supported evidence of promising land and opportunities, work on expanding the west, settlement and connecting Canada to the west through additions to transportation.[7] One of the passes that that party explored on their expedition was later used for transportation purposes, as the Canadian Pacific Railway built through part of it.[13] The opportunities that the land provided became a priority.[5] In connecting the west with Canada, by 1870 agriculture was becoming the main focus and resource in the western prairies, though trading fur continued to be part of the economy.[14] Palliser and Hind's expeditions and the research they conducted and the information that they contributed led to the western prairies being divided into regions based on the geography, climate, soil and agricultural potential.[5]

The transition in the economic sectors from fur trading to agricultural created more development in western Canada, with a growing population of European settlers.[14] The large presence of European settlers in the west made them a large economic power and created conflict with Indigenous communities in the region.[14] The changes in the economy as a result of this expansion were very rapid and had affected the Metis and Indigenous people as they experienced a shift in their economic, political and cultural control over their communities.[14] Within the 1870s, the foundation of the economy in western Canada was broken down with the isolation and separation from the rest of Canada, and systems of power among Indigenous communities.[14] The disappearance of the buffalo led to the Indigenous communities becoming more reliant on European settlers and the government as they lost their main resource of economic dependency and began selling their land and moving on to reserves.[14]