The Roundhouse at East Selkirk was built by the Government of Canada as a Public Works project during the years 1878 and 1879. There were more than two contractors involved in the construction. It was an enormous building built of stone and brick. The stone came from our own East Selkirk Quarry and the bricks…

Explorers and Fur Traders Exploring the “new world” was a task that few had the bravery to attempt. The French Canadians were some of the first foreign explorers to come to the land along the Red River and into current St. Clements. Led by Pierre La Vérendrye, they explored this fertile region in the first…

Architectural Heritage of St. Clements “Starting afresh in a new home has always been a part of prairie life” (Holt 1). St. Clements municipality has attracted many different social and ethnic groups throughout history. These groups each brought their own distinctive influences which combined to form the great multicultural history of our region. The major…

By Donna Sutherland 1670 – 1870: The Fur Trade The First European Explorers Beginning in the 1500s, European Explorers sailed the Atlantic Ocean looking for a faster route to Asia so the people of Europe could trade their goods with the peoples of Asia. Those early explorers did not reach Asia, but they found North…

In the Beginning Canada was a new country at the end of the 19th century with a low population of immigrant people. The majority of people living in Canada then, especially in western Canada, were First Nations and Métis peoples. The Prime Minster of Canada, Wilfrid Laurier, wanted to increase the country’s immigrant population in…

Gonor and Narol are communities on the east side of Red River, south of the city of Selkirk. The origins of both communities date back many years to a time when several Aboriginal and Métis families resided in the area. The name Gonor derives from Father Nicholas de Gonnor (or Gonor) 1691-1759 ~ a French…

Libau is a small, quiet settlement located slightly north of East Selkirk off Hwy # 59. It was settled in the later part of the nineteenth century by early Latvian and German settlers who emigrated from north central Europe and various parts of Russia. Many of those century-old immigrants were among the thousands of others…

With a rich and colorful history that reaches back thousands of years, Lockport is a settlement with scores of stories to tell. It was first inhabited by North American peoples because of the abundance of fish found in the murky depths of the meandering Red River. The longstanding tradition of fishing is still alive today…

The first appearance of electric lights in our area would be only what we could see across the Red River, within the Town of Selkirk, dating back to 1891. They didn’t throw much light, but because they were spaced at intersections along Eveline Street, they were a welcome sight to those across the river. Then…