Some Brandon History

I had some fun writing recently about the Palliser Expedition which explored the Canadian Prairies from 1857 to 1860. I found the topic so interesting that it extended to three columns. The first one of the series was titled Is It Time For A New “Palliser Expedition”?

I wrote about this subject about 20 years ago in a piece for the Winnipeg Free Press. I was always interested in history and studied it in University, and it is great to be able to still indulge in this interest. I re-read the book The Palliser Expedition: An Account of John Palliser’s British North American Exploring Expedition 1857 – 1860 by Irene M. Spry (Macmillan, 1963), which I borrowed from the Brandon Public Library. Spry’s book is well written and makes one feel that one is going on the original expedition. And, now there is the web to do even more research on such topics.

Now is a excellent time to re-visit the Palliser Expedition, as we are at the 150th anniversary of its start. Plus, it isn’t every day that I get to use the word "sesquicentennial"!

Also fun writing the column Proud History of Looking Forward for the special edition of the Brandon Sun marking the 125th anniversary of Brandon’s beginning as city. Brandon grew so quickly at the start, it began as a city - never having had time to be a village or town.

Interesting to compare the two concepts: what our region was like around 1860 to what Brandon was like in the 1880s. When John Palliser explored the area, the railway had not reached here. He travelled by horse-drawn Red River cart and by walking (using snowshoes in the winter). Other modes of transport were canoe and dog sled. The only permanent settlements west of what is now Winnipeg were Hudson Bay fur trading forts.

There was quite a difference between what Palliser saw to what residents of the new City of Brandon experienced in the 1880s. By then, they were connected to the wider world by the railway; there were daily stock market quotes by telegraph. They also had the telephone and electricity.

When I reflect on those changes, I think that people living in the latter half of the 19th century and the early 20th century often saw more technological changes than we see today. For example, going from the telephone to the Internet is less of change than going from nothing to the telephone or to having electricity.

One other observation: even in Palliser’s time, “globalization” was important. Even though there was no railway then, the residents of the Prairies – both Europeans and First Nations peoples – were tied into a global economy. Of course, Brandon's start was even more a result of globalization - it was created only because the railway linked it to world markets.