2. The Yellow Quill Trail taken from
"Melita's Tails and Trails" with kind
permission — K. H. Williams
This trail which was originally an Indian trail and later used by the
fur traders and buffalo hunters from the Red River Settlement, was also
used by many settlers coming into this area. There also is evidence
that some of the early explorers used this trail on the journeys to the
Mandan Indians on the Missouri River.
In certain places where the original prairie still remains, parts of
this trail may be seen. In this area on the W/215-3-27 on land formerly
owned by Mr. Niel Me Lure, where the trail crosses the deep ravine
which leads to the river, the trail is clearly visible through the
ravine and over the hilltop, running in a north-easterly-southwesterly
direction. Also on the old R. M. Graham farm, NW 36-3-26. about a
quar¬ter of a mile south east of where the first Melita Post Office was
established, the trail crosses the creek and the eastern hillside
towards where the J. H. Kenner and Alf Cochlan houses stood, and from
there to¬wards where the water tower now stands in Melita. This trail
from what is now the north western part of North Dakota followed the
South Antler and North Antler creeks north easterly and along the
western and northern sides of the Souris River, along the hilltops just
along the edge of the plain, to near where the town of Souris now
stands and then towards Grand Valley which was the original settlement
near Brandon. The trail remained on the south side of the Assiniboine
River to Portage la Prairie and to Headingly where it crossed the river
and on to the Red River Settlement and Fort Garry.
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