Alexander Monkman (March 29, 1870 – September 26, 1941) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

Métis pioneer trader and leader of the farmers in the Lake Saskatoon area of Alberta. He discovered Monkman Pass and led the push to build a highway through it in the 1930s.

Early life

Alexander Monkman was born at

Manitoba House Manitoba House is the name of a Hudson's Bay Company fur trading post as well as a separate settlement adjacent to the post. The site is in the present-day Rural Municipality of Alonsa. Trading post The first trading post at or near the Manitoba ...

on March 29, 1870, and grew up around

Fort Garry Fort Garry, also known as Upper Fort Garry, was a Hudson's Bay Company trading post at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers in what is now downtown Winnipeg. It was established in 1822 on or near the site of the North West Company' ...

,Alexander Monkman (2)
Dorthea Calverley (1973). Retrieved May 30, 2009. however he and his family fled to

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

after the suppression of the

Red River Rebellion The Red River Rebellion (french: Rébellion de la rivière Rouge), also known as the Red River Resistance, Red River uprising, or First Riel Rebellion, was the sequence of events that led up to the 1869 establishment of a provisional government by ...

and received his education from mission schools. Monkman travelled to

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

and became a rodeo-rider. He returned to

from whence he set off to travel overland to join the Klondike Gold Rush in 1898. After a while, Monkman realised that his convoy would not make it and he turned back. He was the only one to turn back and he never heard from his colleagues again.Monkman, Alexander
Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved May 30, 2009.
. Retrieved May 30, 2009.

Career

Monkman was hired by

William Bredin William Fletcher Bredin (1862 – 1942) was a Canadian pioneer businessman and politician. He intermittently farmed and operated businesses in the Canadian West and then served as MLA in the Alberta Legislature. Born in Stormont County, On ...

and

James Cornwall Lieutenant-Colonel James Kennedy "Peace River Jim" Cornwall (October 29, 1869 – November 20, 1955) was a provincial politician from Alberta, Canada. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1909 to 1913 sitting with t ...

to become the

trading post A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded. Typically the location of the trading post would allow people from one geographic area to tr ...

manager at the new

Grande Prairie Grande Prairie is a city in northwest Alberta, Canada within the southern portion of an area known as Peace River Country. It is located at the intersection of Highway 43 (part of the CANAMEX Corridor) and Highway 40 (the Bighorn Highway), a ...

site near Lake Saskatoon. He lived there with his wife Louisa. He was the first non-

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business di ...

trader in the region, and succeeded in cutting off the Hudson's Bay Company from the region's furs. This was the spot where Danezaa and Cree Indians met to form their summer camps, and a village soon sprang up around the trading post with mission churches, a bank and a post office. (The settlement at Lake Saskatoon was abandoned in 1924 and the buildings moved to Wembley.) By the early 1900s Monkman held property of his own near Flying Shot Lake and received various grants from the government, which was trying to stimulate agricultural production in the area by handing out seeds to settlers for free. In 1922, while looking for

tungsten Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively as compounds with other elements. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isol ...

in the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...

, Monkman discovered a pass through the Rockies, which was later named in his honour. Grain farmers in his region were trying to find a way to cheaply transport their harvest to the seaport at

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

. Grain was being transported by rail through

Peace River The Peace River (french: links=no, rivière de la Paix) is a river in Canada that originates in the Rocky Mountains of northern British Columbia and flows to the northeast through northern Alberta. The Peace River joins the Athabasca River in th ...

and Calgary, a 1700-mile trip. Monkman's route cut 1000 miles off the total distance travelled, and engineers reported that Monkman's pass was easier to traverse than even the

Yellowhead Pass The Yellowhead Pass is a mountain pass across the Continental Divide of the Americas in the Canadian Rockies. It is located on the provincial boundary between the Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia, and lies within Jasper ...

at Jasper. However the

was selected for the northern-most major transport line through the mountains. By 1936, high freight costs had taken a toll on the area farmers, and Monkman suggested that the farmers build a highway through the

Monkman Pass Monkman Pass, in the Canadian Rockies, is southwest of Tumbler Ridge and northeast of Hansard. Found in the Hart Ranges, some consider this mountain pass as the southern limit of the informal grouping known as the Northern Rockies, although those ...

themselves to reduce freight costs. A fundraising effort took hold; signs for the 'M.P.H.' (Monkman Pass Highway) bestrewn the region and construction began using volunteer labour, starting from Rio Grande. By 1937 the volunteers had pushed a rough road past the

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

border and had reached the Kinuseo Falls, where a fishing resort was established. However, the war brought an end to Monkman's highway project. He died on September 26, 1941, back at

. His legacy lives on in the names of British Columbia's

Monkman Provincial Park Monkman Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, southwest of Tumbler Ridge and northeast of Hansard. Like Monkman Pass, Monkman Lake, Monkman Creek and Monkman Falls, it was named after Alexander Monkman. History By the early ...

and

Monkman Falls Monkman Falls is a waterfall on Monkman Creek in the Northern Rockies of British Columbia, Canada. It is one of a series of ten waterfalls on Monkman Creek known as "the Cascades". It is named for Alexander Monkman, a fur trader then based in th ...

. The book People of the Pass A Human interest Story of the Monkman Pass by Madelon Flint Truax and Beth Flint Sheehan, chronicles the struggle for a road through the pass. Canada's Historic Places listing
Retrieved May 30, 2009.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Monkman, Alexander 1870 births 1941 deaths Settlers of Canada People from Grande Prairie Canadian Métis people Métis fur traders