Longer Answer Questions

1. The Fur Brigade Trail was a transportation route for the fur trade. It took supplies and trade goods north and brought furs south. It was later used as a route for gold miners, missionaries, and other travellers.

2. Pack horses were used to carry goods. They were a means of transportation when people rode them. Horses also pulled wagons and stagecoaches that carried people and supplies. Horses were also used by road-building crews.

3. The Dewdney Trail was built between 1860 - 1865. It went from Hope to Princeton. It was extended to Rock Creek, and finally to Wild Horse Creek in the East Kootenays. It was 4 feet wide. It was 290 miles long. It had sections of corduroy road.

4. In 1912, Thomas Wilby drove from Halifax to Victoria in 52 days. There weren’t roads built the whole way. He drove through swamps, forests, open prairie, and mountainous terrain. In some places, he had to use a train or a boat to get through. In 1920, Percy Montgomery drove from Montreal to Vancouver in 32 days. He went through parts of the United States when sections of the road in Canada hadn’t been built or were too rough. In 1925, two Canadians went across Canada in a special car that could drive on railway tracks. In 1946, two men drove from Nova Scotia to Victoria completely on Canadian roads in nine days.

5. The Bennett government promoted road building and upgraded existing roads. There was a road-building boom. Road crews used lots of pavement or blacktop.

6. There is mountainous terrain with canyons and rivers to cross. There is wildlife to protect. BC is a big province with long distances between towns.

7. Trains and airplanes crossed Canada before cars on a highway did. The federal government gave financial support for provinces to extend their roads to neighbouring provinces. Early on, not all of the highway was paved. The 1949 Trans-Canada Highway Act was passed to provide a paved road. It was officially declared complete in 1962 with the opening of the Rogers Pass section. It is the longest, fully-paved road of any country in the world.