The Old North Trail

[Eric P Giese]

Doing some peliminary research on what could become quite a project - trying not to reinvent the wheel as much as I can (anyone else know the feeling?).  Does anyone know if the Old North Trail has been mapped from the Canada/US border north and into Alaska?  Next, of course, is whether any of it has been ground-truthed? 
-Eric

[Daryl Habel]

Doing some peliminary research on what could become quite a project - trying not to reinvent the wheel as much as I can (anyone else know the feeling?).  Does anyone know if the Old North Trail has been mapped from the Canada/US border north and into Alaska?  Next, of course, is whether any of it has been ground-truthed? 
-Eric

I wish I knew more about this, but I've always thought that the Old North Trail was idealistic, in the sense that it probably was a route taken by prehistoric North Americans along the eastern front of the Rocky Mountains, but was not comprised of a single, well-defined path (in the sense that a backpacker, like me, would define a "trail").   Even in the sense that it might be more like an ecotone corridor, I'm not sure whether or how much is 'mapped' or 'ground-truthed'.  There was a nice 6-page article on the archaeology of the Old North Trail in the Spring 2004 issue of Heritage Education CLICK HERE FOR WEB VERSION, and this mentions that "University of Calgary archaeologist Dr. Brian Reeves  has identified a few sets of such depressions and scars in the area north of Augusta [Montana] on up into Canada.  He located these trail tread marks based on the memories of Indians and ranchers who saw them fifty or more years ago when they were more visible.  He's flown over and walked them as well.  He was able to document dog travois, horse travois, and wagon wheel markings."

I think if I was really serious about initiating a project such as you describe,  Dr. Reeves might be high on my list of possible sources of more information.

Best,
Dar

[Eric P Giese]

Dar,
Thanks, I already contacted the University of Calgary and they informed me that Dr. Reeves is retired and a professor Emeritus in the department.  The only contact information they had for him was a postal address.  I will be sending off Dr. Reeves a letter this weekend when I have a little time.  I am a little aware of Dr. Reeves's work in northern Montana and I am hoping that he will be able to give me some direction (excuse the pun) on the points north of the border.  Several online sites have referenced that the route is paved over in parts of Alberta, but I have not yet learned of the souce of that information - could be just a fanciful rumor or local lore, but worth investigating.
If you or anyone else can give me any other leads, particularly on the known route (even if it is only "checkpoints" where evidence is found) I would be very grateful. 
I am going to check the survey reports for the Alaskan Highway to see if there is any reference to well-established routes used by the native populations or other local oral knowledge of the route.  Next I am planning on contacting the various native tribes along the probable route and consulting oral history documents from the corridor that may shine light on the route.  And then there is the combing through early years of Royal Mounted Police and Hudson's Bay Company records for similar records.  BUT that is the wheel I would rather not reinvent if someone has already compiled it.  Time and money.  The blessing and curse of us all :)
-Eric

[Daryl Habel]

Eric,

Best wishes and good luck on what I would say is a worthwhile project.  Unfortunately, I can't be more help, but maybe someone else here can.  I've probably crossed the Old North Trail many times on dirt roads leading into trailheads all the way from Glacier Park, past Bob Marshall Wilderness, to Yellowstone and south.  Anyone wandering the northern Rocky Mountan eastern front  will enjoy some of the finest scenery in the world while looking for traces of the Old North Trail.

Best,
Dar

[Ken Favrholdt]

I'm interested in finding out if anyone is pursuing the Old North Trail. I've done a little research on this already including some "fieldwork" in Alberta, that is, making traverses on backroads with old maps looking for possible routes.

Anyone interested in organizing a scientific study along the Alberta foothills?

Ken Favrholdt