Your old history books got the Red River Flood all wrong
Morning from the Gateway — here's what's moving in The Pas.
You know, sometimes the stories we think we know best turn out to have layers we never imagined. We hear about the Red River Flood of 1826 and think, "Yeah, that was big." But what if I told you it wasn't just big for the settlers? A historian is calling it a "once-in-a-millennium flood," the largest in the recorded history of the Red River watershed, and the way it's now being framed completely changes how we should understand that time. It wasn't just "the wreck of a whole colony," as some old accounts put it; it was a wreck that impacted everyone living along that waterway, long before the city of Winnipeg was even a dream.
### Why This Matters for Us
This isn't just about some distant event down south. It reminds us how much the rivers have always dictated life here, for our people on Opaskwayak Cree Nation and for the early settlers in The Pas. When the Saskatchewan River swells, when Clearwater Lake overflows, we feel it. It affects everything from the forestry operations at Tolko to the winter road network. Thinking about a flood of that magnitude in 1826 just puts our current flood preparations and our relationship with the water into a whole new perspective. It’s a good reminder that the land always has the final say.
* **Understanding the River's Power:** This history highlights the immense power of Manitoba's rivers, a power that shaped our landscape and our communities for centuries.
* **Connecting Past and Present:** It helps us better understand the resilience required to live in places like The Pas, where the natural world constantly reminds us who's in charge.
* **Rethinking History:** It's a chance to consider whose stories were told and whose were left out when these historical events were first documented.
For us up here, it means remembering that the river doesn't care about town lines or old maps. It just flows. And when it flows high, we all feel it, from the Kelsey Trail to the Flin Flon Highway. It grounds us in a shared history of living with — and respecting — the water.
Phil Flett, Morning Wire, The Pas.
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