The Power of Vision

LAKE OF THE WOODS HERITAGE TOWNSHIPS

1999

The Power of Vision

Bigway Foods 805 Ottawa Street

Joseph Cross, Cranbrook, BC

This first mural in the Town of Keewatin was planned and promoted by a group of townspeople and council leaders from this unique historic town on the water. Founded in the 1870’s, Keewatin has a rich history focused on the power of water and the resulting industry. The three sections of the mural tell this history with the town founder, John Mather, pictured in the centre with his fur coat. With its location at the mouth of the Winnipeg River, the area provided the First Nations People and fur traders a water passage to the prairies and the West. John Mather, from Southern Ontario, saw these possibilities and began the town with a logging industry. The Canadian Pacific Railway came through the area in the 1880’s. The combination of waterpower and rail access brought the construction of two flour mills which provided employment until the last mill burnt down in July 1967. The railway played another important role in the town. The station was a busy place on Friday nights during the summer months as the Campers’ Special arrived from Winnipeg. The fathers ‘from the city’ were greeted in elegant wooden launches to spend the weekend with their families “on the lake”.