My only cache of size "Other". Not a nano, and there is room for
small trackables alongside the cache. Please replace carefully.
Good luck!
This park running from Henderson Highway to the river is the
westernmost part of lot number 97 in the old Parish of Kildonan.
Lot numbers and parish names in Manitoba are used to this day for
legal purposes (land titles etc). They were set down in the 1870s
by the Dominion Government Survey, which was tasked to do a proper
survey of the parish lots already in existence along the Red and
Assiniboine Rivers (and a few other places) at the time.
The Parish of Kildonan (parish church is near
this cache) was divided into 97 lots. Number 1 runs along
Bannerman Avenue on the west side of the Red (this lot was first
settled by the Bannermans, oddly enough). Going north along the
west side there are 38 lots, with number 38 near what's now the
north city limit. Then they cross the river - 39 is on the east
side of the river near the north city limit. The numbers then
increase as you go south, down through number 61 where I live, and
finally ending up at number 97 here.
Having access to the river was very important to the early
settlers, so all lots fronted on the river. River access was so
important that early subdivisions were done lengthwise, making for
some extremely narrow parcels of land. When the lots were first
laid down in earlier surveys the majority were 12 chains in width
(one chain = 66 feet), but over time some ended up being only a
chain or two wide. Lot 97 isn't quite as extreme but would still be
quite narrow for a modern farming operation - four chains wide.
Most parish lots are about two miles long. This distance was
laid down in the treaty between Chief Peguis and Lord Selkirk in
1817, where Peguis granted the settlers land "as far as one can see
daylight under the belly of a horse". Lot 97 is no exception and
extends all the way to Panet Road, the "Two Mile Road". Note that
most streets in the older grid pattern neighbourhoods in Winnipeg
follow the alignments of the old parish lots.
But wait, there's more! Beyond the two mile limit, the settlers
exercised a "hay privilege" - at a certain time of year they could
cut hay in the approximately two miles beyond their parish lot. The
Outer Two Miles of lot 97 extends from Panet Road to Atwood Street,
the "Four Mile Road". Beyond the Four Mile Road the land was
divided up using the usual checkerboard township surveys.
Congratulations to Lizardo for momentarily changing occupations
to get FTF!