Water, To Rail, To Road

 In the first half of the 19th century, before the railway connected the country geographically, the Hudson’s Bay Company transported goods from the eastern part of Canada and Europe to what is now Manitoba—then a part of what was called Rupert’s Land—via boats from northern ports such as York Factory. Animal-drawn carts belonging to Métis traders also began dispersing goods at this time, and the cart and wagon became the basis for the hauling industry in Manitoba. While the cart and wagon would endure into the 20th century, they were simultaneously the forerunners of the automotive trucking industry.  

At roughly the same time, between 1859 and 1882, steamboats became the basis of large-scale shipping—only to be replaced by the railroad. In 1878 a link was established between St. Boniface and the U.S., and in 1881-1882, the Canadian Pacific Railway completed the first direct rail link from Eastern Canada, which opened the door to mass immigration and settlement of the Prairies. Winnipeg quickly became a major railway hub, being linked at the turn of the last century to other points of destination by the Canadian Northern and Grand Trunk Pacific Railway.  

Consequently, in the 1890s and early 1900s, Winnipeg became a boomtown. The city’s population grew from approximately 25,000 in 1891 to more than 179,000 by 1921, taking on its distinctive multicultural character in the process. The efficiency of the railways dampened the established prominence of the wagons and long-haul steamers, although the former still best served short-haul shipping, especially to points without rail service. Nonetheless, the railways established a veritable monopoly on long-range transportation in Canada—that is, until the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914.

This development severely reduced reliance on the rail system for international trade, allowing steamships to once again capture the undisputed title as the number one means of moving goods between continents. The corresponding increase in ship traffic helped Vancouver become Canada’s third largest city in the 1920s, essentially ending Winnipeg’s status as the “Gateway to the West.”

And yet from this economic blow would emerge the growth of the Manitoba trucking industry. Although the automobile had been introduced to the province in the first few years of the 20th century, it was seen as nothing more than a plaything of the wealthy. By 1910, however, businessmen were performing comparisons between horses and newly developed motor trucks, in which the trucks performed favourably. The key selling points were overall efficiency, durability, and cost-effectiveness, and the truck thus quickly came to be seen as a genuine means of competing with the railway. By 1912 the use of motor trucks became so prevalent in Winnipeg that trade publication-like articles started appearing about the new vehicles.  

Then came the First World War, in which the truck proved to be of tremendous value in the military effort overseas. On the home front, the increase in truck use continued thanks to a shortage of freight cars in the United States, and many of the large numbers of manufactured trucks found their way into Canada. As the popularity of horse power decreased, improvements to road conditions were made and higher-speed models of truck were developed, improving truck performance and increasing usage. By mid-century, despite the Great Depression, World War II, and continued efforts by the railway companies to protect their monopolies, trucking had become a permanent fixture of the transportation industry in Canada. The boom the industry experienced in the stable postwar years only strengthened its prominence. The trucking industry in Manitoba had come of age, and was here to stay.