Tracing the path of old McLeod Creek
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/12/2021 (538 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
There is a portion of the original McLeod Creek that still carries water from what is now Whellams Lane, travelling under the Chief Peguis Trail and then emptying into the Red River. You can still see the outlet into the Red when travelling west on the Chief Peguis Trail between Henderson Highway and the Kildonan Settlers Bridge.
McLeod Creek was originally much longer, starting east of what is now Molson Street in what was a swampy area before settlement. It flowed west through the Morse Place area, where it was big enough that a bridge was built to cross it at Munroe Avenue and Grey Street. From there it flowed northwest, crossing Gateway Street, Centennial Park behind Neil Campbell School, then running across the Rossmere Golf Course, where a portion of it is a water hazard. It crossed through Pleasant Bay and then between Maxwell Place and McLeod Avenue to Henderson Highway.
It was at this location, somewhere between Brazier Street and Henderson, that a grist mill existed in the 1850s and ’60s to grind the grain of nearby settler. The mill stones were driven by the moving water of the creek. Two of the four original millstones are located in the small park at Edison Avenue and Henderson, another is located in the back yard of a private residence on Grandview Avenue, and the fourth is lost to history.
McLeod Creek had another branch that flowed into the main creek just south of the intersection of McLeod and Henderson Highway. This branch came from the south, roughly parallel to Henderson Highway. It can be seen today in the dip in the streets of the 200 block as far south as Bronx Avenue. This branch of the creek crossed Leighton Avenue in front of Lord Wolseley School. Until the 1950s there was a footbridge across the front of the school grounds, which is now buried under the earth used to fill in the creek.
Jim Smith is a community correspondent for Elmwood, East Kildonan and North Kildonan. Email him at jimsmith@mts.net
Jim Smith
Jim Smith is a community correspondent for Elmwood, East Kildonan and North Kildonan. Email him at jimsmith@mts.net