Manitoba Escarpment
The Manitoba Escarpment, also called the Western Manitoba Uplands, is a ridge of hills along the Manitoba–Saskatchewan border. Its eastern side is a steep scarp formed by glacial action and marks the western shore of the ancient lake called Agassiz.
Indigenous people lived here for generations, including the Swampy Cree, Plains Cree, Assiniboine, and Saulteaux. The hills helped define where different tribes lived, and the river valleys were important trade routes.
Henry Kelsey was the first European to explore the area. He traveled with Cree traders to encourage trade with the Hudson’s Bay Company. In the 18th and 19th centuries, European fur traders established posts and communities throughout the region. In the 1890s, the Canadian Northern Railway built a line along the east side of the escarpment and reached Erwood in 1900. The railroad helped start the forestry industry, which soon became the main economy, replacing trapping.
In the 20th century, people moved here to farm on the east and west sides of the hills and in the river valleys. Many settlers formed block settlements based on ethnicity, with Ukrainians, Russians, and Poles among the largest groups.
Around the escarpment lies a landscape shaped by big lakes and rivers. To the east is the Manitoba Lowlands, home to many connected lakes such as Lake Winnipegosis, Dauphin Lake, and Lake Manitoba. These lakes are remnants of Lake Agassiz, with Lake Winnipeg being the largest. To the north sit the Saskatchewan River lowlands, once part of a prehistoric Lake Saskatchewan that may have been a bay of Lake Agassiz. To the west is the Aspen Parkland, which was once mostly forest but is now farmland. To the south are the Assiniboine and Souris River valleys, once covered by Lake Souris, and the Pembina Escarpment, another shoreline of Lake Agassiz.
Three rivers cut through the range, splitting it into four sets of hills. The final shape of the escarpment formed after the last ice age, about 9,000 to 10,000 years ago. As the Laurentide Ice Sheet melted, water trapped between higher land to the west and the eastern ice sheet steepened the escarpment’s slopes.
The hills host mixed forests, mainly aspen, poplar, spruce, and fir, with clusters of white birch. In drier areas you’ll find jack pine; in wetter spots, tamarack. The forest floor is rich with shrubs, mosses, ferns, and grasses. Because the hills are relatively isolated, they are home to some rare plants—for example, the Hudson Bay area near Saskatchewan has several rare violet varieties and dozens of rare orchids.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 07:20 (CET).