Dewdney Trail

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The Dewdney Trail is a 720 km (450 mi) trail in British Columbia, Canada, that served as a major thoroughfare in mid-19th century British Columbia. The trail was a critical factor in the development and strengthening of the newly established British colony of British Columbia, tying together mining camps and small towns that were springing up during the gold rush era prior to the colony's joining Canada in 1871. Establishing this route became important and urgent for the colony when many new gold finds occurred at locations near the US border that at the time were much more easily accessed from Washington Territory than from the then barely settled parts of the Lower Mainland and Cariboo. Approximately 80 percent of the trail's route has been incorporated into the Crowsnest Highway.