Red River

When Europeans first set foot in Canada, they were faced with a wilderness barrier of trackless forests. Fortunately, this new land was also crisscrossed by many grand rivers, and these became the early routes of discovery, settlement and growth. The third set of Canada's River Heritage stamps, released August 10 in commemorative booklet form, features five of Canada's important heritage rivers: the St. John; the St. Lawrence; the Red; the Fraser; and the Yukon. Originating in the U.S., only about one quarter of the Red River's 877-kilometre length is within Canada Crossing into Manitoba from North Dakota, the Red meets the Assiniboine River at Winnipeg, and continuing north empties into Lake Winnipeg.. The roles that pre-historic Lake Agassiz and the Red River played in the settlement and growth of Canada are of prime importance. Silt from the bottom of this lake formed the most fertile farmland in western Canada and the river offered the route by which the first settlers arrived to till the soil. They travelled south from Hudson Bay and later, north from the U.S. - but is was always by the Red and when settlers moved westward, it was often via the Red to the Assiniboine and then into the Portage la Prairie and Brandon areas. Canada Post Corporation's stamp depicts the Red River with a church in the vignette - St. Andrews on the Red. It is the oldest stone church west of Toronto and a monument to its Scottish builders.