The Spiritual Gateway

For thousands of years, almost every traveler who has journeyed across Canada by land or by water has shared this crossroads where Lake of the Woods flowed into the Winnipeg River. Native elders describe it as a “spiritual gateway.” It was a link in ancient First Nations trade and transportation routes, then a vital water route for the fur traders, explorers and surveyors. Later it bridged a portion of CPR’s transcontinental rail line and, more recently, it has carried a section of the Trans-Canada Highway.

Tunnel Island is also a diverse ecological zone which lies at the intersection of three different biomes – Prairie/Parkland, Great Lakes/St. Lawrence Forest, and Boreal Forest – with a resulting diversity of tree and plant species. The island is home to substantial bald eagle and white-tailed deer populations, as well as other wildlife.