The Swan River Valley is 60 kilometers across and has no fewer than a
dozen rivers flowing through it, ultimately north-eastward into Hudson Bay. The depression era and post WWII "good roads" program came to the valley, but there was not enough money for bridges. Solution? Ford Crossings. 
In The Valley there are more than 80 Ford Crossings. In the winter, these appear as little dips and dales on snow-covered roads. In the spring, the roads are soft and the crossings are impassable. Travellers simply have to go around, circumventing, sometimes making three or four attempts, until they find a bridge and can continue on their way.
But it is the summer surprises that make a day's outing in The Valley a particular adventure. Sometimes when you approach a ford, you will see a few inches of water crossing the road, and will risk the crossing. Other times, you will see white-water torrents and will have to get out and evaluate the situation. Everyone in The Valley has stories about attempted or aborted crossings, lost time, or unplanned picnics by a rushing river.
The rivers of the Swan River Valley come from what are affectionately known by locals as the "North Mountain" or the "South Mountain, the Porcupine or the Duck Mountain, to folks from further afield. All of the rivers run. Some seem quite modestly sma
ll in the heat of a dry August, but a sudden torrent can put the rivers to work, as spillways for the excess that flows from the beaver ponds and lakes that populate the lush, dense mixed wood forests of the north and south mountains.So, next time you travel through west-central Manitoba, do not be afraid to venture off Highway 10. There is local lore, that indeed, every ford crossing has a cache, or a treasure, in fact, a clue. The story cannot be completed until you witness the cache and gather every clue. The keepers know that the caches remain intact and the story that unfolds as you build your intimacy with Ford Country is of an amazing Kingdom. The Swan River Valley.
