05/02/2026
200 years ago, an ice jam broke on the Red River, causing the most devastating flood recorded in Manitoba history.
Alexander Ross recorded the 1826 flood in his book ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต. After an exceptionally cold and snowy winter, a rapid thaw paired with heavy rain caused ice jams and swelling upstream. On May 2nd, Alexander Ross wrote how the water rose nine feet in 24 hours, and by May 5th, many settlers abandoned their homes for shelter on higher ground.
The 1826 flood decimated the Red River Settlement, peaking at 11 meters above normal level and claiming all homesteads and several lives. Only three churches and a grist mill remained standing. By May 23, the flood began to subside, and, in time, the Red River Settlement was rebuilt.
Before the flood, Alexander Ross was building a home in Red River Settlement awaiting the arrival of his wife Salis (โSarahโ) and their children from the Okanagan Valley. When Salis arrived after traversing the country with her four children, the flood destroyed the home Alexander had prepared. They would eventually rebuild their home known as Colony Gardens on the same plot of land where Ross House originally stood.
๐ผ๏ธ Pictured:
1: Colony Gardens, the home of Salis (Sarahโ) and Alexander Ross, c. 1884, Archives of Manitoba.
2: The Great Red River Flood of 1826, pen and ink drawing, Peter Rindisbacher, Archives of Manitoba.
