Big Bend Country was important as it was one of the few land routes possible for a wagon road to connect the Pacific Colony with the rest of British North America.

After the gold rush in the late 1860s, travellers used canoes or river steamers until the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway in the 1880s.

In the early 20th century, the Southern Trans-Provincial Highway was the only automobile route which connected southwestern British Columbia with Alberta.

[3][4] It was regarded as a perilous gravel road that featured steep grades and runoffs from melting snow in the summer and was closed in the winter, with travellers preferring to use a car shuttle train.

An unsubmerged eastern section of the Big Bend Highway is now a forestry services road and connects with Marl Creek Provincial Park.