Local Improvement Districts were the precursors of rural municipalities which initially established and maintained roads in their area.

Early settlers helped to construct and maintain the route and would get paid road improvement wages from the local rural municipality.

The remainder of the road followed Dominion land survey township and range lines.

The trail has been groomed for walking, hiking, cycling, skiing, horseback riding, canoeing, and snowmobiling.

This final stretch of the highway is part of the Strasbourg Plain landscape area of the Moist Mixed Grassland ecoregion featuring small trembling aspen bluffs around the occasional slough.

[1] Between 1897 and 1909, municipal administration affairs were handled by Local Improvement District (LID) Number 165.

The road allowances were laid out as a part of the Dominion Land Survey system for homesteading.

The new line brought freight to Lumsden infrequently and the elevator was torn down in 1927, and the CNR track removed the next year.