Located in a valley between the Duck Mountains and the Porcupine Hills, the town of Swan River is close to the Saskatchewan boundary in west-central Manitoba.

The first permanent European settlement dates back to 1770, when fur traders from both the Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company established outposts along the Swan River where they bought and sold goods to local Cree peoples by way of birch bark canoes.

The first pioneers arrived in the Swan Valley through the Duck Mountains in 1897 and quickly developed the farming potential of the area.

The proposed construction of a line of the Canadian Northern Railway was announced in 1898 and the town was founded in 1900, though it was little more than a post office at the time.

Sandy beach ridges (marking the western shore of Lake Agassiz at various times) lie throughout the area: a prominent beach ridge lies under the town's golf course, just west of town.

But they also have a high calcium carbonate content and an alkaline pH, which limits their productivity in some crops (for example, blueberries).

[5] The Swan River Valley is near the southern limit of the boreal forest in its transition zone to aspen parkland.

Numerous peaty bogs and wetlands are present in the area, including hundreds of oxbow lakes of the meandering Swan and Woody rivers.

Summer, although short, is pleasant and very green, owing to the fertility of local soils and adequate rainfall.

Almost fifty percent of the surrounding area is under cultivation, most of which is seeded to cereal grain, oilseeds, and other speciality crops.

Softwood lumber trees (primarily white spruce) are cut from the surrounding forests, and milled at Spruce Products Ltd. Also, east of Swan River is located a mill specializing in the production of oriented strand board from aspen and balsam poplar.

The 52 acute-care bed facility was opened in 2005 to replace the old Swan River Valley Hospital, which closed in 2001.

The Northwest Round-up and Exhibition, which is hosted by the Agricultural Society, includes a parade, chariot and chuck wagon races, heavy and light horse shows, talent stages, concerts, dances, home living and school work exhibits, a midway, and the rodeo, which features events like the heavy horse pull, barrel racing, calf roping, and bull riding.