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Camp Hughes was established in 1909 as a Canadian military training camp. It was then called Camp Sewell and was located 10 kilometers west of the town of Carberry in the Rural Municipality of North Cypresswest in Manitoba, Canada. It was actively used for military training from 1909 to 1934.  
 
It was basically a large area of prairy covered in tents, but it grew to be Manitoba’s second largest city. In 1915 its name was changed to Camp Hughes to honour Major General Sir Sam Hughes, Minister of Militia and Defence.  
 
To fight for Canada in WW1 was the ‘in’ thing to do, so all communities in Manitoba sent their volunteer young men to this Camp for training. Unfortunately they only had a few rifles, and so they only took Rifle practice a few times a week.  
 
They did on the other hand have thousands of shovels so the Soldiers spent their time digging trench systems. Between 1915 to 1916 military structures were built including an extensive Midway of retail stores and entertainment facilities, including the first multi-plex movie house.  
 
The Camp had an atmosphere of a Holiday Camp, on weekends reletives were encoourgaed to visit the boys, and enjoy the entertainment. By Fall their were no able bodied men to help take off the Harvest so the Camp Hughes inhabitants were given a Leave so they could go home and help out with the removal of the crops.  
 
During WW1 over 38,000 troops of the Canadian Expeditionary Force had trained at Camp Hughes, and many were participants at the Battle of Vimy Ridge in France on April 9th 1917. Soldiers were trained continuously at the camp until 1934, when because of Finacial and Logistical reasons the Troops were transferred to Shilo, just down the road, and Winnipeg.  
 
Today Camp Hughes is mainly a memory, but intact are the only examples of WW1 Trench Systems remaining in North America. Also the Cemetary, known as Cemetary Hill can be visited.  
 
Note: Last March, (2010) the group ‘Friends of Camp Hughes’ received a grant from the councillors of the RM of North Cypress and the town of Carberry each donating $2,000 a year for the next five years to be used as seed money towards the construction of an interpretive site.  
 
This will include protecting, preserving, and the development of a walking path at the site.  
 
http://findarticles.com/p/news-articles/brandon-sun-the/mi_8087/is_20100311/councils-commit-camp-hughes-overhaul/ai_n52426834/  
 
Source: - Camp Hughes Military Training Site  
http://www.taniwha.ca/mhsmb/hughes/hughes.html