The are NW of Neepawa was largely settled by people from Eastern Europe, mainly those of Ukrainian and Polish heritage. The area includes Polonia and Mountain Road, and stretches North to Dauphin, (not part of Beautiful Plains) renounced for its Ukrainian Festival.

The very first settlers in the area were English but they soon abandoned their homesteads. The first permanent settlers came from Slouvakia and were brought here by Count Esterhazy. They were Polish and Hungarian people coming here to find a better way of life under the leadership of G.S. de Dory.

Many of these Eastern Europeans were not farmers by trade and progress in establishing a farming community was slow. To make money to purchase a yoke of oxen or a team of horses to get their farming career started many found employment in towns along the railroad. They were a very determined group who overcame many obstacles like early frosts and a language barrier to succeed. To this day many of their descendents are still found in the Huns Valley - Polonia area.

Following their Polish and Hungarian European Neighbors brought by Esterhazy and de Dory, people of the Ukrainian culture came at the turn of the century. They as well settled Northwest of Neepawa in the area known as Mountain Road. Like many newcomers to Canada they faced many disadvantages, they also faced the particular hardship of finding decent land since most of the fertile land in Southern Manitoba had already been homesteaded in the late 1800s.

They started poor and lived in nothing more than shanties. They had no Churches or schools, but met at on another's farms for informal prayers and hymns. As they became more acquainted with the land and area, they prospered and soon their little communities flourished with churches, schools, stores, and a growing population as friends and relatives from Ukraine joined them. Today many people in Mountain Road owe their existence to these hardy settlers from Eastern Europe.