 Steinbach's Main Street was hacked out of thick poplar bush along the creek, where a bison trail ran, a trail that was still used by Indigenous people during Steinbach's early years.In June 1875, Steinbach's spiritual leader Jakob Barkman, who had led the Kleine Gemeinde to Canada, drowned in the Red River, along with Jakob K. Friesen on a trip to Winnipeg for supplies.The absence of religious leadership in Steinbach created a vacuum that made the villagers receptive to John Holdeman when he visited in 1881.