 The history of Highway 68 dates to 1929, when the Department of Northern Development (DND) constructed a gravel road between McKerrow and Goat Island.From there, a railway and ferry crossed the North Channel to Little Current on Manitoulin Island.On April 1, 1937, the DND merged into the Department of Highways (DHO), and the latter began to assume and number trunk roadways in central and northern Ontario.