Amisk (Beaver) Lake is a lake in east-central

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

(south-west of Flin Flon) in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. 'Amisk' means beaver in

Cree The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada ...

Saskatchewan Highway 167 Highway 167 is a highway in the Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It runs from the Manitoba border between Creighton, Saskatchewan, Creighton and Flin Flon, where it takes over from Manitoba Highway 10, to the Amisk Lake Recreation Site ...

provides road access.

Denare Beach Denare Beach is a Northern village (Saskatchewan), northern village on the east shore of Amisk Lake, Saskatchewan. Located on Saskatchewan Highway 167, Highway 167, the community is southwest of Flin Flon and northeast of Prince Albert, Saskatche ...

, the largest settlement, is located on the east side of the lake.

Forts

Amisk Lake is on the

Sturgeon-Weir River The Sturgeon-Weir River is a river in east-central Saskatchewan, Canada. It flows about south-southeast to join the Saskatchewan River at Cumberland House, Saskatchewan. It was on the main voyageur route from eastern Canada northeast to the Mac ...

, an important part of the canoe route from eastern Canada to the rich Lake Athabasca country. There was an independent trading post on Amisk Lake (Beaver Lake) in 1775 and a

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...

trading post in 1776.

Frobisher-Henry Fort

In June 1775

Alexander Henry the elder Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

left Montreal with 16 canoes and goods worth £3,000. On Lake Winnipeg he was joined by Peter Pond,

Joseph Frobisher The Hon. Joseph Frobisher (April 15, 1748 – September 12, 1810) M.P., J.P., was one of Montreal's most important fur traders. He was elected to the 1st Parliament of Lower Canada and was a seigneur with estates totalling 57,000 acres. ...

and Thomas Frobisher. From the new Hudson's Bay Company post at

Cumberland Lake Cumberland Lake is a glacial lake of Saskatchewan, Canada. It is located in the Cumberland Delta in east-central Saskatchewan about from the Manitoba border. Cumberland House and Cumberland House Provincial Historic Park are located on the ...

Henry and the two Frobishers went north up the Sturgeon-Weir hoping to reach Frog Portage where Thomas had traded successfully the previous year. They crossed Amisk Lake on the first of November and the next morning it was frozen over. Since there was good fishing they stopped at the mouth of the West Weir and built a fort. On the first of January Henry set out on foot and spent three months visiting the Indians. Next spring they went north to Frog Portage and were successful in trade. Joseph Frobisher maintained the post of Amisk Lake until it was abandoned in 1778.

Fish Species

The

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

species include

walleye The walleye (''Sander vitreus'', synonym ''Stizostedion vitreum''), also called the yellow pike or yellow pickerel, is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the Northern United States. It is a North American close relat ...

yellow perch The yellow perch (''Perca flavescens''), commonly referred to as perch, striped perch, American perch, American river perch or preacher is a freshwater perciform fish native to much of North America. The yellow perch was described in 1814 by Samu ...

northern pike The northern pike (''Esox lucius'') is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus '' Esox'' (the pikes). They are typical of brackish and fresh waters of the Northern Hemisphere (''i.e.'' holarctic in distribution). They are known simply as a ...

, lake trout, lake whitefish,

cisco Cisco Systems, Inc., commonly known as Cisco, is an American-based multinational digital communications technology conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, manufactures, and sells networking hardware, ...

white sucker The white sucker (''Catostomus commersonii)'' is a species of freshwater cypriniform fish inhabiting the upper Midwest and Northeast in North America, but it is also found as far south as Georgia and as far west as New Mexico. The fish is commonl ...

longnose sucker The longnose sucker (''Catostomus catostomus'') is a species of cypriniform freshwater fish in the family Catostomidae. It is native to North America from the northern United States to the top of the continent. It is also found in Russia in rive ...

and

burbot The burbot (''Lota lota'') is the only gadiform (cod-like) freshwater fish Freshwater fish are those that spend some or all of their lives in fresh water, such as rivers and lakes, with a salinity of less than 1.05%. These environments di ...

. Smallmouth bass are stocked in nearby Konuto Lake.

References

Sources

Statistics CanadaAnglersatlas.comFish Species of SaskatchewanPlan shewing mining locations on Amisk Lake 1914 (gold mining)
Lakes of Saskatchewan {{Saskatchewan-geo-stub

Forts

Frobisher-Henry Fort

Fish Species

See also

References

Sources