Bissett is a community situated on
Rice Lake in the
southeastern region of
Manitoba
Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...
,
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 ...
, classified as a
northern community and
designated place
A designated place (DPL) is a type of community or settlement identified by Statistics Canada that does not meet the criteria used to define municipalities or population centres. DPLs are delineated every 5 years for the Canadian census as the sta ...
. Located two and a half hours northeast of
Winnipeg
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...
on
Provincial Road 304, Bissett is an entry point to
Nopiming Provincial Park
Nopiming Provincial Park is a natural provincial park in Manitoba, Canada, located on the southeast side of the province, along the boundary with Ontario.
The area was designated a provincial park by the Government of Manitoba in 1976. The park ...
.
The discovery of gold in the community in 1911 made the region the cradle of
gold mining
Gold mining is the extraction of gold resources by mining. Historically, mining gold from alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. However, with the expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface ...
in Manitoba.
[https://www.manitoba.ca/iem/info/libmin/gold_in_bissett.pdf ] This was a steady industry for many years until closure of the mine in 1983. Mining executive
John Draper Perrin John Draper Perrin (August 26, 1890 – September 19, 1967) was a Canadian entrepreneur, mining executive and civic leader.Staff report (19 September 1967). J. D. Perrin dies at his home. ''Winnipeg Free Press''Edited by Greene, B. M. (1948). Perri ...
helped finance the development of the town.
Today, Bissett is home to the
True North Gold Mine (also called the Rice Lake Gold Mine),
San Antonio Gold Mine, Wynne Drilling Corporation, Northern Wings Bed and Breakfast, and the San Antonio Hotel. The township also hosts the base of operations for the
Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America (BSA, colloquially the Boy Scouts) is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with about 1.2 million youth participants. The BSA was founded i ...
Northern Tier High Adventure Base, which operates canoeing expeditions in the nearby
Atikaki Provincial Wilderness. There is a school which features a half day nursery/kindergarten and one of the last remaining Grade 1 - 9 classrooms in Canada.
History
Since around 1800, most of the land east of
Lake Winnipeg
Lake Winnipeg (french: Lac Winnipeg, oj, ᐑᓂᐸᑲᒥᐠᓴᑯ˙ᑯᐣ, italics=no, Weenipagamiksaguygun) is a very large, relatively shallow lake in North America, in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Manitoba, Canada. I ...
belonged to the
Anishinabe
The Anishinaabeg (adjectival: Anishinaabe) are a group of culturally related Indigenous peoples present in the Great Lakes region of Canada and the United States. They include the Ojibwe (including Saulteaux and Oji-Cree), Odawa, Potawatomi, M ...
(
Saulteaux
The Saulteaux (pronounced , or in imitation of the French pronunciation , also written Salteaux, Saulteau and other variants), otherwise known as the Plains Ojibwe, are a First Nations band government in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Al ...
); before the arrival of the Anishinabe, the land was of the
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 ...
.
Gold rush
Joseph Tyrrell
Joseph Burr Tyrrell, FRSC (November 1, 1858 – August 26, 1957) was a Canadian geologist, cartographer, and mining consultant. He discovered dinosaur (''Albertosaurus sarcophagus'') bones in Alberta's Badlands and coal around Drumheller in 188 ...
, in a Geographical Survey of Canada report, first identified the potential for gold in Bissett in 1900.
In early 1911, a Cree
fur trapper
Fur is a thick growth of hair that covers the skin of mammals. It consists of a combination of oily #Guard hair, guard hair on top and thick #Down hair, underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as ...
named Duncan Two-hearts set out from his
trapline
In the fur trade, a trapline is a route along which a trapper sets traps for his or her quarry. Trappers traditionally move habitually along the route to set and check the traps, in so doing become skilled at traversing remote terrain, and beco ...
at
Turtle Lake. In addition to fur, Twohearts had a small bag full of rocks he had collected at
Rice Lake, which he was going to show to a trader at
Manigotagan, Manitoba
Manigotagan is a settlement in the Canadian province of Manitoba.
Demographics
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Gov ...
, named Arthur Quesnel. The rocks had streaks of yellow running through them, which Quesnel and his friend Captain E. A. Pelletier recognized as being
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
.
At Rice Lake in March 1911, Two-hearts took Pelletier to a boulder of rusty
quartz
Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...
containing pure gold. Pelletier soon after
staked a claim on March 6, calling it ''Gabrielle'', followed by other claims called ''San Antonio'', ''Ross Fraction'', and ''Island Fraction''.
The discovery of gold precipitated an era of
prospecting
Prospecting is the first stage of the geological analysis (followed by exploration) of a territory. It is the search for minerals, fossils, precious metals, or mineral specimens. It is also known as fossicking.
Traditionally prospecting reli ...
in the Wanipigow River watershed and in the current-day area of
Nopiming. These regions became the hub of
gold mining
Gold mining is the extraction of gold resources by mining. Historically, mining gold from alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. However, with the expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface ...
in Manitoba. The area saw an influx of prospectors from
Kenora
Kenora (), previously named Rat Portage (french: Portage-aux-Rats), is a city situated on the Lake of the Woods in Ontario, Canada, close to the Manitoba boundary, and about east of Winnipeg by road. It is the seat of Kenora District.
The his ...
and Winnipeg, who came in canoes, following the old travel routes of the Indigenous peoples—the
Bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...
(Oiseau), the
Manigotagan, and other rivers.
The only person who seems to have found success from the rush, however, was Pelletier.
Establishment of Bissett
The community of Bissett came as result of Manitoba's first gold rush in the early 20th century. With the help of mining executive
John Draper Perrin John Draper Perrin (August 26, 1890 – September 19, 1967) was a Canadian entrepreneur, mining executive and civic leader.Staff report (19 September 1967). J. D. Perrin dies at his home. ''Winnipeg Free Press''Edited by Greene, B. M. (1948). Perri ...
, who helped finance the development of the town, the community was recognized in 1972, represented by a mayor and council. Situated on Rice Lake, the town was named after physician, surgeon and politician
Edgar Douglas Richmond Bissett
Edgar Douglas Richmond Bissett (May 3, 1890 – January 14, 1990) was a Liberal-Progressive Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of Canada.
A surgeon by profession, Bissett first ran for federal office in the 1925 federal election ...
, a
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
from September 1926 until July 1930.
The 1996 population was 159, and in 2012 it is approximately 125, although it rises significantly during the summer when the lake cabins fill up. A new mining project, San Gold, was started near the town in 2005 and ceased operations in June 2015.
Climate
Demographics
In the
2021 Census of Population conducted by
Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultur ...
, Bissett had a population of 115 living in 60 of its 125 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 108. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.
See also
*
Bissett Water Aerodrome
References
{{reflist
External links
Northern Community Profile
Designated places in Manitoba
Northern communities in Manitoba
Unincorporated communities in Eastman Region, Manitoba
Canadian gold rushes
Mining communities in Manitoba