Hudson Bay Regional Park is a

regional park A regional park is an area of land preserved on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, recreational use or other reason, and under the administration of a form of local government. Definition A regional park can be a special park distri ...

in the

Canadian province Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North ...

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 ...

. It is located on the south side of the town of

Hudson Bay Hudson Bay ( crj, text=ᐐᓂᐯᒄ, translit=Wînipekw; crl, text=ᐐᓂᐹᒄ, translit=Wînipâkw; iu, text=ᑲᖏᖅᓱᐊᓗᒃ ᐃᓗᐊ, translit=Kangiqsualuk ilua or iu, text=ᑕᓯᐅᔭᕐᔪᐊᖅ, translit=Tasiujarjuaq; french: b ...

in the RM of Hudson Bay No. 394 along the shores of the

Red Deer River The Red Deer River is a river in Alberta and a small portion of Saskatchewan, Canada. It is a major tributary of the South Saskatchewan River and is part of the larger Saskatchewan-Nelson system that empties into Hudson Bay. Red Deer River ...

. The park is the site of a

North West Company The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what is present-day Western Canada and Northwestern Ontario. With great weal ...

fur trading The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most ...

fort called Fort Red Deer River that was built in 1790. About downstream, near

Erwood Erwood ( cy, Erwyd) is a village and community lying beside the River Wye, on the A470 road some 6 miles south-east of Builth Wells in Powys, Wales. The population of the community taken at the 2011 census was 429. It is in the historic county ...

, was 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 that was built in 1757. Hudson Bay Regional Park is composed about 900 acres of land split up between the main park on the south side of the town of Hudson Bay and along the Red Deer River and three former provincial recreation sites, Ruby Lake, Dagg Creek, and Greenbush River. The park is in the

Porcupine Provincial Forest The Porcupine Provincial Forest is a protected boreal forest in Canada which covers the Porcupine Hills on the border of Saskatchewan and Manitoba. __TOC__ History By the end of the 19th century, Eastern Canada had essentially run out of marke ...

and at the edge of a pre-historic

glacial lake A glacial lake is a body of water with origins from glacier activity. They are formed when a glacier erodes the land and then melts, filling the depression created by the glacier. Formation Near the end of the last glacial period, roughly 10,0 ...

called

Lake Agassiz Lake Agassiz was a large glacial lake in central North America. Fed by glacial meltwater at the end of the last glacial period, its area was larger than all of the modern Great Lakes combined. First postulated in 1823 by William H. Keating, it ...

Hudson Bay park

The main part of the park is located at the junction of

Fir Firs (''Abies'') are a genus of 48–56 species of evergreen coniferous trees in the family (biology), family Pinaceae. They are found on mountains throughout much of North America, North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa. The ...

, Red Deer, and

Etomami River Etomami River is a river in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The river originates in the Porcupine Hills and flows northward towards the town of Hudson Bay and into the Red Deer River. "Etomami" is a First Nations word that means "a pla ...

s and features camping, golfing, baseball diamonds, picnicking, hiking, fishing, and

cross-country ski Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreation ...

trails. The park also features Red Deer Downs, a natural amphitheatre known as "the Bowl", and a

gun range A shooting range, firing range, gun range or shooting ground is a specialized facility, venue or field designed specifically for firearm usage qualifications, training, practice or competitions. Some shooting ranges are operated by military ...

. The campground has over 40 sites for camping (some with electricity), washrooms, showers, potable water, and a sani-dump station. The

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...

, Hudson Bay Golf Club, is a 9-hole, grass green course. It was built in 1971 and is a par 35 with 2,617 yards.

Recreation sites

Besides the main Hudson Bay park area, there are three recreation sites that are part of the regional park. A fourth site at Saginas Lake became part of the

Porcupine Hills Provincial Park Porcupine Hills Provincial Park is the newest provincial park in the Canadian Province of Saskatchewan. It was created in 2018 through the amalgamation of five pre-existing provincial recreation sites south-east of the town of Hudson Bay. T ...

in 2018. *Dagg Creek Recreation Site (52°38′30″N, 102°24′9″W) is located south of the town of Hudson Bay along Highway 9 and near the confluence of the Etomami and

Pepaw River Pepaw River, also spelt ''Peepaw'', is a river in the east-central part of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan in the boreal forest ecozone of Canada. It begins in the Porcupine Hills and flows northward and meets up with the Etomami River ...

s. There is a small campground there and a picnic site. *Ruby Lake Recreation Site (52°57′36″N, 102°20′57″W), also known simply as ''Ruby Beach'', is located on the eastern shore of Ruby Lake, 15 kilometres north of Hudson Bay, just off Highway 9 at the southern side of the

Pasquia Hills Pasquia Hills are hills in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. They are located in the east central part of the province in the RM of Hudson Bay No. 394 near the Manitoba border. The hills are the northern most in a series of hills called ...

. There is a picnic area, beach, boat launch, and small campground consisting of 9 campsites. *Greenbush River Recreation Site (52°50′57″N, 102°41′15″W) is located on Greenbush River along

Highway 3 The following highways are numbered 3, H-3, PRI-3, AH3, E03 and R3. For roads numbered A3, see A3 roads. For roads numbered M3, see M3. For roads numbered N3, see N3. For roads numbered 3A, see 3A. International * Asian Highway 3 * Europea ...

, 26 kilometres west of Hudson Bay.

Fort Red Deer River

Fort Red Deer River or Fort Rivière la Biche was a

trading post on the

near the town of

. It was founded in 1794 by Hugh McGillis, and its date of closure is uncertain.

Elizabeth Losey Elizabeth Brown Losey (née Beard) (December 25, 1912 – 2005) was an American conservationist who is recognized as being the first female refuge biologist. Education Losey was born in East Orange, New Jersey on December 25, 1912. She went ...

places it at the mouth of the

at the town ballpark where there is a provincial marker ( in the Hudson Bay Regional Park). In 1774,

Matthew Cocking Matthew may refer to: * Matthew (given name) * Matthew (surname) * ''Matthew'' (ship), the replica of the ship sailed by John Cabot in 1497 * ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith * Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Chi ...

described two trading posts on the Red Deer River. The Lower Settlement was located on a flat just upriver of Red Deer Lake, while the Upper Settlement was located 60 miles upriver of the lake. The Upper Settlement likely became Fort Red Deer River. Ruins from both settlements were found by

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 1889. The great explorer, Sir Alexander Mackenzie, considered this fort to be one of the three chief trading posts of the Lake Manitoba district. The trading post sat at the approximate intersection of the

Assiniboine The Assiniboine or Assiniboin people ( when singular, Assiniboines / Assiniboins when plural; Ojibwe: ''Asiniibwaan'', "stone Sioux"; also in plural Assiniboine or Assiniboin), also known as the Hohe and known by the endonym Nakota (or Nakoda ...

tribes to the south, and the

Swampy Cree The Swampy Cree people, also known by their autonyms ''Néhinaw'', ''Maskiki Wi Iniwak'', ''Mushkekowuk,'' ''Maškékowak'' or ''Maskekon'' (and therefore also ''Muskegon'' and ''Muskegoes'') or by exonyms including ''West Main Cree,'' ''Lowlan ...

tribes to the north.

Flora and fauna

With the park situated in and around the

Porcupine Porcupines are large rodents with coats of sharp spines, or quills, that protect them against predation. The term covers two families of animals: the Old World porcupines of family Hystricidae, and the New World porcupines of family, Erethizont ...

and

Pasquia Provincial Forest Pasquia Hills are hills in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. They are located in the east central part of the province in the RM of Hudson Bay No. 394 near the Manitoba border. The hills are the northern most in a series of hills called ...

s there are lots of wildlife viewing opportunities. There are over 350 species of birds,

white-tailed deer The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known as the whitetail or Virginia deer, is a medium-sized deer native to North America, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru and Bolivia. It has also been introduced t ...

elk The elk (''Cervus canadensis''), also known as the wapiti, is one of the largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. The common ...

moose The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Most adult mal ...

, black bears,

muskrat The muskrat (''Ondatra zibethicus'') is a medium-sized semiaquatic rodent native to North America and an introduced species in parts of Europe, Asia, and South America. The muskrat is found in wetlands over a wide range of climates and habitat ...

s, woodland caribou,

cougar The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large Felidae, cat native to the Americas. Its Species distribution, range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mamm ...

s, and

beaver Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers ar ...

s. This region of Saskatchewan features 21 different species of

orchids Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

, 7 of which are endangered. The ram's head lady slipper is only found in four different locations in Saskatchewan and one of them is at Hudson Bay Regional Park.

References

{{Authority control Hudson Bay No. 394, Saskatchewan North West Company forts

Hudson Bay park

Recreation sites

Fort Red Deer River

Flora and fauna

See also

References