Touchwood Hills Post Provincial Park is the location of a former

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 di ...

(HBC) fur trading post that existed from 1879 to 1909 in the Touchwood Uplands of the Canadian province of

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in 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 the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dak ...

. In 1986, the site was designated a

provincial park Ischigualasto Provincial Park A provincial park (or territorial park) is a park administered by one of the provinces of a country, as opposed to a national park. They are similar to state parks in other countries. They are typically open to t ...

. It is located along Highway 15 in the RM of Kellross No. 247, about west of Lestock and east of

Punnichy Punnichy ( 2016 population: ) is a village in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan within the Rural Municipality of Mount Hope No. 279 and Census Division No. 10. It is approximately northeast of the City of Regina. This village is part o ...

. The park is in size and consists of cellar depressions and other archaeological remains from the historic post, including the remnants of the marks left by

Red River carts The Red River cart is a large two-wheeled cart made entirely of non-metallic materials. Often drawn by oxen, though also by horses or mules, these carts were used throughout most of the 19th century in the fur trade and in westward expansion i ...

on this segment of the

Carlton Trail The Carlton Trail was the primary land transportation route in the Canadian Northwest for most of the 19th century, connecting Fort Carlton to Edmonton along a line of intermediate places. It was part of a trail network that stretched from the Red ...

. There is also a plaque and concrete markers outlining the locations of the original buildings. It is a day-use site only as there are only picnic tables and no other services. Another notable fur trading post, Last Mountain House, is located to the west on

Last Mountain Lake Last Mountain Lake, also known as Long Lake, is a prairie lake formed from glaciation 11,000 years ago. It is located in south central Saskatchewan, Canada, about north-west of the city of Regina. It flows into the Qu'Appelle River via Last ...

History

The Touchwood Hills Post was one of the few Hudson Bay Company

trading posts A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded. Typically the location of the trading post would allow people from one geographic area to tr ...

that was not located on a river and supplied by canoe as it was a re-supply point on the part of the Carlton Trail which ran from

Fort Ellice Fort Ellice was a Hudson's Bay Company trading post operated from 1794 to 1892. First established on the Qu'Appelle River, the post was rebuilt in 1817 on the south bank of the Assiniboine. Another iteration of the post was built near the first i ...

on the

Assiniboine River The Assiniboine River (''; french: Rivière Assiniboine'') is a river that runs through the prairies of Western Canada in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. It is a tributary of the Red River. The Assiniboine is a typical meandering river with a sing ...

north-west to

Fort Carlton Fort Carlton was a Hudson's Bay Company fur trading post from 1795 until 1885. It was located along the North Saskatchewan River not far from Duck Lake. It is in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan and was rebuilt by the government of Sas ...

on the

North Saskatchewan River The North Saskatchewan River is a glacier-fed river that flows from the Canadian Rockies continental divide east to central Saskatchewan, where it joins with the South Saskatchewan River to make up the Saskatchewan River. Its water flows event ...

. The section of the Carlton Trail that went from the Touchwood Hills to the

Fishing Lakes The Fishing Lakes, also called the Calling Lakes or the Qu'Appelle Lakes, are a chain of four lakes in the Qu'Appelle Valley cottage country about 40 miles (64 km) to the north-east of Regina in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. T ...

was called the Fort Qu'Appelle-Touchwood Hills Trail. The post was originally built by Thomas Taylor in September 1852 north of the current park in the "Big" Touchwood Hills and it was part of the Swan River District managed from

Fort Pelly Fort Pelly was a Hudson's Bay Company fur trading post located in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The fort was named after Sir John Pelly, governor of the Hudson's Bay Company. The current village of Pelly, Saskatchewan, takes its name f ...

. About 10 years later, the post was moved south a few miles to the Little Touchwood Hills. Approximately 14 years later, in 1879, it was moved a short distance north-east to the current location. The Touchwood Hills Post was an important trading post due to its location along the Carlton Trail. While it traded in a variety of goods, such as beaver and muskrat fur and buffalo products, such as robes, fresh and dried meat, and

pemmican Pemmican (also pemican in older sources) is a mixture of tallow, dried meat, and sometimes dried berries. A calorie-rich food, it can be used as a key component in prepared meals or eaten raw. Historically, it was an important part of indigenou ...

, the main purpose was to acquire and distribute provisions for Hudson's Bay Company operations in the North-West Territories. The local

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

supplied most of the goods for the post. In 1882, the Dominion Telegraph line was built alongside the Carlton Trail resulting in an increased importance of the post by making it a communications hub. By 1895 the local First Nations had been largely settled on

Indian reserve In Canada, an Indian reserve (french: réserve indienne) is specified by the '' Indian Act'' as a "tract of land, the legal title to which is vested in Her Majesty, that has been set apart by Her Majesty for the use and benefit of a band." In ...

s and Touchwood Hills Post became more of a general store and post office for the locals. It was closed in 1909 due to competition from the

Grand Trunk Pacific Railway The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway was a historic Canadian transcontinental railway running from Fort William, Ontario (now Thunder Bay) to Prince Rupert, British Columbia, a Pacific coast port. East of Winnipeg the line continued as the National Tra ...

, which was completed nearby the year before.

References

{{Authority control Provincial parks of Saskatchewan National Historic Sites in Saskatchewan Hudson's Bay Company forts Rural Municipality of Kellross No. 247

History

See also

References