Cumberland House is a community in Census Division No. 18 in northeast

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 ...

, Canada on the

Saskatchewan River The Saskatchewan River (Cree: ''kisiskāciwani-sīpiy'', "swift flowing river") is a major river in Canada. It stretches about from where it is formed by the joining together of the North Saskatchewan and South Saskatchewan Rivers to Lake Winn ...

. It is the oldest settler community in Saskatchewan and has a population of about 2,000 people. Cumberland House Provincial Park, which provides tours of an 1890s powder house built by the

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 ...

, is located nearby. The community consists of the Northern Village of Cumberland House with a population of 772 and the adjoining

Cumberland House Cree Nation Cumberland House Cree Nation ( cr, ᑳ ᒥᓂᐢᑎᑯ ᒥᓇᐦᐃᑯᐢᑳᕽ ''kâ-ministiko-minahikoskâhk'', meaning ''Island that's in a pine forest'')Wolvengrey, Arok, editor. Cree: Words. Regina, University of Regina Press, 2001https: ...

with a population of 715. The community is served by the Cumberland House Airport and by Saskatchewan Highway 123.

Cumberland House Cree Nation

The population of Cumberland House consists of mostly

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 ...

people, including

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 ...

and Métis. Cumberland House was and is a Cree "n" dialect community, known in Cree as "Waskahikanihk". In March 2013, Cumberland House Cree Nation had a registered population of 1387 with 814 members living on-reserve or crown land and 573 members living off-reserve. The First Nation has territory at five locations and is governed by a Chief and four councillors. It is a member of the

Prince Albert Grand Council The Prince Albert Grand Council (PAGC) is a Tribal Council representing the band governments of twelve First Nations in the province of Saskatchewan. Its head offices are located in the city of Prince Albert. The Tribal Council was created in 197 ...

History

Fur trade depot

From its foundation in 1774, Cumberland House was one of the most important fur trade depots in Canada. To the east, the

led to

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 ...

and on to Montreal or Hudson Bay. To the west, the river led to the Rocky Mountains and a pass to Oregon Country. To the north, the Sturgeon-Weir River led to the Churchill River which led to the

Methye Portage The Methye Portage or Portage La Loche in northwestern Saskatchewan was one of the most important portages in the old fur trade route across Canada. The portage connected the Mackenzie River basin to rivers that ran east to the Atlantic. It wa ...

and the rich

Athabasca Country In fur trade days the term Athabasca Country was used for the fur-producing region around Lake Athabasca. The area was important for two reasons. The cold climate produced some of the densest and thickest beaver fur in North America. The numbe ...

to the northwest. During the construction of Cumberland House the traders were challenged by the inland location and their unfamiliarity with crafting canoes. During the completion of the community's construction the traders had developed the required travel proficiency. Cumberland House was used as a depot for east-bound furs and west-bound trade goods. It was also a depot for

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 ...

used to feed the

voyageurs The voyageurs (; ) were 18th and 19th century French Canadians who engaged in the transporting of furs via canoe during the peak of the North American fur trade. The emblematic meaning of the term applies to places (New France, including the ' ...

on their long journey to Lake Athabasca. Since it was in the forest belt, pemmican was brought downriver from the prairies or upriver from Lake Winnipeg. It was about 40 days' paddling time from the Hudson's Bay Company base at

York Factory York Factory was a settlement and Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) factory (trading post) located on the southwestern shore of Hudson Bay in northeastern Manitoba, Canada, at the mouth of the Hayes River, approximately south-southeast of Churchill. ...

but nearly five months' journey from their competitor's base at Montreal. Cumberland House was located on a strip of land between the Saskatchewan to the south and

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 ...

to the north. The lake drained into the river a mile or so to the west. Today the strip is wider because of changes in the lake level. As in much of Canada, the first European visitors were probably

Coureurs des bois A coureur des bois (; ) or coureur de bois (; plural: coureurs de(s) bois) was an independent entrepreneurial French-Canadian trader who travelled in New France and the interior of North America, usually to trade with First Nations peoples by ...

who left no records. The first European known to have passed the site was

Louis-Joseph Gaultier de La Vérendrye Louis-Joseph Gaultier de La Vérendrye (November 9, 1717 – November 15, 1761) was a French Canadian fur trader and explorer. He, his three brothers, and his father Pierre La Vérendrye pushed trade and exploration west from the Great Lakes. He, h ...

, in the spring of 1749. Private fur trader Joseph Frobisher set up a temporary post on Cumberland Lake in 1772.

Samuel Hearne Samuel Hearne (February 1745 – November 1792) was an English explorer, fur-trader, author, and naturalist. He was the first European to make an overland excursion across northern Canada to the Arctic Ocean, actually Coronation Gulf, via the C ...

established the permanent HBC post in 1774. It is sometimes said that this was the first inland post of the company. Strictly this was

Henley House Henley House was the first inland post established by the Hudson's Bay Company, and is located in what is today Kenora District, Ontario, Canada. It was strategically situated west of James Bay about up the east-flowing Albany River at the mouth o ...

in 1743, but this was an isolated event. Cumberland House was the first post established when the inland policy was adopted. Hearne took the

Grass River (Manitoba) The Grass River is a historically important waterway in the Hudson Bay drainage basin in the Northern Region of Manitoba, Canada. It begins at the Cranberry Lakes approximately east of Cranberry Portage and runs northeast to its mouth on the N ...

route from

which led him to Cumberland Lake. A month after Hearne finished building, Thomas and Joseph Frobisher arrived on their way to intercept HBC furs at

Frog Portage Frog Portage or Portage du Traite was one of the most important portage, portages on the voyageurs, voyageur route from eastern Canada to the Mackenzie River basin. It allowed boatmen to move from the Saskatchewan River basin to the Churchill River ...

. Next year Mathew Cocking was in charge and the two Frobishers reappeared along with

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 ...

. From 1778 to 1804, it was the administrative centre of the western posts. In 1793, the

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 ...

built a competing post nearby. About the same time the Hudson's Bay Company fort was moved to a new site across from the North West Company post. In 1821, the two forts were merged. At that time there were 30 men at the post and about the same number of women and children. The post declined after about 1830, but revived somewhat with the introduction of steamboats on the river in 1874. By 1980, the powder magazine and the house of the Hudson's Bay Company manager were still there.

Later

On June 24, 2005, Cumberland House residents were evacuated to

Prince Albert, Saskatchewan Prince Albert is the third-largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada, after Saskatoon and Regina. It is situated near the centre of the province on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River. The city is known as the "Gateway to the North" because ...

, and housed in a shelter set up by the

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

at the SIAST (now called Saskatchewan Polytechnic) campus due to impending flooding from the Saskatchewan River. The influx of water was from record breaking rainfall in

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

where the

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and

South Saskatchewan River The South Saskatchewan River is a major river in Canada that flows through the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. For the first half of the 20th century, the South Saskatchewan would completely freeze over during winter, creating spectacular ...

s collected the runoff from that rainfall.

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 ...

, Cumberland House had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Transportation

Cumberland House is the northern terminus of Saskatchewan Highway 123. The community is located on Pine Island. The first bridge to the mainland, across the Saskatchewan River, was built in 1996, replacing a ferry during the summer months and ice crossings in the winter.

References

* Elizabeth Browne Losey,"Let Them Be Remembered: The Story of the Fur Trade Forts",1999

External links

* {{SKDivision18 Division No. 18, Saskatchewan Northern villages in Saskatchewan Hudson's Bay Company trading posts Populated places on the Saskatchewan River