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 ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, 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 s ...

. Located two and a half hours northeast of

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

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 by mining. Historically, mining gold from Alluvium, alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. The expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface has led to mor ...

in Manitoba. 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 Scouting America is the largest scouting organization and one of the largest List of youth organizations, youth organizations in the United States, with over 1 million youth, including nearly 200,000 female participants. Founded as the Boy Sco ...

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 () is a very large, relatively shallow lake in North America, in the Canadian province of Manitoba. Its southern end is about north of the city of Winnipeg. Lake Winnipeg is Canada's sixth-largest freshwater lake and the third- ...

belonged to the

Anishinabe The Anishinaabe (alternatively spelled Anishinabe, Anicinape, Nishnaabe, Neshnabé, Anishinaabeg, Anishinabek, Aanishnaabe) are a group of culturally related Indigenous peoples in the Great Lakes region of Canada and the United States. They in ...

(

Saulteaux The Saulteaux (pronounced , or in imitation of the French pronunciation , also written Salteaux, Saulteau and Ojibwa ethnonyms, other variants), otherwise known as the Plains Ojibwe, are a First Nations in Canada, First Nations band governm ...

); before the arrival of the Anishinabe, the land was of the

Cree The Cree, or nehinaw (, ), are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people, numbering more than 350,000 in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada, First Nations. They live prim ...

Gold rush

Joseph Tyrrell Joseph Burr Tyrrell, FRSC (November 1, 1858 – August 26, 1957) was a Canadian geologist, cartographer, mining consultant and historian. He discovered dinosaur (''Albertosaurus sarcophagus'') bones in Alberta's Badlands and coal around Drumh ...

, in a Geographical Survey of Canada report, first identified the potential for gold in Bissett in 1900. In early 1911, a Cree

fur trapper A fur is a Softness, soft, thick growth of hair that covers the skin of almost all 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 t ...

named Duncan Two-hearts set out from his

trapline In the fur trade, a trapline is a route along which a trapping, trapper sets traps for their quarry. Trappers traditionally move habitually along the route to set and check the traps, in so doing become skilled at traversing remote terrain, and ...

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. It is located near the mouth of the Manigotagan River at Lake Winnipeg. History From circa 1887 to circa 1893, the Hudson's Bay Company operated a fur trade outpost here, call ...

, 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; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

. 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 Atom, atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen Tetrahedral molecular geometry, tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tet ...

containing pure gold. Pelletier soon after staked a claim on 6 March, 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 Mining engineering#Pre-mining, exploration) of a territory. It is the search for minerals, fossils, precious metals, or mineral specimens. It is also known as fossicking. ...

in the Wanipigow River watershed and in the current-day area of Nopiming. These regions became the hub of

in Manitoba. The area saw an influx of prospectors from

Kenora Kenora (), previously named Rat Portage (), 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 history of the name exten ...

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 (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

(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

, 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 electio ...

, a Member of Parliament 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 The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), 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 culture. It is headquartered in ...

, 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.

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