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. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

, Canada on the

Saskatchewan River The Saskatchewan River (Cree: , "swift flowing river") is a major river in Canada. It stretches about from where it is formed by the joining of the North Saskatchewan River and South Saskatchewan River just east of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan ...

. It is the oldest community in Saskatchewan and has a population of about 2,000 people.

Cumberland House Provincial Park Cumberland House Provincial Park is a located on Cumberland Island at Cumberland House in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The site is the location of the first inland Hudson's Bay Company post in Saskatchewan and the oldest village in t ...

, which provides tours of an 1890s powder house built by the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

, is located nearby. The community is on

Cumberland Island Cumberland Island, in the southeastern United States, is the largest of the Sea Islands of Georgia. The long-staple Sea Island cotton was first grown here by a local family, the Millers, who helped Eli Whitney develop the cotton gin. With its ...

and consists of the Northern Village of Cumberland House with a population of 772 and the adjoining Cumberland House Cree Nation with a population of 715. The community is served by the Cumberland House Airport and by Highway 123.

Cumberland House Cree Nation

The population of Cumberland House consists of mostly

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

people, including

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 ...

and

Métis The Métis ( , , , ) are a mixed-race Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces extending into parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northwest United States. They ha ...

. Cumberland House was and is a Cree "n" dialect community, known in Cree as "Wāskahikanihk". In March 2013, Cumberland House Cree Nation had a registered population of 1,387 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 Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boat ...

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 1 ...

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 () 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- ...

and on to Montreal or Hudson Bay. To the west, the river led to the Rocky Mountains and a pass to

Oregon Country Oregon Country was a large region of the Pacific Northwest of North America that was subject to a long Oregon boundary dispute, dispute between the United Kingdom and the United States in the early 19th century. The area, which had been demarcat ...

. To the north, the

Sturgeon-Weir River Sturgeon-Weir River is a river in east-central Saskatchewan, Canada. It flows about south-southeast to join the Saskatchewan River at Cumberland Lake. It was on the main voyageurs, voyageur route from eastern Canada northeast to the Mackenzie ...

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 North American fur trade, fur trade route across Canada. The portage connected the Mackenzie River basin to rivers that ran east ...

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 nu ...

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 proficiency to travel. Cumberland House was used as a depot for eastbound furs and westbound 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 indigeno ...

used to feed the

voyageurs Voyageurs (; ) were 18th- and 19th-century French and later French Canadians and others who transported furs by canoe at 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) on the southwestern shore of Hudson Bay in northeastern Manitoba, Canada, at the mouth of the Hayes River, approximately south-southeast of Churchill. York ...

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 (formally Pine Island Lake) is a glacial lake in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It is situated in the Saskatchewan River Delta in east-central Saskatchewan, about from the Manitoba border. Cumberland House and Cumberl ...

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 (; ) were independent entrepreneurial French Canadians, French Canadian traders who travelled in New France and the interior of North America, usually to trade with Indigenous peoples of the Americas, ...

'', 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 (9 November 1717 – 15 November 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, hi ...

, in the spring of 1749. A private fur trader,

Joseph Frobisher The Hon. Joseph Frobisher (April 15, 1748 – September 12, 1810) Member of Parliament, M.P., Justice of the Peace, J.P., was one of Montreal's most important fur traders. He was elected to the 1st Parliament of Lower Canada and was a seigne ...

, 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, specifically to Coronation Gulf, vi ...

established the permanent HBC post in 1774. It is sometimes said to be the first inland post of the company, which was strictly

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

in 1743, but that was an isolated event. Cumberland House was the first post established when the inland policy was adopted. Hearne took the Grass River (Manitoba) route from

which led him to Cumberland Lake. A month after Hearne had 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 portages on the voyageur route from Eastern Canada to the Mackenzie River basin. It allowed boatmen to move from the Saskatchewan River basin to the Churchill River basin. The Chur ...

. The next year, Mathew Cocking was in charge, and the two Frobishers reappeared, along with

Alexander Henry the elder Alexander Henry 'The Elder', in French: ''Alexandre Henri Le Vieux'' (August 1739 – 4 April 1824) was an American-born explorer, author, merchant who settled in Quebec following the Conquest of New France (1758–1760), Conquest of New France a ...

. 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 trade in Canada, Canadian fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in the regions that later became Western Canada a ...

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 the 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, Saskatchewan, 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 ...

, and housed in a shelter set up by the

Red Cross The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...

at the

SIAST Saskatchewan Polytechnic (formerly the Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology or SIAST ) is Saskatchewan's primary public post-secondary institution for technical education and skills training, recognized nationally and intern ...

(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 a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

, 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 the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. The river begins at the confluence of the Bow River, Bow and Oldman Rivers in southern Alberta and ends at the Saskatchewan River Forks in ce ...

s collected the runoff from that rainfall.

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 ...

, 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 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. The community is also serviced by the Cumberland House Airport. On 24 May, 2024, the community declared a state of emergency after rains washed out the only road connecting it to the rest of the world.

Notable people

* Keith Goulet, a former politician and Saskatchewan's first Indigenous Cabinet Minister * Alexander Kennedy Isbister * Gerald M. Morin, the first Cree-speaking provincial judge

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