During 2013, the Saskatchewan Archaeological Society celebrated its 50th Anniversary of the Annual Gathering and placed a number of geocaches at archaeological and historically significant sites throughout the province.
SAS #18: Meadow Lake
Meadow Lake also known as Lac des Prairies has a history dating back to 1799. In 1799, Peter Fidler a Hudson’s Bay employee travelled south along the Beaver River from Île-à-la-Crosse and entered Meadow River eventually ending up in Meadow Lake. Fidler and his companions constructed a company post naming it Bolsover House, which was the name of Fidler’s birth place in England. The post did not do well and was shortly closed. However, as the fur trade increased along the western Churchill River during the 1880’s a route from Île-à-la-Crosse south through Green Lake and then southeast toward Fort Carlton grew in popularity. People began to migrate westward to the Meadow Lake area, and in 1879 Cyprien and Mary Morin became the first to settle permanently at the site. Soon more Métis families followed suit and settled in the area, news of good agricultural land spread and in 1888 the area west of the lake was surveyed for a future town site.
Cyprien Morin established a Hudson’s Bay Company Post at Meadow Lake; he traded in furs, and raised horses, and cattle. The first Roman Catholic Church was built on Morin’s land. However, it was not until 1907-08 that other settlers began to arrive in the area.
In 1919, there was a massive forest fire that devastated the fur trade and the lumber industry at Meadow Lake and the surrounding area. Nevertheless, more land was now available for homesteads and agriculture. Settlement in the area quickened and by the end of the 1920’s most of the good agricultural land had been taken. The remaining more marginal lands were taken by the 1930’s by the Dust Bowl refugees from southern Saskatchewan.
An economic boom occurred as the railroad approached and Meadow Lake became a village on August 24th 1931. By 1936, Meadow Lake’s population had grown to 800 people and it was now considered a town. In the coming years the town continued to grow and prosper due to increasing agricultural output, forestry, and fishing. By the mid-1950’s more grain was being shipped out of Meadow Lake than anywhere else in rural Canada.
References:
http://esask.uregina.ca/entry/meadow_lake.html
http://www.saskparks.net/MeadowLake
For more information on the Saskatchewan Archaeological Society feel free to contact us at
#1-1730 Quebec Avenue
Saskatoon, SK S7K 1V9
Ph: (306) 664-4124
Fax: (306) 665-1928
Email: general@thesas.ca
Web: www.saskarchsoc.ca