From its foundation in 1774, Cumberland House was one of the most important fur trade depots in Canada. (Submitted photo)

By Teena Monteleone

Historical celebration

Northern Village of Cumberland House hosting 250th anniversary celebrations

Aug 10, 2024 | 8:00 AM

Blink and you might miss it, but the small Northern Village of Cumberland House is huge on history. In fact, it’s the oldest community in Saskatchewan and will be marking its 250^th anniversary with celebrations starting Sunday, August 11.

The community, located 163 kilometres northeast of Nipawin at the end of Hwy 123, is home to less than 600 people today, but during the fur trade era, the community served as a key supply depot. According to Tourism Saskatchewan it was also a transportation hub as waterways led north and northwest to the fur-rich Churchill and Athabasca regions, east to Hudson Bay and southwest onto the plains. Today, the community retains a small business core. Adjacent to it is the Cumberland House Cree Nation Reserve which is part of the original Cumberland House settlement.

Cumberland House was designated a national historic site of Canada in 1924.

“There was the Hudson Bay Company, a French company and we had fur traders from all over the place – even as far as the Northwest Territories,” said Denise McKenzie, who is part of the planning committee for the celebrations.

“There’s a lot of people that don’t know about the history.”

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In addition to being the oldest community in Saskatchewan, the Northern Village of Cumberland House is also the oldest community in Western Canada. McKenzie said it’s ‘116 years older than Saskatchewan and 93 years older than Canada’ to be exact.

The website historicplaces.ca said Cumberland House was the Hudson’s Bay Company first inland fur-trading post, around which Saskatchewan’s oldest permanent settlement was founded in 1774 by Samuel Hearne, explorer and fur-trader. The community still has some visible remnants.

“The powder house is still standing. That’s where they kept the ammunition and its just got huge, thick walls. They’re about two feet thick,” said McKenzie of the 1890’s stone-walled house.

“We also have boilers from the Northcote steamboat that was used at Batoche and beached here during the North-West Resistance.”

Preserved at the site are parts of the Northcote, a fur trade steamboat used at Batoche during the North-West Resistance. (Submitted photo)

There’s also a schoolhouse from the 1800s. A few years ago, community members opened a museum to showcase other parts of community’s rich history.

The public is invited to a series of events starting on Sunday at 10 a.m. when a commemorative monument will be unveiled at the bridge. That will be followed by a parade with floats that have an historical theme. King and Queen Trapper events will take place that evening in the Veteran’s Hall. On Monday, there will be arts and crafts displays and sales, museum tours, canoe and voyageur races, a fish fry, talent show and pow wow demonstrations among other things. After a full day of activities on Monday, the closing ceremonies will take place at 7 p.m. and will be followed by a Round Dance.

“We’re going to be presenting it our own cultural and Indigenous ways and its going to be different from other events in Saskatchewan with the inclusion of a cultural village that will have teepees, trapper tents, each with different things happening within them like displays of furs and teachings of trapping or crafting,” said McKenzie.

Organizers raised $160,000 for the three-day event celebrating the oldest community in Saskatchewan.

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Teena.Monteleone@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @princealbertNOW