Other Sites around Buffalo Lake
Though Boss Hill, or the Penisula, was once a large community in the
area, there is no trace of it in the Census of 1901. This is presumably
because the community had already moved due to the change in the
shoreline and rise in the lake.
Another community, Lamerton, was near present-day Mirror. Matthew
Cook took scrip and settled right on the lake just a little south and
east of Mirror. He was married to Mathilda Mackenzie and they had four
children: Bill, Owen, George, and Kate. Bill and Owen stayed in the
area, and their children married the children of early settlers.
Others who stayed in the area include the Don Whitford and Francis
Whitford families and the Todd family, descendants of whom are involved
in the care of the historic site on the Peninsula. Francis Whitford and
his wife Jenna were the parents of Archie, Frank and Andrew Whitford, as
well as Elizabeth who married John Anderson (descendant of the Métis
Andersons from Manitoba), and Mary who married Sam Todd (uncle to Dan
Todd and great uncle to the present day Dan Todd).
There were also Métis families in the Bashaw area before settlement.
The townsite was first registered under the name of Jean Baptiste
Letendre dit Batoche, and later purchased or acquired by Eugene Bashaw.
Buffalo Lake and the Battle River Valley came to prominence as a
Métis gathering place after the great small-pox (la picotte) epidemic of
1870. The Métis started fleeing locations such as St. Albert and
Edmonton to escape the disease. It is estimated that two-thirds of the
Aboriginal people on the plains were infected and about one-third died.
There were four other nearby Métis hivernant sites: Salois’ Crossing
near Duhamel, Tail Creek near Boss Hill, Todd’s Crossing near Ponoka,
and Dried Meat Hill. The Buffalo Lake site is located between Lynn and
Buffalo Lakes southeast of Edmonton.
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The People of Tail Creek
Victoria Callihoo (1861-1966)
Historic Sites
Other Sites around Buffalo Lake
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