Bakers Narrows, Manitoba, is a small residential community approximately 20 km (12 mi) southeast of Flin Flon on Lake Athapapuskow. There are five subdivisions located near the lakeshore with a total of approximately 150 cottages, many of which are permanent residences.[1]
The narrows have been inhabited since prehistoric times. Archaeological digs at Bakers Narrows Provincial Park revealed pottery, arrowheads, and other artifacts indicating regular habitation by people of the Shield Archaic tradition, who hunted caribou in the area as far back as 7000 years ago.[5] They were eventually supplanted by the Woodland Cree[6] who were nomadic hunters in this region.[7] The narrows were a seasonal camp for Cree families who would gather during the summer before heading to their individual hunting grounds in the autumn.[5]
The first European to visit Bakers Narrows was Joseph Hansom. In the summer of 1773, as a young fur trader, he was sent inland by the Governor of Churchill to extend the reach of the Hudson's Bay Company. Hansom paddled from Lake Kississing down the Pineroot River, reaching Lake Athapapuskow and Bakers Narrows.[8][9] Donaldson B. Dowling, working for the Geological Survey of Canada, was the first to survey the narrows in 1899.[10]
The name comes from the first homesteader, Bill Baker a trapper and prospector from Ontario, who settled there with his wife Lydia Paul (from the Cumberland House Cree Nation) in approximately 1910 with the intention of establishing a trading post.[11][12] In the early days, it was also called "Bakers Landing".[13] To serve the growing mining industry in the Flin Flon area, a federal boat dock was built there in the early 1950s. The excellent fishing and camping near the dock led to the creation of the provincial park in 1961.[14]
^ abFriedenthal, Steven Alan (1971). "The Baker's Narrows Picnic Site : with special reference to the Shield Archaic". FGS - Electronic Theses & Dissertations (Public) Manitoba Heritage Theses: 60. hdl:1993/8660.
^Pettipas, Leo (April 2014). "Cree Ancestry"(PDF). Manitoba Archaeological Society: 1. Archived from the original(PDF) on May 26, 2014. Retrieved May 25, 2014.
^Cooke, Allen; Clive Holland (1971). "Chronological list of expeditions and historical events in northern Canada. IV. 1763–89". The Polar Record. 15 (98): 707. doi:10.1017/S0032247400061805.
^Gilmore, Scott (September 2013). "A Landscape of Stories". Cottage North Magazine: 8. Retrieved May 19, 2014.
^Bramble, Charles (1920). The Land of the Lobstick. Winnipeg: Province of Manitoba. p. 11. Retrieved July 10, 2014.
^Bakers Narrows Provincial Park Management Plan. Winnipeg: Manitoba Conservation and Water Stewardship Parks and Natural Areas Branch. January 2013. p. 4.
^Jarvis, Stephanie; et al. (1983). Flin Flon a Visual History(PDF). Flin Flon: Flin Flon Jubilee Committee. p. 149. Archived from the original(PDF) on August 19, 2013. Retrieved May 24, 2014.