Touchwood Hills

51°25′N 104°15′W / 51.417°N 104.250°W / 51.417; -104.250Coordinates: 51°25′N 104°15′W / 51.417°N 104.250°W / 51.417; -104.250

Touchwood Hills (Assiniboine: cąkáǧicą baha [cąkáǧicą bàha] ^[1]) are a range of hills located in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan.

In 2005, Ducks Unlimited Canada announced a ten-year study of how nesting success of prairie waterfowl varies in relation to the landscape types of the prairie pothole region, to be conducted in the Touchwood Hills area.^[2]

Touchwood Hills Regional Economic Development Authority

The Touchwood Hills Regional Economic Development Authority (REDA) was created in 1995, and was the tenth REDA created in the province. In included the Rural Municipalities of Tullymet, Lipton, Cupar, Garry, Ituna Bon Accord, Kellross, Touchwood, Emerald and Kutawa; the towns of Cupar, Ituna and Southey; and, the villages of Dysart, Hubbard, Kelliher and Leross; the Crossroads Rural Development Corporation and the Carlton Trail Regional College.^[3]

Touchwood Hills Post

Touchwood Hills Post was a Hudson's Bay Company trading post in Saskatchewan from 1852 to 1909. It was one of the few HBC posts not built on a river and supplied by canoe. Rather it was a resupply point and stopping place on the part of the Carlton Trail which ran from Fort Ellice on the Assiniboine River northwest to Fort Carlton on the Saskatchewan River. It was part of the Swan River District managed from Fort Pelly. The first post was erected by Thomas Taylor in September 1852 in the Big Touchwood Hills. After about 10 years it was moved a few miles south to the Little Touchwood Hills. After about 14 years, in 1879(?^[4]) it was moved a short distance northeast to its final location. It was in buffalo country and produced mainly buffalo pemmican and some muskrat fur. By 1895 the local Indians had been settled in reserves and Touchwood Hills Post became more of a general store and post office for the local settlers. It was closed in 1909 due to competition from the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway which was built nearby the year before.

All that remains of the original fort are the cellar depression, and a segment of the Carlton Trail. The site is commemorated by a plaque, and concrete markers outline the locations of the original buildings.^[5] In 1986, the Touchwood Hills Post historic park was designated a Provincial Park.^[6]

As of June 2012 geonames.org gives its location as (51°21′45″N 104°5′53″W / 51.36250°N 104.09806°W / 51.36250; -104.09806),^[7] but google Earth places it at (51°22′49″N 104°18′46″W / 51.38028°N 104.31278°W / 51.38028; -104.31278) which is about 20 km west. Fort Pelly was afout 150 km east and Last Mountain House about 75 km west. Quill Lakes were about 50 km north. For background see Assiniboine River fur trade.

Touchwood Hills People

The Touchwood Hills People, or Pusakawatciwiyiniwak were part of a larger group known as the Downstream People, or Mamihkiyiniwak, who occupied the southeastern plains and utilized the Assiniboine River, Red River and Lake Winnipeg waterways. The Touchwood Hills People consisted of four bands under the leadership of chief Kawacatoose (Poorman or Lean Man): Kawacatoose, Kaneonuskatew (One that walks on four claws or George Gordon), Muscowequan (Hard Quill), and Kisecawchuck (Daystar). Kawacatoose and the other chiefs signed Treaty 4, which created the Kawacatoose First Nation, Gordon First Nation, Muskowekwan First Nation, Day Star First Nation. Along with the Fishing Lake First Nation, these bands are collectively a part of the Touchwood Agency Tribal Chiefs (TATC).^[8][9]

References

• Elizabeth Browne Losey,"Let Them be Remembered:The Story of the Fur Trade Forts, 1999,page 655-658
• Route of Carlton trail: