The Pas

History

The area's original inhabitants are the Swampy Cree. The first European recorded to encounter the Cree was Henry Kelsey, an employee of the Hudson's Bay Company. He travelled through the area between 1690 and 1692 on his way to the Canadian prairies. During the years of New France, La Vérendrye, the first western military commander, directed the construction of Fort Paskoya near here. It was named after the people of the Pasquia River. For years the settlement was called Pascoyac, sometimes shortened to Le Pas. In 1904, The Pas Indian Band set up a sawmill on Mission Island in the Saskatchewan River. Soon after, the band was forced to surrender their reserve lands south of the river, including the areas around the site of the Hudson's Bay Company trading post and the Anglican Church Mission, to make way for the Hudson Bay Railway and development of the Town of The Pas. By 1908, the band reopened their sawmill north of the river, and in 1912, the Town of The Pas was incorporated and The Pas Indian Band changed its name to Opaskwayak Cree Nation. Between 1906 and 1910, Herman Finger set up the Finger Lumber Company in the area, and created a village called Fingerville for the company's workers. When the Town of The Pas was created in 1912, Fingerville was absorbed into The Pas, and Herman Finger became The Pas's first mayor. Also in 1912, the community was transferred from Keewatin (a district of the Northwest Territories) to Manitoba as part of the Manitoba Boundaries Extension Act. The area today is composed of three distinct communities: the Town of The Pas, the Opaskwayak Cree Nation, and the Rural Municipality of Kelsey. The history of the town and the region may be seen at the Sam Waller Museum, in the old courthouse in downtown The Pas.