Minnedosa, Manitoba
Encyclopedia
Minnedosa is a town
Town
A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...

 in the southwestern part of the Canadian province of Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...

. Situated 50 kilometres (32 mi) north of Brandon, Manitoba
Brandon, Manitoba
Brandon is the second largest city in Manitoba, Canada, and is located in the southwestern area of the province. Brandon is the largest city in the Westman region of Manitoba. The city is located along the Assiniboine River. Spruce Woods Provincial Park and CFB Shilo are a relatively short distance...

 on the Little Saskatchewan River
Little Saskatchewan River
The Little Saskatchewan River is a river in western Manitoba. It originates in Riding Mountain National Park at Lake Audy and flows about south through the communities of Minnedosa and Rapid City. Its approximate length is 185 km. It joins the Assiniboine River about west of Brandon. The...

, the name means "flowing water" in Sioux
Sioux
The Sioux are Native American and First Nations people in North America. The term can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or any of the nation's many language dialects...

. The population of Minnedosa reported in the 2006 Statistics Canada Census was 2,474. The town is located in the Rural Municipality of Minto and bordered to the south by the Rural Municipality of Odanah
Odanah, Manitoba
Odanah is a rural municipality in the province of Manitoba in Western Canada. The separately administered town of Minnedosa lies between its northwest border and the southwest part of the Rural Municipality of Minto.-External links:*...

.

History

Prior to the arrival of Europeans in the area of Minnedosa, the land was primarily traveled and used by the nomadic Ojibway, Cree
Cree
The Cree are one of the largest groups of First Nations / Native Americans in North America, with 200,000 members living in Canada. In Canada, the major proportion of Cree live north and west of Lake Superior, in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Northwest Territories, although...

, Assiniboine, and Sioux
Sioux
The Sioux are Native American and First Nations people in North America. The term can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or any of the nation's many language dialects...

 peoples. John Tanner was the grandson of John Tanner
John Tanner (narrator)
John Tanner was captured by Shawnee American Indians as a child of ten, after his family had moved to territory on the Ohio River in present-day Kentucky. He grew up with the Ojibwa nation, becoming fully acculturated and learning the Saulteaux language...

 who had been raised by a Shawnee
Shawnee
The Shawnee, Shaawanwaki, Shaawanooki and Shaawanowi lenaweeki, are an Algonquian-speaking people native to North America. Historically they inhabited the areas of Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Western Maryland, Kentucky, Indiana, and Pennsylvania...

. He was an American settler who arrived in the area in 1869. The younger Tanner was the first Métis
Métis people (Canada)
The Métis are one of the Aboriginal peoples in Canada who trace their descent to mixed First Nations parentage. The term was historically a catch-all describing the offspring of any such union, but within generations the culture syncretised into what is today a distinct aboriginal group, with...

 settler in the area and ran a ferry service across the Little Saskatchewan River. When a bridge was built in 1879, the ferry became obsolete and at the same time, a small town, Tanner's Crossing, was started nearby. John Armitage moved to the area around this time in 1877, and began to build a sawmill
Sawmill
A sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards.-Sawmill process:A sawmill's basic operation is much like those of hundreds of years ago; a log enters on one end and dimensional lumber exits on the other end....

 and gristmill
Gristmill
The terms gristmill or grist mill can refer either to a building in which grain is ground into flour, or to the grinding mechanism itself.- Early history :...

. He joined together with Tanner to lay out a new town site and eventually Armitage had accumulated 3800 acres (15.4 km²) of property. Tanner named the new town Minnedosa, from the Cree word meaning "flowing water".

Although Minnedosa once hoped to be a site of a river crossing for the Canadian Pacific Railway
Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...

's transcontinental railway. The honour was initially given to Rapid City
Rapid City, Manitoba
Rapid City is a town in southwest Manitoba, Canada located about 30km north of Brandon, Manitoba. Rapid City is situated in the Rural Municipality of Saskatchewan and is built on the banks of the Little Saskatchewan River. The town is a small farming community with a population of about five...

, while the actual site of the railway was later settled on a site much further south creating the city of Brandon
Brandon, Manitoba
Brandon is the second largest city in Manitoba, Canada, and is located in the southwestern area of the province. Brandon is the largest city in the Westman region of Manitoba. The city is located along the Assiniboine River. Spruce Woods Provincial Park and CFB Shilo are a relatively short distance...

. In 1883 Minnedosa was incorporated as a town, it had experienced a period of growth from settlement schemes put forth by the Canadian government. As Minnedosa became a town, this coincided with the actual arrival of the railway in 1883, bringing about more growth for the now quickly growing settlement.

A dam was proposed in 1907 and approved in December of the same year by the Government of Canada. It was built on the Little Saskatchewan River
Little Saskatchewan River
The Little Saskatchewan River is a river in western Manitoba. It originates in Riding Mountain National Park at Lake Audy and flows about south through the communities of Minnedosa and Rapid City. Its approximate length is 185 km. It joins the Assiniboine River about west of Brandon. The...

 near the town. After several delays, the dam was completed in 1912, creating Minnedosa Lake
Minnedosa Lake
Minnedosa Lake is a man-made lake in the Canadian province of Manitoba near Minnedosa, Manitoba, . It was created between 1910 and 1912 to serve as a reservoir for a hydro-electric dam. Today it is a popular recreation site, for both boating and swimming...

. Water first flowed over the spillway on April 10, 1912. Minnedosa was the second community in the Province of Manitoba to generate its own hydroelectric power. An earlier project in 1900 was also on the Minnedosa River and supplied power to the town of Brandon, Manitoba
Brandon, Manitoba
Brandon is the second largest city in Manitoba, Canada, and is located in the southwestern area of the province. Brandon is the largest city in the Westman region of Manitoba. The city is located along the Assiniboine River. Spruce Woods Provincial Park and CFB Shilo are a relatively short distance...

. Initially privately owned, the generation plant was taken over by the Manitoba Power Commission
Manitoba Hydro
Manitoba Hydro is the electric power and natural gas utility in the province of Manitoba, Canada. Founded in 1961, it is a provincial Crown Corporation, governed by the Manitoba Hydro-Electric Board and the Manitoba Hydro Act. Today the company operates 15 interconnected generating stations. It has...

 in 1920 and replaced by a diesel generation plant and by 1930, power from the provincial grid. The lake was used as a source of water for the town, for recreation, and for supplying the engines of the Canadian Pacific Railway
Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...

. On May 4, 1948 the spillway
Spillway
A spillway is a structure used to provide the controlled release of flows from a dam or levee into a downstream area, typically being the river that was dammed. In the UK they may be known as overflow channels. Spillways release floods so that the water does not overtop and damage or even destroy...

 of the dam failed due to erosion of structure, and the resulting flood damaged many homes and businesses in the town. The spillway was not repaired until 1950 by the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration
Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration
The Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration is a branch under Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, a department of the Federal Government of Canada....

.

Since 1981 the Minnedosa Ethanol Plant
Minnedosa Ethanol Plant
The Minnedosa Ethanol Plant is located in Minnedosa, Manitoba, Canada. The plant is owned by Husky Energy and produces 130 million litres of ethanol per year. In Canada ethanol is blended into gasoline. The plant feedstock for the facility is non-food feed-grade wheat purchased from local...

 has been producing ethanol to be blended into gasoline, as of late 2007 it has been expanded into one of the largest ethanol facilities in Canada. This plant is owned and operated by Husky Energy.

Tourist sites

  • Minnedosa Civic Center - The large clock tower located downtown
  • Buffalo Park - located south of the Minnedosa Dam on PTH 262.
  • Train Park located on the east side of Main Street Minnedosa.
  • Nature Trail - 20 minute walk through wooded area adjacent to Buffalo Compound. Has a swinging bridge as well as a viewing tower.
  • Heritage Park - A complex containing several buildings relating to the history of Minnedosa and its surrounding area.
  • Lookout Tower - Approximately 40 feet (12.2 m) tower on top of a steep hill. Overlooks entire valley
  • Trout Pond - Fishing spot stocked with many trout. Located at Heritage Village.
  • Minnedosa is also the site of an annual event, called Rockin' the Fields of Minnedosa
    Rockin' the Fields of Minnedosa
    Rockin' the Fields of Minnedosa is an annual rock festival held in Minnedosa, Manitoba.Rockin' the Fields is a non-profit cooperative that organizes a rock concert each August long weekend on the shores of Lake Minnedosa, Manitoba...

    .
  • Antons Lake is a short distance north-west of Minnedosa.
  • Minnedosa Paddling Club, part of Manitoba Paddling Associationhttp://www.mpa.mb.ca/.

Television

  • CKND-TV-2 Channel 2 (Global)
  • CKYB-TV
    CKY-TV
    CKY-DT is a television station based in Winnipeg, Manitoba and owned by Bell Media. It is part of the CTV Television Network....

     Channel 4, Brandon
    Brandon, Manitoba
    Brandon is the second largest city in Manitoba, Canada, and is located in the southwestern area of the province. Brandon is the largest city in the Westman region of Manitoba. The city is located along the Assiniboine River. Spruce Woods Provincial Park and CFB Shilo are a relatively short distance...

     (CTV)
  • Access 12
    WCGtv
    WCGtv is the community channel serving the Brandon, Manitoba area, available on the local cable television provider, Westman Communications Group. The station airs 22,000 hours of community programming including over 4,400 hours of original programming per year .WCGtv is Brandon's only local...

     Channel 12 (Local Community Programming)
  • CBWFT-10
    CBWFT
    CBWFT is Radio-Canada's French language television station in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It is broadcast locally on channel 3 cable 10, and on Bell TV channel 118.-History:...

     Channel 21, Brandon (Radio-Canada)

Schools


Notable natives and residents

Izzy Asper
Izzy Asper
Israel Harold "Izzy" Asper, , Canadian tax lawyer and media magnate, was the founder of the now defunct CanWest Global Communications Corp and father to its former CEO and President Leonard Asper, former director and corporate secretary Gail Asper, as well as Executive Vice President David Asper...

, the founder of CanWest Global Communications Corp

Kyle Parrott
Kyle Parrott
Kyle Parrott is a Canadian short track speed skater.He competed at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver in the men's 500 metre, 1000 metre and 1500 metre competitions.-External links:*...

, 2010 Olympic Speed skater

External links

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