Today in Sask. History: Big Bear surrenders at Fort Carlton; tornado levels homes in Raymore, Kawacatoose

A tornado destroyed over a dozen homes in Kawacatoose First Nation on July 2, 2010.

The second day of July has been an eventful one in Saskatchewan’s history, marked by severe weather and a turning point in an historic conflict that profoundly shaped western Canada as we know it.

Surrender of Chief Big Bear

On July 2, 1885, the Plains Cree Chief Big Bear, or Mistahimaskwa, surrendered at Fort Carlton, Sask., a former Hudson’s Bay fur trading post located about 90 kilometres north of Saskatoon, a settlement established just two years before as the proposed capital of a temperance colony.

Mistahimaskwa refused to sign Treaty 6 in 1876 and is known for his band’s involvement in violent conflicts associated with the 1885 North-West Resistance.

The Cree chief was critical of the Treaties, which he described as “rope around our necks” that would limit their control over Indigenous land and resources, according to the Canadian Encyclopedia.

But the disappearance of the buffalo, which the plains Cree people relied on as a source of food and materials for tools, clothing and shelter, brought famine to Mistahimaskwa’s band. They sought out other food sources, but nothing could replace it.

To prevent his band’s starvation, Mistahimaskwa signed Treaty 6 in December 1882.

He continued trying to unite the Cree to demand better terms to the Treaty, and held off selecting a reserve for his people.

Instead, the government cut off rations to force them into settling, which lead his more extreme followers to take matters into their own hands.

On April 2, 1885, a group of warriors from Mistahimaskwa’s band broke ranks and killed an Indian agent at Frog Lake. Mistahimaskwa was blamed and deemed an active participant in the North-West Resistance.

After his surrender at Fort Carlton on July 2, 1885, he was convicted of treason and sentenced to three years in the Stony Mountain Penitentiary. He served half the sentence before being released, and died in 1888 in Little Pine First Nation.

Big Bear reportedly received the name Mistahimaskwa after he had a vision of the bear spirit. He was said to wear a bear’s paw around his neck “during times of danger to provide him with courage and strength,” the Canadian Encyclopedia writes.

Fort Carlton was rebuilt in 1967. It’s currently a provincial park and has been designated a national historic site.

Tornado levels homes in Raymore, Kawacatoose First Nation

July marks the peak of tornado season on the prairies, and on this day in 2010, the town of Raymore and the nearby Kawacatoose First Nation were devastated by a massive F3 tornado that destroyed over a dozen homes.

Environment Canada said the twister was about 500 metres wide, cut a path 45 kilometres long and may have been on the ground for as long as one hour.

Kawacatoose residents told CTV News at the time they only had a few minutes to scramble to shelter once they saw the twister touch down. Some watched from their basements while their homes were torn off the foundation by the powerful winds.

At the time, the intensity of the tornado was measured using what’s known as the Fujita Scale, which runs from F0 to F5. An F3 is considered a severe tornado, with wind speeds strong enough to tear the roof and some walls off a well-constructed home, to topple trains and uproot trees.

In Raymore, the tornado laid waste to multiple farms, rendering homes to piles of rubble and tipping grain trucks and other farm equipment.

Lieutenant Governor dies of cancer

On July 2, 2019, Saskatchewan’s lieutenant governor died of pancreatic cancer at 78. William Thomas Molloy held the position since March 2018.

The chief justice of Saskatchewan, along with members of the province’s Appeal Court, assumed the lieutenant-governor’s duties starting in May while Molloy was undergoing treatment.

Flooding in eastern Sask.

On this day in 2020, officials in several Manitoba and Saskatchewan communities declared states of emergency after a rain-heavy weather system sloshed through the area causing flooding.

The mayor of Humboldt, Sask., said much of the ground was already saturated due to earlier rainy weather when more rain hit overnight, leading to the trouble.

Humboldt had received about 90 millimetres of rain in a short period several weeks before this, enough to flood multiple streets and cause property damage.

-With Canadian Press files