Date Published:
July 2007

L’Encyclopédie de l’histoire du Québec / The Quebec History Encyclopedia

Duck Lake

Duck lake, the scene of the first encounter in the North West Rebellion of 1885, about 13 miles south-east of Fort Carlton, in the present province of Saskatchewan. On March 26, 1885, a small force of the North West Mounted Police, with a justice of the peace, were sent out from Fort Carlton to secure a quantity of provisions and ammunition in the store of a trader named Mitchell, at Duck lake. This body encountered opposition from a large body of [Métis] under Gabriel Dumont; and a force of Mounted Police and volunteers, numbering 79, under Superintendent Crozier, went out to help them. Fighting ensued, and the Mounted Police were forced to fall back on Fort Carlton, with a loss of 10 killed and about 25 wounded. See A. L. Haydon, The riders of the plains (Toronto, 1910). There has grown up at this point the town of Duck Lake.

Source: W. Stewart WALLACE, The Encyclopedia of Canada, Vol. II, Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1948, 411p., p. 242.