Pile of Bones Creek

Pile of Bones Creek. . , Between 1857 and 1860 a British funded expedition led by Captain John Palliser sought to increase scientific knowledge of the Canadian west. When the group reached what is now the Regina area their September 1857 journal entry talked about “crossing the creek where the bones lie.” , In 1865 a map of the Palliser study area was released. On this map the little creek described by Palliser was called “Many-bone Cr.” , When the first settlers began to arrive in Regina in the early 1880s, it was known as Pile O’ Bones Creek. “Pile-of-Bones” was a rough translation of the Cree term for the stream, Oskana-Ka-asateki, which means “the place that the bones are piled together.” This name was a reference to a well-known pile of bison bones which was arranged in a specific circular pattern on a small hill just west of the town. The bone pile had been erected by First Nations people (Cree) who believed the bison would not leave an area where the remains of their ancestors lay. , Perhaps drawn by the bones, bison were plentiful in the area around Wascana Creek prior to the arrival of the settlers. Birds and other animals were also common in the marshes and meandering curves of the creek's over 100 kilometre path from the fields southeast of Regina to the Qu’Appelle River. One of the few streams in the region where water could be found throughout the year, the creek area was an important hunting and food processing location for many First Nations groups. The 1865 Palliser map showed a number of Cree encampments in the area. , “In the evening reached the Creek where the Bones lie, where we found water and very little grass; a few willows also grew here but no wood fit for fuel” , (John Palliser journal, September 15, 1857) , Life along the creek changed dramatically during the late 19th century. Hunters were replaced by farmers and the bison disappeared completely from the prairies. The famous pile of bones was gathered up, along with millions of other bones from the prairies, and shipped east by rail to be made into fertilizer. Gone but not forgotten, the early residents of Regina chose to maintain a connection to this past by again returning to the Cree term for inspiration for the name “Wascana Creek.”, “If you had a lit-tle more wood, and a lit-tle more water, and here and there a hill, I think the prospect would be improved.” , , Sir John A. Macdonald, 1886. , Reply to Reginan who asked about the “prospect” of the city. , [photo captions] , . Shipping Buffalo Bones by Rail , . North-West Mounted Police at barracks on Pile O’ Bones Creek, c.1885