It is not hard to go back in time and imagine Aboriginal activity around this creek and other water ways in the area.
I am guilty at times of focusing on history as starting when the Europeans came to explore the region several centuries ago. One needs to step back and acknowledge that the history really started thousands of years ago when the first Aboriginals arrived.
The Cree people, which are predominant in the area today, were not the first. The Cree came from the east and are related to the Ojibway. In the 1700’s they had moved westward and controlled parts of Northern Manitoba & Saskatchewan as well as all of Northern Alberta.
They drove out or destroyed the Slave tribe of Lesser Slave Lake. The Beaver were driven out of the Athabasca valley into the Peace area. The eastern Beaver joined the Cree for a few years to trade at Chipewyan and never tried to regain their lost territory.
In this area meat was the main food source. Although buffalo was mainly a prairie animal there were some that lived around Lesser Slave Lake.
Before the Europeans came, they led a nomadic way of life, following the food sources or moving because of enemy attack. When the Europeans arrived they obliterated the buffalo as a food source. They did not recognize many of the fine characteristics of the Aboriginals and began to completely change their lives.
Besides guns, liquor and small pox were brought with the white man, all decimating the population. Many traditions have been handed and there is now a resurgence of gaining back customs and language for the Aboriginal peoples.