Peter Pond Lake

(55°55’N; 108°44’W; Map sheet 73 N/15). Peter Pond Lake is located in west-central Saskatchewan, southwest of the Shield margin. Covering 778 sq. km. and elevated at 421 m, it is fed from the southwest by the Dillon River (known in Dene as Ayjere Deszay, “Buffalo River”) and from the northwest by the Methy River. The lake is divided into two parts: Big Peter Pond and Little Peter Pond, separated by a narrows. Little Peter Pond Lake discharges into Churchill Lake and ultimately the Churchill River via the Kisis Channel. The village of Buffalo Narrows (pop. 1,137) is located on Highway 155 between the two lakes. Previously known as Big Buffalo and Little Buffalo Lakes, the lakes are described by Peter Pond on his 1785 map of North America as “Beef Lake.” Besides Buffalo Narrows, there are two hamlets on the lakeshore: Dillon, at the mouth of the Dillon River, and Michel on the west shore. The lakes were renamed in honour of Peter Pond , who in 1778 traveled from the Churchill River via “Beef Lake” and Methy Portage to the Clearwater and Athabasca Rivers. Old Fort Point on the west bank is a reminder of a North-West Company trader who over-wintered there in 1790–91.

Marilyn Lewry

Print Entry

Further Reading

Kupsch, W.O. 1954. “Bituminous Sands in Till of the Peter Pond Lake Area.” Department of Mineral Resources Report #12; Marchildon G. and S. Robinson. 2002. Canoeing the Churchill. Regina: Canadian Plains Research Center.