Creighton

Looking north up Creighton Avenue towards the stack of the Hudson Bay Mining & Smelting Company in Flin Flon. The stack, completed in 1973, dominates the landscape, towering slighly over 251 metres (825 feet). Photograph taken August 19, 2004.

David McLennan

Northern town, pop 1,556, located in northeastern Saskatchewan near the Saskatchewan-Manitoba border. Situated almost at the 55th parallel within the Precambrian Shield, Creighton is one of only two municipalities with town status in northern Saskatchewan (the other is La Ronge). By road, Creighton is accessed via Hwy 106 (the Hanson Lake Road) or, on the Manitoba side, by Hwy 10 from The Pas. Highway 167, leading south from Creighton, gives access to Denare Beach and Amisk Lake, the south end of which was the scene of Saskatchewan’s first and little-known gold rush, which occurred between 1914 and 1918. Creighton had its beginnings in the 1930s after the Department of Natural Resources built a road from Flin Flon to Amisk Lake. People began to settle along this road; after World War II, a townsite was surveyed and lots were made available for residential and business development. Many servicemen returning from overseas came to the area, and in 1952 the community was incorporated as a village. Creighton attained town status in 1957. It is named after Tom Creighton, whose prospecting discoveries in 1915 were largely responsible for the development of Mining operations at Flin Flon. Today, the Hudson Bay mining & Smelting Company is the largest employer in the area, producing zinc, copper, and Gold. Other economic activities are based in forestry and tourism.

David McLennan