Abstract

In September 2004, a team of archaeologists and divers visited Neil Island on the Churchill River in eastern Saskatchewan, on behalf of the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation. Cree Elders at Sandy Bay, Saskatchewan had long told stories of the inundation of several cabins, after construction of the Island Falls Dam in 1930. In the spring of 2004, Dale Russell gathered these oral histories and, using archival documents, maps and photographs, was able to suggest where we might find submerged evidence of these cabins as well as the remains of cabins not submerged by the flood. Using Dale's evidence we chose the dive location just off the west shore of Neil Island and testing locations on the island for the land-based study. We recovered two axe-notched logs, four rough-hewn planks and a copper and tin kettle from the lake, exactly where the oral tradition indicated we would. The testing on the island also revealed evidence of the reported cabin. Fresh from retrieving this evidence, we attended a feast with eight Elders of Sandy Bay, who filled us in on the details of who lived on the island and what life was like at the time. Tree-ring analyses suggest that one of the notched logs was cut down in 1918, further adding to the veracity of the oral tradition.