Quote:
Originally Posted by Red Bullets
 The name and settlement site "Keg River" has been in use since at least 1828 when Sir George Simpson mentions it on his travels to the Pacific as 'the keg'.
The Cree name is Markak Seepee, which means narrow and deep like a keg.
Both names probably had something to do with the rum flowing in the country. |
Great thread Red !
A lot of history has been lost, even more will soon be lost as the last old timers pass from this world. Very few left now. I'm talking my fathers generation.
I grew up at the end of that era, the era of the settlers. I know several of the settlers who helped settle the north peace, people like my dad, Howard Price, Lewis and Vince Armstrong, Peweeno, (John Cardinal, #3) Pasquale (Raymond Houle) and others.
I even lived a bit of it, my very early years.
I was told, (by my dad) that the Keg River was so named because fur traders used to cool their whiskey barrels in the flow.
Dad's trapping buddy in those days was a fellow he worked with on putting in the telegraph line. His friend's name was Gladdy Herrington.
Gladdy became the telegraph operator in Keg River and he started the Keg River Cabins at the site of the telegraph office.
He build several log cabins, one large one to serve as a store/ restaurant and six small ones to rent to weary travelers who needed a place to sleep.
The old store/restaurant was destroyed in a flood around 1980. The last of the cabins burned to the ground the night of December 5 2003. It caught fire when a camp complex next to it was ignited by a faulty electrical circuit. I helped battle the blase.
The store was rebuilt on higher ground and a new hotel building was built.
The site is still in use today. These days it is a service station/convenience store/ bar room and it's renamed, Millennium Cabins.