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 ROCHE PERCÉE

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&  AREA

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Coal Mine Owners
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Alexander Craig McMiken Wilson
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Ichthyosauria Fossil (Pinto site)
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RM #4 Coalfields

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Click to view a double Spheroidal Sandstone Concretion from the roche percee area.  I always thought it was a native artifact when I was younger
 

 

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 ROCHE PERCÉE

 aka-
La Roche Percée

January 12, 1909,
 Roche Percée Village was Incorporated

Village Located in the
SE corner of Saskatchewan

Section- Township- Range
30 - 1 - 6
West of the 2nd Meridian
Latitude-Longitude
49° 04' 00" N - 102° 48' 00" W

Population- 1991=154 / 1996=149
Roche Percée,
or translated "Pierced Rock",
Known to the Metis as
La Roche Percée

was a Religious site
for the Native Assiniboine
(Assnipwan, Stone Sioux)
 Tribes in this area.
In the Spring and Fall
they would perform
religious ceremonies at this site,
leaving gifts to "Manitou"
(one of the Deities or Spirits
 dominating the forces of Nature)

"The name is a translation
 of the Nakota imyan-oghok
 referring to the nearby
 “Pierced Rock” landmark.

Picture donated by Kenneth J. Friedt, taken by unknown CPR man Sept 1910
 The rock lost its distinctive character
 after being struck by lightning
 and is now really nothing more
 than a sandstone outcropping."
 
Quote above from Bill Barry's
  "People Places" Book
 with his permission.

In another book written in 1924,
it says the pierced rock
was struck by lightning in 1922

Chief Dan Kennedy refers to this area as
Inyan- Oghnok
The Assiniboine,
(Assnipwan, Stone Sioux)
 lived in the Roche Percee area,
in the late 1700's

The Roche Percée structure
was once sand on a sea bottom


Arrow points to Roche Percee

A newspaper article from Sept 18, 1893,states,
 "The Town Site of Roche Percee is now laid out.
 It is a beautiful site for a town."

Village Office Phone
(306) 634-4661

 


 
It is believed that the Assiniboine
 were originally Yanktona Sioux, 
but broke away around 1640 to 1650.
At that point they aligned themselves with
the Plains Cree Tribe.
 The name Assnipwan means "Stone Sioux"
referring to the practice of using stones to cook.
Although the history books refer to them as Assiniboine,
 they call themselves Nakota meaning "allies".
  There is no doubt they are Sioux,
 they broke away from -
 and became the implacable enemies of 
 the Dakota about 300 years ago.
                                                                        from Bill Barry, People Places

The Assiniboine traded corn received from
the Mandan and other village tribes,
 in what is North Dakota today.
They traded with Axes, Knives, Bullets, and gunpowder
from the French and English Traders.
They hunted in the Souris Valley in the Winter,
and the Turtle Mountains in the summer.

First White Man visits are reported in my
History of Coal in the Area
web page.

(Dr.) Sir James Hector, (1834-1907) F.R.S.
Scottish Geologist, Naturalist and Surgeon,
who was part of the Palliser Expedition in 1857,
 made reference to the petroglyphs in the area.
In 1857 he was appointed surgeon and geologist
 on this Government expedition
 for the exploration of western Canada.
 It started in Detroit in June 1857,
and ended at Vancouver
Island in January 1860.
Hector Mountain is named after him,
Kicking Horse Pass was named after him,
 getting kicked by a horse there, and nearly died there.
Shortly after the expedition, he went to New Zealand
where he got married and had children.
He is very famous there as well,
with the Hector Dolphin named after him.
Later in life he came back to Canada,
for a short time, as a guest of the CPR,
then he went back to New Zealand where he died.


Dr. George Mercer Dawson (1849-1901)
visited Roche Percee in 1879.
He reported on the Sandstone Rock Structure,
and sketched a number of the petroglyphs.
He was a Canadian Scientist and Surveyor.

 In 1939, Prof. William John Wintemberg, (1876-1941) F.R.S.C.,
an Archaeologist with the Victoria Memorial Museum
(later National Museum of Canada)
also reported on the petroglyph carvings.

Dr. Alfred Richard Cecil Selwyn (1824-1902) F.R.S.,
a British Geologist,
and Director of the Geological Survey of Canada
made a visit, just prior to 1906,
and reported on the Coal.


FAMILY CONNECTION
My father Phillip George Gent was born in Roche Percee 
The midwife who delivered him was  Mrs Francis Knight, 
who later became Mrs. Francis McKersie. 
Her and her Husband were long time residents of Roche Percee. 
My Dad was born in an old Cabin, 
next to the Roche Percee Hotel in 1912.


 
1955 Sask. Golden Jubilee Celebration
The June 23, 1955 copy of the Estevan Mercury
Microfilm researched by Cheryl (nee Mitchell) Andrist
Has a story of the Assiniboine Indians,
led by Chief Ochankugahe
(Mr Dan Kennedy from Montmartre, Sask)
attended a large Pow-Wow, in celebration
 of the 50th Golden Jubilee Celebration.
A pageant of Indian dances was performed,
which Cheryl remembered as a child.
The Pioneers of the village were honoured
in a parade, carried on one float,
and a group of Assiniboine were on another.
They erected a Red River Cart,
 which was on one float, in a covered shelter
on the old Highway 39, south of Roche Percee
at the point where the old trail
 used in the first half of the 19th Century
was used by fur traders and hunting groups
moving through this part of the Western Plains.
Other floats depicted mining themes, past and present.
Sold during the day was a booklet on the history of Roche Percee, 
which can be read on the Internet on the
Estevan Community CAP site

 


 
   
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