Historic Sites of Manitoba: Stott Mound and Camp Site (RM of Whitehead)

The importance of this site in the Rural Municipality of Whitehead, near the Trans-Canada Highway, was recognized by owner Frank Stott in the 1940s. The rich animal and plant resources of this portion of the Assiniboine River valley sustain Aboriginal peoples long before Europeans settled the area. For at least 1,200 years, hunters periodically stampeded bison down the valley slope onto the flood plain where the animals were trapped and killed with spears and arrows. Parts of the butchered carcasses were carried to camps on the slopes where meat was stripped from the bones and made into jerky and pemmican. The bones were fashioned into tools and ornaments, or smashed and boiled in clay pots to extract the “bone butter”. The hides were made into shelters, clothing, and containers. Freshwater clams, fish, beaver, muskrat, and wild plants supplemented the diet of bison meat. Stone tools were fashioned from local fine-grained stone and from Knife River Flint quarried in western North Dakota.

In the 1950s, the remains of an extensive Aboriginal settlement at the site, determined to have been inhabited for long periods of time, was excavated by archeologists.

A commemorative plaque was installed in May 1948 at this provincially-designated historic site by the Historic Sites Advisory Board of Manitoba.

Stott site and commemorative plaque (September 2011) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Stott commemorative plaque (July 2021) Source: George Penner Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.87327, W100.08627 denoted by symbol on the map above

See also:

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Clay Banks Buffalo Jump (Municipality of Cartwright-Roblin)

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Arden Camp Site (Arden, Municipality of Glenella-Lansdowne)

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Provincially Designated Historic Sites

Sources:

“Old Indian burial site unearthed near Brandon” by Chris Vickers, Winnipeg Free Press, 17 October 1952, page 1.

Stott Mound and Camp Site (DIMa-1), SW35-10-20W, Brandon area, RM of Whitehead, Manitoba Historic Resources Branch.

We thank George Penner for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 27 July 2021

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