Southbranch Settlement

Southbranch Settlement was the name ascribed to a series of French Métis settlements on the Canadian prairies in the 19th Century, in what is today the province of Saskatchewan. Métis settlers began making homes here in the 1860s and 1870s, many of them fleeing economic and social dislocation from Red River, Manitoba. The settlements became the centre of Métis resistance during the North-West Rebellion when in March 1885, Louis Riel, Gabriel Dumont, Honoré Jackson, and others set up the Provisional Government of Saskatchewan with their headquarters at Batoche.

The Settlements stretched along both sides of the South Saskatchewan River in river lot style from Fish Creek north through and St. Laurent to St. Louis which was its northern boundary. They included Duck Lake 12 kilometers from St. Laurent accessed by the St. Laurent Ferry. The distance from Fish Creek to St. Louis was less than 50 kilometres. They were proximal to several Cree reserves, as well as Anglo-Metis settlements to the north around Prince Albert.

Batoche and St. Laurent de Grandin were founded by French Métis hivernants from the Red River settlement. Hivernants were hunters and trappers who spent the winter on the prairies and returned to the Red River settlement in the spring with their winter catch.

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