Cumberland House, known as Waskukikun or Waskahikanihk by the local Cree, was a fort established on the Saskatchewan River delta by Hudson’s Bay Company explorer Samuel Hearne in 1774, the Company’s first inland trading post. The region was already considered a valuable centre by the Swampy Cree First Nations who lived there, boasting an abundance of wildlife, and was strategically located at the confluence of two important trade routes, on the Saskatchewan River and the Grass, Fox and Nelson Rivers that drained into Hudson Bay.

In this painting by George Arbuckle, the post retains a distinctly European character, with the tools and planed logs of settler construction dominating the composition. However, Cumberland House soon became a locus for the Métis community. Hearne himself was married to a Métis woman, Mary Norton, and the close integration between the Europeans and local Cree quickly led to a bicultural society. Cumberland House’s importance as an administrative centre would last only until 1778, when Norway House was built farther north on Lake Winnipeg, but it remained a valuable depot along the trade networks and an important Métis community.

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