RM of Manitou Lake’s story
The Rural Municipality of Manitou Lake No. 442 incorporated on December 12, 1910. It takes its name from Manitou Lake, an Algonquian name meaning "mysterious being." The first settlers arrived in 1905 from other parts of Canada, the British Isles and the United States, and the area became known as the Manitou Lake District.
The land was then open prairie covered in long grass called "prairie wool," with few trees or bluffs. Its fertile black soil drew settlers, who built sod and log homes and broke the ground with horse and ox teams. Grain was hauled by wagon or horse-drawn sleigh to Zumbro and Artland, and in winter it was taken across the ice of Manitou Lake. Groceries and supplies came from Lashburn, Artland or Chauvin, Alberta, and the Eaton's catalogue was a popular way to shop.
In 1907-1908 a post office opened in the home of Alex Wright, about a mile north-east of today's Marsden townsite. The Wrights named it Marsden, either for Mrs. Wright's birthplace in Yorkshire, England, or for Marsden Rock near Newcastle. Between 1919 and 1922 it moved a mile south to the RM office. Children first went to school in Learig, and in 1925 a four-room schoolhouse was built in Marsden.
Today agriculture, cattle and oil are the main industries. The region is known for prize-winning purebred cattle, and some farms raise elk and bison. Big Manitou Regional Park, on the lake's north-west corner, was established in 1975 and became a full regional park in 2019. The Manitou Sand Hills, 105,000 acres of Crown grazing land south of the lake, offer camping and guided trail rides.
Written from Wikipedia’s article “Rural Municipality of Manitou Lake No. 442” (CC BY-SA 4.0), and shared under the same licence.
