“Where are they biting?” It is a reoccurring question that is answered with two simple words: Anderson Point.
If you live in Snow Lake, or visit often, you know the point of which I speak. It is as much a part of local fishing lore as it is part of our geography.
To the left of Snow Lake’s Sunset Bay Beach, there is a small outcrop that is characterized by a smooth rock that subtly slopes to the water’s edge. The bottom is relatively sandy in the area and anywhere from 3 to 4 m deep. On a lake that features landmarks such as Purple Sandy, Sock Island and Jack Nutts, a name like Anderson Point isn’t out of the ordinary.
For those who didn’t know, Purple Sandy got its name from the garnet-laden sand that washes up on a natural beach located on the southwest shore of the lake.
Sock Island got its name from the wind sock that was put up on it to show wind direction back in the 1960s and ’70s.
Jack Nutts was the old abandoned scheelite mine at the extreme north end of the lake, named after prospector Jack Nutt.
But Anderson Point… well, it was named for the family who lived in the three-bedroom bungalow on the north corner of Copper Road.
Ken and Hilda Anderson raised seven children in the house at 213 Copper Road, where they have lived since the late ’60s.
“We moved here with the family in 1968. I bought the house maybe two years before that,” says Ken.
Ken worked for CNR at Wekusko Siding as a section foreman for five or so years before moving his family to The Pas for school.
A short time later, they moved again, this time to Snow Lake, where the children all grew up while Ken worked as a miner for Hudson Bay Mining & Smelting (HBM&S, now Hudbay) until his retirement some years back.
Both Ken, who was born in Port Nelson MB, and his wife, Hilda, born in Brochet MB, are lifelong northerners.
Hilda revealed that she went to school in Herb Lake, the small abandoned gold mining community to the east of Snow Lake. “I went to school there for about three years off and on,” she said. “The first time I went there was in 1942, the last time for my grade 8.”
Hilda says the small cape of land some 30 m from their back door became known as Anderson Point shortly after they moved to Snow Lake in ’68.
“The kids were around then,” said Hilda noting the proclivity of children to put names to features as they play.
The point has been known as Anderson ever since, and it has become so ingrained locally that the outcrop has even been labeled Anderson Point in tourist magazines.
Being known as Anderson Point in every aspect except the official one, it was felt the time had arrived to confirm that last detail.
So, shortly after noon on Friday July 1, the Town of Snow Lake’s Councillor Robin Turnbull gathered with the Andersons and a small crowd of onlookers to unveil a temporary sign and cut the ribbon on Anderson Point.
In doing so, Turnbull stated the following: “In honour of the decades that local residents Ken and Hilda Anderson resided on Copper Road, the Town of Snow Lake is pleased to have unanimously passed Resolution #219/16; declaring this area Anderson Point. Both Ken and Hilda are pioneers of the area. Hilda resided and went to school in Herb Town in the 1940s and the couple were residents at Wekusko Siding prior to moving to Snow Lake. Anyone who knows Ken and Hilda would know they are kind, generous and unassuming people – people that this community is proud of. Therefore be it resolved that Anderson Point will now be officially recognized.”
Asked what the naming means to the couple, “A lot,” answers Hilda with a chuckle.
“Especially the kids, they were very happy,” Ken concurs, and the couple was pleased that one of their sons and a granddaughter made it back for the dedication.
Hilda says she has made a copy of the official declaration for each of her children and fancied it up with a piece of ribbon and a photo of the event… ready for framing.
Both Ken and Hilda can now look out their back door at the point that has carried their name for the past 48 years, knowing today it is officially recognized as such.
