East Village Traditional Cache

The village of Batoche was founded in the early 1870s, when Xavier Letendre, also known as "Batoche", constructed a ferry, a shop and a storehouse on the spot where the Carlton Trail crossed the river. It soon grew into a trade center for the growing number of Métis settlers along the river. In 1883 a presbytery was built, and in the following year the Church of St Antoine de Padoue. Near the river bank lies East Village, the original village, of which foundations and cellars still remain. This is where the Batoche ferry crossed the South Saskatchewan River.