Mistusinne takes its name from the Plains Cree word mistasiniy, or mistaseni, meaning "big stone." The name refers to a 400-ton glacial erratic that resembled a sleeping bison. The boulder once rested in the Qu'Appelle Valley and was a sacred gathering place for the Cree and Assiniboine peoples.
When the South Saskatchewan River dam project was built, the rock lay in the flood path of the new reservoir that became Lake Diefenbaker. In 1966 the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration had it blasted apart with explosives, despite efforts by groups to save it. Pieces were used in monuments to Chief Poundmaker and in a memorial to the boulder itself in Elbow. Large fragments were located under the lake's waters in 2014.
Mistusinne incorporated as a resort village on August 1, 1980. It sits on the eastern shore of the Gordon McKenzie Arm of Lake Diefenbaker and serves as a summer retreat, with many cabins and a golf course overlooking the lake. When the lake's water rose in 1998 and collapsed the shoreline, part of the golf course along the shore had to be rebuilt. Douglas Provincial Park extends from the community to the Qu'Appelle River Dam.
Written from Wikipedia’s article “Mistusinne” (CC BY-SA 4.0), and shared under the same licence.