Snowflake is located in the south west corner of the RM of Pembina 1/2 mile east of the Jct PR240 and PR201. Today the community consists of a post office and a community centre.
Just 2 miles west and 1 mile north of Snowflake, just outside of our municipality, is The Star Mound School. The school, built in 1886, houses a small museum of native artifacts (including a full history of the mound) and school related artifacts. The center of the schoolyard is an ancient Native ceremonial ground in the shape of a beaver. The hill surrounding the schoolyard is known for its spectacular dislpay of wild Manitoba crocuses in early spring. Open Daily dawn to dusk May - Oct.
The best times to visit the Snowflake community is in the Spring, Summer and Fall. This is one of the best spring-time snow goose viewing areas in the province. The backroads also provide one of the most scenic routes for visitors who travel along the south side of the beautiful Pembina River Valley. A few weeks in the Spring and Fall provide another viewing opportunity for red-tailed hawks and and any morning or evening provides a glimpse of white tailed deer browsing in the open fields.
Star Mound School
History
The following was taken from The Story Behind Manitoba Names by Ted Stone: Snowflake takes its name from nearby Snowflake Creek. There is some question whether early settler James D’Avignon named the creek, or if, as in more commonly supposed, the name comes from aboriginal origins.
According to the first version of the story, D’Avignon, who was a land locater, brought two friends, Sam Oakes and James Blake, out from Ontario to homestead in Manitoba. It was late October when they camped along a creek close to the American border. That night there was a light snow and in the morning D’Avignon named the stream Snowflake Creek. Another version of the name’s origins holds that aboriginal inhabitants already called the creek “Snowflake” when the first settlers, including D’Avignon, arrived in the area.
According to local historian, Landon Booker, the first permanent settlers in the Snowflake area arrived several years prior to 1881. It appears that almost from the beginning, Snowflake was the name used in reference to the district, but the first settlement was the village of Hamilton which was situated on the banks of the Pembina Valley about three miles north-east of the present location of Snowflake. After the change of government in 1896, which in turn led to a change in the proposed route for a railway, Hamilton was abandoned in favour of the new town site called Snowflake.
