saw mill was opened under the Timber Board, which employed up to 100 men. Under the LID, the Central Farm was expanded, and the Silver Lake Farm was formed in 1965, consisting of mixed farming with an emphasis on cattle. In 1947, Saskatchewan Highway 155 was established, replacing the existing bush trail, the "Old Bay Trail", connecting Green Lake to Beauval. The highway was completed in 1957, extending to the south side of the Buffalo Narrows Channel. A year-round ferry was set up at Buffalo Narrows. A Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) detachment and a Red Cross Nursing Station were established in 1953. In 1972, the LID was replaced by the Department of Northern Saskatchewan (DNS) with a Local Community Authority (LCA). Green Lake, and the area within a three-mile (4.8 km) radius from the centre of the community, became Northern Community Area 17. The first LCA members were elected in 1974. In 1974 a new sawmill was built, and in 1975-76 Saskatchewan Highway 55 to Meadow Lake was completed, and a DNS funded sewer and water system is installed. In 1983, Green Lake was incorporated as a northern village. In 1992, the community-owned sawmill, Green Lake Metis Wood Products Limited, was incorporated. The mill signed agreements with Weyerhaeuser, Norsask Forest Products, Mistik Management and Province of Saskatchewan, before burning down in 2000. The mill was rebuilt in 2002, only to close in 2003. In 1996, the Provincial Government gave Central Farm to the Northern Village of Green Lake, and in 2006 it obtained ownership of the Silver Lake Farm as well. In 1998, Green Lake Metis Farms Limited was incorporated, and the community operated the two farms with the aid of the board. Both farms are operated as community pasture. Central farm is , and Silver Lake is . Green Lake House and Essex House In 1782, the North West Company established Green Lake House on the southwest shore of the lake. As of 1790 it was only occupied in winter and was an outpost of Lac Île-à-la-Crosse. When William McGillivray at Lac Île-à-la-Crosse was in charge of the Churchill River department he arranged for pemmican to be shipped north from the Saskatchewan to the northern posts. In 1795 the men at Green Lake House were near starvation when a pemmican supply arrived from Fort George. In 1798 David Thompson (explorer) passed through. He sent his canoes on up