List of ghost towns in Saskatchewan

Summary

The following is a list of communities that no longer exist or former Villages/Towns that have become unincorporated hamlets in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada.

Ghost towns are towns that once had a considerable population, that have since dwindled in numbers causing some or all its business to close, either due to the rerouting of a highway, train tracks being pulled, or exhaustion of a natural resource. One of the more famous stories of Saskatchewan ghost towns arose around Uranium City which was close to achieving city status and utterly collapsed upon the closure of the Eldorado mine and the mass exodus of its population.[1]

Initially travel began by horse and wagon or ox and cart along trails which generally followed animal trails across the North-West Territories. Railways would not build across the western frontier without settlement as it would be too costly to provide train service across a barren wilderness.[2] The Clifford Sifton immigration policy encouraged settlers to arrive.[3] Western settlement began and immigration encroached across the Manitoba border into the North-West Territories later to become the Province of Saskatchewan in 1905. Rail stations, post offices, schools, and towns sprang up approximately 6 miles (9.7 km) to 10 miles (16 km) apart to accommodate ox and cart as well as horse and wagon travel.[4][5] As travel evolved to automobiles, there was no longer a need for centres this close together. In the 1940s when the highway became more popular, and the rail branch lines started to close down, saw the demise of sidings and villages located on the rail line but not on the highway. In the late 1950s and 1960s when highways were straightened and developed from gravel to asphalt and oil surface highways many of the bypassed towns and villages folded. Businesses set up shop in towns on the new straightened highway,[6] and children could be bused to composite schools in the larger centres. The following placenames may exist only as commemorative road names which intersect the current highways and have disappeared altogether or they may be unincorporated areas of the Rural Municipality|RM such as Floral, the birthplace of Gordie Howe. Floral would be currently located off the Yellowhead highway for example but it was on Provincial Highway 5 when the road was on the square. Floral currently is demarked by an old church at the Floral Cemetery, and the Floral one room school is now the community hall for meetings and social gatherings. The only remembrance of Floral is a road named Floral road. The road travelled on the 'square' connecting many small country towns was a different one from the highway of today connecting larger urban centres.

A rural municipality, often abbreviated RM, is a form of municipality consisting of an elected reeve for the elected head along with aldermen or Councillors of a rural municipality, performing a similar role to the mayor of a village, town or city.[7] An RM may have its office in a town or village, which has its own separate and distinct civic administration, but the RM administers the rural affairs of a large land area including unincorporated areas or ghost towns. The RM administers the remaining population of the ghost town providing any needed civic infrastructure, safety, health, educational, or tourism affairs. Localities with small populations are enumerated in census taking by Statistics Canada as a population belonging to the RM. For instance Churchbridge No. 211 includes the localities of Beresina and the Melville Airport.[8]

Hospital in Robsart
Island Falls powerhouse

List of ghost towns edit

Name Rural
municipality (RM)
Land Address Lat/Long
Amulet Norton No. 16 49°36'58.3" N 104°45'19.4 "W
Arena Frontier No. 19 49°07'2.3" N 109°16'00.1" W
Auburnton Moose Creek No. 33 49°24'23" N 102°4'25" W
Baildon Baildon No. 131
Bateman Gravelbourg No. 104 49°41′28.9″ N 107°51′14.6″ W
Battrum Riverside No. 168 50°32'55.0" N 108°20'05.3" W
Bayard Terrell No. 101 50°01'18.8" N 105°17'27.2" W
Bents Marriott No. 317 51°49'24.2" N 107°43'43.0" W
Birch Creek Emerald No. 277 Sec.10, Twp.30, R.14, W2
Blewett Cymri No. 36 SW Sec.12, Twp.5, R.10, W2 49°21'58.41" N 103°14'02.23" W
Bonne Madone Hoodoo No. 401 52°40'20.2" N 105°31'22.7" W
Bounty Fertile Valley No. 285 51°31'20.9" N 107°21'41.7" W
Breeze Browning No. 34
Bresaylor Paynton No. 470 52°58'06.6" N 108°45'49.3" W
Bromhead Souris Valley No. 7 Sec.3, Twp.3, R.13, W2 49°10'46.9" N -103°40'34.7" W
Brooking Laurier No. 38 49°30'34.7" N 104°25'21.3" W
Browning Browning No. 34 49°26'07.8" N 102°38'02.4" W
Bryant Benson No. 35 SW Sec.12 Twp.5 R.9, W2 49°22'37.7" N 103°06'16.4" W
Buffalo Gap 49°06'31.7" N 105°16'41.5" W
Cactus Lake Heart's Hill No. 352
Cosine Eye Hill No. 382
Canuck Lone Tree No. 18
Chandler Cymri No. 36 SW Sec.10, Twp.5, R.11, W2 49°21'48.7" N 103°25'08.4" W
Claydon Frontier No. 19
Clearfield Brokenshell No. 68
Coalfields Coalfields No. 4
Colgate Lomond No. 37 SE Sec.24 Twp.5 R.15, W2 49°23'40.0" N 103°53'42.0" W
Court Antelope Park No. 322
Crichton Wise Creek No. 77
Cullen Benson No. 35 NW-SW Sec.7 Twp.5 R.7, W2 49°22'09.3" N 102°56'52.2" W
Cummings Maple Creek No. 111
Diana Bratt's Lake No. 129
Divide Reno No. 51
Dernic (Federal Grain Spur) Buchanan No. 304
Dneiper Sliding Hills No. 273
Dobrowody Invermay No. 305
Dummer Caledonia No. 99
Elcott Enniskillen No. 3
Elswick Cymri No. 36 NW Sec.2 Twp.5 R.12, W2 49°22'00.0" N 103°32'02.0" W
Estuary Deer Forks No. 232
Expanse Lake Johnston No. 102
Flintoft Stonehenge No. 73
Floral Corman Park No. 344 Sec.4 Twp.36 R.4, W3 52°03′25″ N 106°30′40″ W
Forward Norton No. 69
Froude Griffin No. 66
Fusilier Antelope Park No. 322
Garwood Weyburn No. 67
Galilee Terrell No. 101
Gallivan Cut Knife No. 439
Gibbs Longlaketon No. 219
Girvin Arm River No. 252
Glamis St. Andrews No. 287 NW_7_28_13_W3 51°38'06.56 N 107°82'82.12 W
Glasnevin 49°33'00.9" N 105°03'17.7" W
Glen Bain Glen Bain No. 105
Glen Kerr Morse No. 165
Goodwater Lomond No. 37 49°23'46.6" N 103°42'36.8" W
Gouldtown Morse No. 165
Gouverneur Auvergne No. 76
Govenlock Reno No. 51
Grassdale Weyburn No. 67
Halkett Estevan No. 5
Hallonquist Coulee No. 136
Handsworth Golden West No. 95
Hardy The Gap No. 39
Harptree Bengough No. 40
Hatton Maple Creek No. 111
Hearne Redburn No. 130
Herschel Mountain View No. 318
Hoffer Souris Valley No. 7
Holloway Cymri No. 36 NW Sec.1 Twp.6 R.12, W2
Horizon Bengough No. 40
Hughton Monet No. 257
Hume Griffin No. 66
Huntoon Griffin No. 66
Innes Griffin No. 66
Insinger Insinger No. 275
Instow Bone Creek No. 108
Island Falls 55°31'38.0" N 102°20'53.8" W
Jasmin Ituna Bon Accord No. 246
Jordan River Arborfield No. 456
Kayville Key West No. 70
Kingsford Browning No. 34
Lakenheath Stonehenge No. 73
Lillestrom Hillsborough No. 132 50°15'57.6" N 105°51'19.8" W
Loomis Frontier No. 19
Loverna Antelope Park No. 322
Luxton Browning No. 34
Masefield Val Marie No. 17
Maxim Lomond No. 37 NE Sec.21 Twp. 4 R.15, W2 49°18'58.7" N 103°58'43.9" W
Minard Browning No. 34
Nashlyn Reno No. 51
Neidpath Coulee No. 136
Neptune Lomond No. 37 49°22'21.4" N 104°04'08.8" W
Neville Whiska Creek No. 106
New Finland Willowdale No. 153
Old Wives Hillsborough No. 132 50°11'36.6" N 106°00'21.6" W
Oungre Souris Valley No. 7 49°08'42.7"N 103°48'02.9"W
Outram Cambria No. 6 49°09'00"N 103°19'00"W
Oxarat Reno No. 51
Parkbeg Wheatlands No. 163
Pinto Coalfields No. 4
Polwarth Canwood No. 494
Rangeview Reno No. 51
Ravenscrag White Valley No. 49
Reynaud Three Lakes No. 400
Robinhood Medstead No. 497
Robsart Reno No. 51
Romance Leroy No. 339
Roseray Pittville No. 169
Rutland Colonsay No. 342
Scotsguard Bone Creek No. 108
Senate Reno No. 51
Service Moose Mountain No. 63
Shand Estevan No. 5
Smuts Grant No. 372
South Fork Arlington No. 79 49°35'37.431"N 108°43'9.6456"W
Southall Souris Valley No. 7
St. Boswells Glen Bain No. 105
Tableland Estevan No. 5
Tarnopol Invergordon No. 430
Tatagwa Weyburn No. 67 NW Sec.17 Twp.8 R.15, W2
Tate Mount Hope No. 279
Tiny Buchanan No. 304
Taylorton Coalfields No. 4
Trossachs Brokenshell No. 68 49°38'16.8"N 104°13'34.7"W
Truax Elmsthorpe No. 100
Union Jack Weyburn No. 67
Uren Chaplin No. 164
Valjean Chaplin No. 164
Valley Centre Marriott No. 317
Vantage Sutton No. 103
Verlo Pittville No. 169
Vesper Lac Pelletier No. 107
Vidora Reno No. 51
Viewfield Benson No. 35 SW S.34 Twp.6 R.9, W2 and NW Sec.27 Twp 6 R.9, W2 49°30'22.8" N 103°08'34.0" W
Wauchope Antler No. 61
Winter Round Valley No. 410
Woodley Browning No. 34
Xena Morris No. 312
Yonker Senlac No. 411

See also edit

NB
PE
 
Ghost towns in Canada by province or territory

References edit

  1. ^ Martel, Karin (2005-08-15), "Uranium City", 100 Saskatchewan Stories, Dacian
  2. ^ "Saskatchewan Settlement Experience". Saskatchewan Archives Board. OH! Media. 2005. Retrieved 2008-03-24.
  3. ^ Bélanger, Claude (2005). "Clifford Sifton - Canadian History". Marianopolis College. Retrieved 2008-03-24.
  4. ^ Youck, Alex; Jim Slough (2006). "Saskatchewan Schools: Early History". The Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan. CANADIAN PLAINS RESEARCH CENTER, UNIVERSITY OF REGINA.
  5. ^ Adamson, J. "Saskatchewan, Canada, Rand Mcnally 1924 Indexed Pocket Map Tourist and Shipper's Guide". Online Canadian Maps Digitization Project. Rootsweb. Retrieved 2008-04-01.
  6. ^ Anderson, Frank W. (1998). The Yellowhead Trail in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan: Frank W. Anderson. p. 67
  7. ^ "Municipal Directory System". Ministry of Municipal affairs. Government of Saskatchewan. Archived from the original on 2016-01-15.
  8. ^ "Economic Regions 2006 4705093 - Churchbridge No. 211, geographical codes and localities ,2006". Statistics Canada. Government of Canada. Archived from the original on 2011-07-06. Retrieved 2009-09-06.

External links edit

  • Canadian Ghost Towns
  • Ghost towns in Saskatchewan
  • Saskatchewan ghost towns - our roots nos racines