Maple Creek, Saskatchewan
| Town of Maple Creek | |
|---|---|
| Motto: "Where Past Is Present" | |
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| Coordinates: 49°33′N 109°17′W / 49.55°N 109.28°W | |
| Country | Canada |
| Province | Saskatchewan |
| Region | Southwest Saskatchewan |
| Census division | 4 |
| Rural Municipality | Maple Creek |
| Established | 1882 |
| Incorporated (Village) | 1896 |
| Incorporated (Town) | April 30, 1903 |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Barry Rudd |
| • Town Manager | Mark D. Caswell |
| • Governing body | Maple Creek Town Council |
| • MP | David L. Anderson |
| • MLA | Wayne Elhard |
| Area | |
| • Land | 4.42 km2 (1.7 sq mi) |
| Population (2006) | |
| • Total | 2,198 |
| • Density | 497.0/km2 (1,287.2/sq mi) |
| Time zone | CST |
| Postal code | S0N 1N0 |
| Area code(s) | 306 |
| Highways | Highway 21 Highway 271 Highway 724 |
| Railways | Canadian Pacific |
| Website | Town of Maple Creek |
Maple Creek is a town in Maple Creek Rural Municipality No. 111, Saskatchewan, Canada. The population was 2,198 at the 2006 Census. Located 52 miles southeast of Medicine Hat, Alberta, and 20 miles north of the Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park on Highway 21 8 km south of the Trans Canada Highway.
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[edit] Demographics
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[edit] History
After the North-West Mounted Police had been established at [2] Fort Walsh, settlers began to explore the Cypress Hills area, living along the creeks and doing small-scale ranching. The Department of the Interior was operating a First Nations farm on the Maple Creek, a few miles south from the present town site. In 1882-1883 the First Nations (mainly Cree, Saulteaux, and Assiniboine) were moved to Qu'Appelle, and the farm was then operated by Major Shircliff, an ex-Mounted Policeman.
In the winter of 1882, a Canadian Pacific Railway construction crew of 12 decided to winter where the town of Maple Creek now stands. This marked the establishment of Maple Creek.
In June 2010, a flood submerged most of the town. The same flood hit much of southwest Saskatchewan and southern Alberta and even destroyed a portion of the Trans-Canada Highway.
There are two designated municipal heritage Properties in Maple Creek:
- The W. R. Orr Heritage Building was constructed in 1910 and over its history it has housed the Union Bank of Canada; W.R. Orr Law Office; Royal Bank of Canada; Bank of Montreal; Burnett & Orr Law Office.[2]
- The St. Mary's Anglican Church was constructed in 1909 in the Romanesque style. The church also contains a vestry, narthex and octagonal belfry with steeple that was added in 1928.[3]
[edit] Attractions
Regional Attractions:
- Big Muddy Badlands, a series of badlands in southern Saskatchewan and northern Montana along Big Muddy Creek. They are found in the Big Muddy Valley, a cleft of erosion and sandstone along Big Muddy Creek. The valley is 55 kilometres (34 mi) long, 3.2 kilometres (2.0 mi) wide and 160 metres (520 ft) deep.[4] The valley was formed when it was part of an ancient glacial meltwater channel that carried great quantities of water southeastward during the last ice age.[5]
- Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park, an interprovincial park straddling the southern Alberta-Saskatchewan border, located north-west of Robsart. It is Canada's first and only interprovincial park.
- Cypress Hills Vineyard & Winery, open by appointment only from Christmas until May 14.[6]
- Fort Walsh, is part of the Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park. As a National Historic Site of Canada the area possesses National Historical Significance. It was established as a North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) fort after and at the location of the Cypress Hills Massacre.
- Grasslands National Park, represents the Prairie Grasslands natural region, protecting one of the nation's few remaining areas of undisturbed dry mixed-grass/shortgrass prairie grassland. The park is located in the WWF-defined Northern short grasslands ecoregion, which spans across much of Southern Saskatchewan, Southern Alberta, and the northern Great Plains states in the USA. The unique landscape and harsh, semi-arid climate provide niches for several specially adapted plants and animals. The park and surrounding area house the country's only black-tailed prairie dog colonies. Other rare and endangered fauna that can be found in the park include the pronghorn antelope, sage grouse, burrowing owl, ferruginous hawk, prairie rattlesnake, black-footed ferret and eastern short-horned lizard. Flora includes blue grama grass, needlegrass, Plains Cottonwood and silver sagebrush.
- The Great Sandhills, is a sand dune rising 50 feet above the ground and covering 1,900 square kilometers. Native prairie grass helps keep the sand together. The sand dunes are fringed by small groves of aspen, birch, and willow trees, and by rose bushes, chokecherry and sagebrush. Subjected to strong winds, the dunes are always moving, creating an ever-changing landscape for photographers.[7]
- Robsart Art Works, opens July 1 to August 28, 2010, from 1 to 4 p.m. and by appointment and features Saskatchewan artists featuring photographers of old buildings and towns throughout Saskatchewan.[8]
- T.rex Discovery Centre, a world class facility to house the fossil record of the Eastend area started many years before the discovery of "Scotty" the T.Rex in 1994.[9]
[edit] Education
The Sidney Street School [10] and the Maple Creek Composite School [11] serve the local community.
Great Plains College operates a satellite campus in Maple Creek.
[edit] Climate
With the exception of southwestern Alberta, winters in Maple Creek are typically warmer than those in the adjacent plain region of southern Alberta and Saskatchewan, being a convalescence point for Chinook winds originating from both the Canadian and American Rocky Mountain fronts. The mean maximum temperature in January 2006 was 5.3 °C [3] for the Maple Creek townsite, compared to 5.0 °C [4] for Calgary and 4.7 °C [5] for Medicine Hat.
| Climate data for Maple Creek | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 17.5 (63.5) |
19.5 (67.1) |
23 (73) |
32 (90) |
37 (99) |
41 (106) |
38.9 (102.0) |
43.3 (109.9) |
37.8 (100.0) |
32.2 (90.0) |
24 (75) |
18.3 (64.9) |
43.3 (109.9) |
| Average high °C (°F) | −4.6 (23.7) |
−0.8 (30.6) |
5.3 (41.5) |
13.2 (55.8) |
19.1 (66.4) |
23.5 (74.3) |
27.1 (80.8) |
26.9 (80.4) |
20.3 (68.5) |
13.7 (56.7) |
3.1 (37.6) |
−2.5 (27.5) |
12 (54) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | −10.4 (13.3) |
−6.4 (20.5) |
−0.6 (30.9) |
6.2 (43.2) |
11.8 (53.2) |
16.3 (61.3) |
19.3 (66.7) |
18.9 (66.0) |
12.9 (55.2) |
6.9 (44.4) |
−2.4 (27.7) |
−8.1 (17.4) |
5.4 (41.7) |
| Average low °C (°F) | −16 (3) |
−12 (10) |
−6.5 (20.3) |
−0.7 (30.7) |
4.5 (40.1) |
8.9 (48.0) |
11.4 (52.5) |
10.8 (51.4) |
5.4 (41.7) |
0.1 (32.2) |
−7.9 (17.8) |
−13.7 (7.3) |
−1.3 (29.7) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −41.7 (−43.1) |
−41 (−42) |
−31.7 (−25.1) |
−22.8 (−9.0) |
−8.3 (17.1) |
−3.3 (26.1) |
1 (34) |
−0.6 (30.9) |
−11 (12.2) |
−25 (−13) |
−34 (−29) |
−42.8 (−45.0) |
−42.8 (−45.0) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 20.2 (0.795) |
14.8 (0.583) |
21.2 (0.835) |
28.7 (1.13) |
48.1 (1.894) |
63.2 (2.488) |
47.5 (1.87) |
38.3 (1.508) |
35 (1.38) |
21.2 (0.835) |
19.6 (0.772) |
21.5 (0.846) |
379.3 (14.933) |
| Source: Environment Canada[12] | |||||||||||||
[edit] Notable people
- Barry Dean - Former NHL Player
- Zack Smith - Current NHL Player for the Ottawa Senators
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "2006 Community Profiles". Statistics Canada. Government of Canada. 2009-02-24. http://www12.statcan.ca/census-recensement/2006/dp-pd/prof/92-591/index.cfm?Lang=E. Retrieved 2009-02-24.
- ^ http://heritageapp.cyr.gov.sk.ca/assets/pdf/2848.pdf Saskatchewan Register of Heritage Property W. R. Orr Heritage Building
- ^ http://heritageapp.cyr.gov.sk.ca/assets/pdf/124.pdf Saskatchewan Register of Heritage Property St. Mary's Anglican Church
- ^ Yanko, Dave. "The Badlands". Virtual Saskatchewan. http://www.virtualsk.com/current_issue/the_badlands.html. Retrieved 2010-05-11.
- ^ Harel, Claude-Jean (2006). "Big Muddy Valley". Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan. Great Plains Research Center. http://esask.uregina.ca/entry/big_muddy_valley.html. Retrieved 2010-05-11.
- ^ Cypress Hills Vineyard & Winery
- ^ Great Sandhills
- ^ Robsart Art Works
- ^ T.rex Discovery Centre
- ^ http://schools.chinooksd.ca/sidney/
- ^ http://schools.chinooksd.ca/mcchs/
- ^ Environment Canada—[1], accessed 21 September 2010
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Hatton | Leader | Piapot | |
| Walsh, Alberta |  |
Gull Lake Swift Current |
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 Maple Creek  |
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| Fort Walsh Consul |
Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park Vidora |
Robsart |
Coordinates: 49°55′N 109°28′W / 49.917°N 109.467°W
