Melfort, Saskatchewan

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Melfort
City
City of Melfort
Nickname(s): The City of Northern Lights
Motto: From Many Builders One Community
Melfort is located in Saskatchewan
Melfort
Melfort
Coordinates: Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Country Canada
Province Saskatchewan
Rural Municipality Star City No. 428, Saskatchewan
Post office established August 1, 1892
Incorporated Village 1903
Incorporated Town July 1, 1907
Incorporated City September 2, 1980
Government
 • Mayor Rick Lang
 • MLA Melfort Kevin Phillips
 • MP Prince Albert Randy Hoback
Elevation[1] 480.10 m (1,575.13 ft)
Population (2011)
 • Total 5,576
 • Density 351.3/km2 (910/sq mi)
Time zone Central Standard Time (UTC−6)
Highways Hwy 3, CanAm Highway
Hwy 2 CanAm Highway, Sk Hwy 641
Website City of Melfort
[2][3][4]

Melfort (2011 population 5,576) is a small Canadian city in Saskatchewan, approximately 95 kilometres (59 mi) southeast of Prince Albert, 107 miles (172 km) northeast of Saskatoon and 174 miles (280 km) north of Regina.

According to the World Gazetteer, its population as of 2004 was 5,400. Melfort became Saskatchewan's 12th city in 1980; although it had achieved the necessary 5,000 population a number of years earlier, residents were reluctant to give up their status as a town, and for a time, the town of Melfort was actually larger than the city of Melville.

Melfort is called the "City of Northern Lights" due to the frequency with which the aurora borealis appears.

This city is bordered by the Rural Municipality of Star City No. 428 and the Rural Municipality of Flett's Springs No. 429.

It is also the administrative headquarters of the Peter Chapman Cree First Nation band government.

History

Just 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) northwest of current location of Melfort settlers established themselves on the banks of Stoney Creek before relocation due to the surveying of the Canadian National Railway.[5] Melfort was named to honour Mrs. Reginald Beatty (née Mary Campbell, 1856–1916), wife of one of the early settlers (1884). She was born on the Melfort estate, south of Oban, in Argyllshire, Scotland.[6]

Melfort's first post office was established August 1, 1892, in the provisional district of the North West Territories with Benjamin Bothwell as the first postmaster.[2]

The community became a village in 1903, and incorporated as a town July 1, 1907. It finally became the twelfth city of Saskatchewan on September 2, 1980.[5][7][8]

Three one-room school houses used the name "Melfort". Melfort School District No. 54, later called Tiger Lily No. 54 17, near Pleasantdale. (Pleasantdale post office was previously named Windgap and was located at Township 41, Range 18 west of the 2nd Meridian). Melfort School District No. 318 was established in 1904 at Clemens, Rural Route 1, Melfort. Melfort School District No. 1037 was the last one-room school house to use this name.[9]

Geography

Melfort is located in the Carrot River valley which is noted for its black loamy soil and productive agricultural lands.[10][11] The drainage region for Melfort is the Lower Saskatchewan - Nelson and the area is characterized by a prairie ecozone.[12] The Tiger Hills Uplands ecozone provides rich soil to grow a diversity of crops.[7][13] Melfort Research Farm is located south of Melfort in the Boreal Shield ecozone and the Churchill drainage basin. The farm's main purpose is to research crops and crop systems for northern prairie black and grey soil zones.[14][15] The Melfort branch of the Canadian Legion has assembled a photographic display of the geographic memorials designated to honour the war dead.[10][16]

Climate

Melfort experiences a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfb).

Demographics

Historical populations
Year Pop. ±%
1906 351 —    
1910 599 +70.7%
1916 971 +62.1%
1996 5,759 +493.1%
2001 5,559 −3.5%
2006 5,192 −6.6%
2011 5,576 +7.4%
[18][19]

The latest census, taken in 2011, showed a population in the city of Melfort of 5,576. This meant the city had grown by 7.4% since 2006.

Economy

The Agriculture Melfort Research Station is centered here along with many other agriculturally based industries. The Melfort Research Farm near Melfort was established in 1935 by the Federal Minister of Agriculture.[23] It is one of the three field sites of the Saskatoon Research Centre (SRC). SRC is one of nineteen research branches of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.[24]

Melfort is near a large diamond exploration site. The ongoing diamond exploration by a joint venture between Shore Gold Inc. Newmont Mining Corporation of Canada in the Fort à la Corne district is expected to begin mine construction in 2012.

Attractions

Within a mile of the city of Melfort is the Melfort and District Regional Park which hosts an 18-hole grass greens golf course, and the Spruce Haven picnic area.[25] A show ring, grandstand, museum, and exhibition building are all located within the Melfort Exhibition Grounds.[26] The Melfort & District Museum next door showcases pioneering equipment, tools, farm machinery, archival documents as well as early settler's buildings[27][28] Neighbouring points of interest are Fort Carleton, Duck Lake, and Seager Wheeler's Maple Grove Farm.[29]

Sports and recreation

Melfort was home to the 2006 Saskatchewan Winter Games, the 1988 Saskatchewan Summer Games, the 1996 Royal Bank Cup Canadian Junior 'A' Hockey Championships, the 1995 Saskatchewan Men's Curling Pool Tankard finals and the 2002 Saskatchewan women's Scott Tournament of Hearts finals.[30] The Kerry Vickar Centre, a multi purpose sports and leisure facility, opened in the autumn of 2009[31] The previous multi-use facility at that location, the North East Leisure Centre, was taken down to make way for the new Kerry Vickar Centre.[32]

Ice Hockey

Hockey is a key part of Saskatchewan's lifestyle and Melfort is no different. The Melfort Mustangs play in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League. The Mustangs are well known in Canadian hockey circles in many ways—for instance Marc Habscheid, past coach of Canada's World Junior team, started his coaching career with the Mustangs in 1996.[33] Other notable Mustang alumni include Willie Mitchell of the Los Angeles Kings and Ruslan Fedetenko formerly of the Philadelphia Flyers.[33]

Government

Municipal affairs are handled by the city's mayor, Rick Lang and council. City council currently consists of Lang and six councillors.[34] The rural municipality of Flett's Springs No. 429 office is located on McDonald Avenue West in Melfort and provides municipal rural affairs to the small unincorporated areas of Claggett, Ethelton, Ethelton Airport, Flett Springs, Lipsett, McMichael, Melfort Airport, Minto Park, Pathlow, and Taylorside.[35]

Melfort is in the federal electoral district of Prince Albert with their Member of Parliament being Randy Hoback.[36]

Provincially, the area is within the constituency of Melfort with its MLA being Kevin Phillips. He was preceded by Rod Gantefoer.[37]

Transportation

Melfort is located at the junction of two primary route highways, SK Hwy 3 and Sk Hwy 6 where they meet with secondary Sk Hwy 41. 203.1 miles (326.9 km) of Saskatchewan Highway 6 contribute to the CanAm Highway between Corinne and Melfort.[38] 59.7 miles (96.1 km) of Saskatchewan Highway 3 contribute to the CanAm Highway between Melfort and Prince Albert.[38] Melfort is 107.92 miles (173.68 km) north east of the largest provincial city, Saskatoon along Sk Hwy 41 (turning onto SK Hwy 5) and 58.12 miles (93.54 km) south east of Prince Albert via the CanAm Highway.[39][40]

Melfort (Miller Field) Aerodrome (TC LID: CJZ3), is located 2.6 NM (4.8 km; 3.0 mi) west of Melfort.[41]

In 1925, Melfort was listed as a Canadian Pacific Railway station on the Canadian Pacific Railway Melfort Subdivision. Melfort is currently a Canadian National Railways interchange point and railway station on the Tisdale, St. Brieux and Brooksby Subdivisions.[42]

Education

The government's Canada-Saskatchewan Career and Employment Services office will be combined with Melfort's Comprehensive High School and the Cumberland Regional College. Melfort and Unit Comprehensive Collegiate providing education to grades 7 to 12 is a part of Melfort School Division No. 100.[43][44][45]

Historically students in Melfort were educated at the Museum School District Unit 54.[46]

Media

  • Newspapers

The Melfort Journal, is the local newspaper, as well as providing news feeds to the community.[47]

Notable people

Further reading

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References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Barry, Bill (1998) People Places: The Dictionary of Saskatchewan Place Names, p. 236, Regina, Sask: People Places Publishing Ltd., ISBN 1-894022-19-X
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Environment Canada—Canadian Climate Normals 1971–2000, accessed 9 July 2009
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
  33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  35. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  36. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  37. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  38. ↑ 38.0 38.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  39. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  40. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  41. ↑ Canada Flight Supplement. Effective 0901Z 24 July 2014 to 0901Z 18 September 2014
  42. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  43. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  44. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  45. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  46. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  47. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  48. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  49. ↑ Grant MacEwan: No Ordinary Man, by Rusty MacDonald. Saskatoon: Western Producer Prairie Books, 1978.
  50. ↑ Foran, Max, ed. Grant MacEwan's Journals (Lone Pine Publishing, 1986). ISBN 0-919433-07-3
  51. ↑ Shedden, Lee, ed. A Century of Grant MacEwan: Selected Writings (Brindle & Glass Publishing, 2002). ISBN 1-894739-00-0
  52. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
  53. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  54. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  55. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
  56. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
  57. ↑ Melfort, Saskatchewan's career statistics at The Internet Hockey Database date accessed 2009-08-13
  58. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
  59. ↑ Melfort, Saskatchewan's career statistics at The Internet Hockey Database date accessed 2009-08-13
  60. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  61. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

Area statistics

  • Lat 52°51′23″ N
  • Long 104°36′36″ W
  • Dominion Land Survey Section 7, Township 45, Range 18 west of the 2nd Meridian
  • Time zone UTC−6
 Choiceland
Prince Albert Tisdale
  Melfort  
Watson

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