SW QUEST for Saskatchewan Art & History

In the heart of the spectacular Cypress Hills are two sites whose dramatic past helped shape our nation.  The lawlessness of the American whiskey trade is highlighted at the site of the 1873 Cypress Hills Massacre.  At old Fort Walsh, follow in the foot steps of the NWMP who brought Canadian law to a troubled west!

On-site bus tours, period furnished buildings, costumed guides, visitor centre, cafeteria and daily children's programming.  Open daily 9:30am - 5:30pm (Victoria Day weekend to Labour Day).  Wed. - Sun. throughout Sept. 1-306-662-3590/2645  www.cypresshills.com

  (Photo by Karol Dabbs)
(From the junction of Hwy 13 & 18 at Robsart, travel 35km south and east on Hwy 18 to Divide Road. Follow the gravel road north for 6 km and east 0.8km to arrive at the visitor centre. Continue traveling 15km east to Claydon or return to Hwy 18 and travel 25km east to Claydon. From Claydon continue north 26km to return to Hwy 13 and on to Eastend.)

The prairie has been preserved and a conservation herd of Plains Bison have been re-introduced at this 13,000 acre working ranch operated by the nature Conservancy of Canada.  A wheelchair accessible visitor centre located at the Butala homestead is open weekends during the summer months. It contains an interpretative display about the culture and natural history of the area.

Please call 306 296-2077 for travel information or call 306 296 4908 for additional information or to arrange a visit during the week.

 Eastend, Saskatchewan is referred to as the Valley of Hidden Secrets.  One of the treasures found here is the restored childhood home of Wallace Stegner.  Stegner's parents homesteaded near the US border in 1914, but found the winters so harsh they built a house in the nearby town of Eastend. Though Wallace Stegner only spent six years of his life in the area, the prairies and people of southwest Saskatchewan had a profound influence on the man who would later become a renowned author, teacher and staunch conservationist.  So much so, in fact, that he wrote about the area over and over again through his long career and his many books.

In the 1980s, a group of local women, spearheaded by prominent Canadian author, Sharon Butala, banded together to raise the money necessary to save the deteriorating house. In 1988, the Eastend Arts Council purchased Stegner's childhood home and began to restore the house as an artists' retreat.  The house, restored to official status as one of Saskatchewan's Historic Properties, opened in 1990 to its first artist in residence. Eighteen years, and more than 80 residents later, the Wallace Stegner House is a well established and well utilized retreat for artists from around the world.

(302 & 306 Redcoat Drive, Eastend – 306 295 3375)

 The Eastend Museum is housed in the 1914 Pastime Theatre. The museum features an array of prehistoric fossils and 100 years of memorabilia from the area. Visit the Tie Rail Ranch House, one of the best log cabins in the west. The blacksmith shop has an operating 1903 Case Steam Engine and a 1927 Federal truck.

New is the LaRose building complete with over 1500 items collected by Dolores and Lyle LaRose. The building was moved in and is now part of the museum's collection.

The Museum is open 7 days a week from May – September.

Admission: $3 ( 12 years and under are free)

The Visitor Centre is also located at the Eastend Museum.

Open daily year round 9am - 5pm, 9am - 9pm in July and August.
Admission.
www.dinocountry.com

“Isaac Cowie, an employee of the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC), was sent to the east end of the Cypress Hills in the fall of 1871. His objective was to establish peaceful trading relations with the Blackfoot so that later a post could be situated in the region of the upper Saskatchewan River.”

The HBC and Metis constructed buildings in 1871 & 1872. The HBC stayed for one year. The post burnt down.

 In 1873, about 60 Metis families erected log homes about 14 feet wide and 40 feet long. These buildings were partitioned about every 10 feet for each family. A stone fireplace was in each of these sections. At this time the place was known as Chapel Coulee.

The name Chimney Coulee came from the stone chimneys that were left standing after the homes of these early settlers disintegrated. The last of these chimneys collapsed in 1915. The name was officially approved in 1966.

 In 1876 the NWMP built a permanent detachment to administer law and order for the local residents. The coming of the railway and the end of the 1885 Rebellion changed police work. The post was moved in 1887 to Whitemud River Valley “just to the south of the present CPR Bridge east of Eastend until 1914.”

The dam was constructed on the road allowance approximately where the present weir is located. In the spring of 1912 the dam was washed out, but by October1, 1915 the diversion dam was completed to the necessary requirements and approved.

After digging with four mules and a Fresno, Jim found out that Battle Creek runs dry when it is most needed. As time went by a number of other local pioneers joined in the project and put more acres under irrigation, providing much needed hay and grain for livestock in this drought prone area.

In 1934 the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration (PFRA) started construction on the present embankments which would contain the water in Cypress Lake to be diverted into Battle Creek and then out of the diversion dam and down the same route of ditches that Mr. McKinnon began in 1903. At the present time many people in the area continue to benefit from this irrigation project, producing tons of hay for their livestock and making their enterprises viable.

A fourth generation of the McKinnon family is still irrigating some of the land first put under irrigation on this project.

(Written by Ron Tittle and submitted by Helen Schmidt who, along with her son Lawrence are still farming and irrigating their McKinnon family land.)

In Consul on Hwy 13

(Privately owned and operated) 

Saskatchewan’s small town grain elevators have slowly been disappearing from the prairies. The elevator in Consul is still its most prominent landmark.

The oldest part of Consul's elevator was built in 1957. Sask Wheat Pol bought it in 1973. The newest part, the annex was built in 1982. In 2001, a local rancher bought the elevator or it would have been torn down.