Val Marie, Saskatchewan 作者： 来源： 发布时间：2021-12-06
I.Population and Area
-Area
Land: 0.42 km2 (0.16 sq mi)
-Population (2016)
Total: 98 (-28.5% from 2006)
-Website: https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2011/dp-pd/prof/index.cfm?Lang=E
II.Natural Geography (environment and resources)
-Val Marie is a prairie village located in the southwestern region of Saskatchewan, Canada. It is about 30 kilometres from the Canada-United States border.
-Considered the gateway to the Grasslands National Park, Val Marie's economy is largely based on wheat farming, ranching, and tourism. Minor amounts of natural gas have been found nearby. Employment includes agriculture, federal government (Grasslands National Park and Canadian Border Services), tourism (hotel and accommodation, restaurant, retail, etc) and a significant natural gas compressor relay station at the Montana border.
-Located within Palliser's Triangle, Val Marie has a semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification BSk). Val Marie has a weather station with daily records since 1937. It can be a harsh climate, cold and windswept in the winter and often very dry for prolonged periods, broken sometimes by extremely intense rainfalls during the summer. Val Marie is sometimes the national hotspot in Canada on a given summer day. Val Marie gets more days of sunlight per year than anywhere else in Canada. On average, Val Marie receives 30 cm or 1 foot of precipitation per year and about two thirds of that is snow.
-The coldest temperature ever recorded in Val Marie is −49.4 °C (−57 F) on January 20, 1954. The hottest is 41.1 °C (106.0 F) on July 4, 1937, which came close to being broken on July 23, 2007, when the temperature rose to 40.6 °C (105.1 F), and again on August 11, 2018, when the temperature rose to 40.9 °C (105.6 F). The preceding day, August 10, saw a maximum of 40.0°C (104°F).
-The record one-day rainfall is 86.4 mm (3.5 inches) on July 3, 2000. The record one-day snowfall is 45.7 cm (18 inches) on April 2, 1940.
-Getting there
-TRAVEL DISTANCES
Swift Current, SK — 120 km
Medicine Hat, AB — 312 km
Saskatoon, SK — 390 km
Regina, SK — 360 km
U.S. Border, Port of Monchy — 31 km
-HIGHWAY INFORMATION
For highway conditions throughout the year, contact the Highway Hotline at 1-888-335-7623 toll free within Saskatchewan, or 306-933-8333 if calling from outside Saskatchewan.
-AIR SERVICE
Commercial and international flights are available through Regina, and Saskatoon. For local charter information, call the Swift Current Airport at 306-778-4803.
-TRAIN SERVICE
For passenger train service, the nearest Via Rail stop is in Saskatoon. Call 1-888-VIA-RAIL.
-CUSTOMS & POINTS OF ENTRY
-Canada Border Services Agency manages all Points of Entry into Canada. Hours of operation vary with the season, so it’s important to call ahead. The closest border crossing to Val Marie is the Port of Monchy, 31 km south. Port of Monchy: 306-298-2232
For general customs information, contact Canada Border Services Agency: Toll free within Canada: 1-800-461-9999 From outside Canada: (506) 636-5064.
-Website: https://valmarie.ca/visiting/getting-here/
III.ECONOMY
-Website: https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=CSD&Code1=4704002&Geo2=PR&Code2=10&Data=Count&SearchText=Val%20Marie&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=All&TABID=1&wbdisable=true
IV.Industrial Characteristics
-Farming, ranching, and tourism.
For Tourism
-In 2018, Grasslands National Park had almost 20,000 visitors through the park, in cooperation with the Canada 150 Marketing campaign. The number of tourists that come to Val Marie for annual events or to use the Port of Monchy Border Crossing is unknown.
-The Village of Val Marie has partnered with the Cypress Hills Destination Area to promote Val Marie as a tourist destination.
-Val Marie has a few services: a gas station, a hotel/bar, a museum (which also includes a gift shop, coffee shop and art gallery, a café, a campground, art galleries, bed and breakfasts, an old convent that has been converted to an inn, a movie theatre, yoga studio, a hockey arena and curling rink, a library, a community centre, a town square and a community owned grocery store. Some services are only available seasonally. Val Marie is also home to a school (kindergarten to grade 12) and the Val Marie Early Learning Centre which offers pre-school programming. A basic life support ambulance services the region.
-The nearest full-service centre is the city of Swift Current, located 120 km north on Highway 4.
V.Attractions
1.Grasslands National Park
-Grasslands National Park is a Canadian national park located near the village of Val Marie, Saskatchewan, and one of 44 national parks and park reserves in Canada's national park system (though one of only two in Saskatchewan itself). This national park is north from the American state of Montana and lies adjacent to the international boundary.
-The park was established in 1981. Prior to this the province's only national park was Prince Albert National Park.
-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 World Wildlife Fund-defined Northern short grasslands ecoregion, which spans 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 adapted plants and animals. The park and surrounding area house the country's only black-tailed prairie dog colonies. Fauna found in the park include bison, pronghorns, greater sage-grouses, burrowing owls, coyotes, ferruginous hawks, swift foxes, elk, wolverines, prairie rattlesnakes, black-footed ferrets and greater short-horned lizards. Flora includes blue grama grass, needlegrass, plains cottonwood and silver sagebrush.
-Erosion by glacial meltwater formed many of the park's characteristic features. Highlights of the park's geological landscape include the Frenchman River Valley, the Seventy Mile Butte, and the badlands of Rock Creek.
-In 1874, Sir George Mercer Dawson discovered western Canada's first dinosaur remains in the Killdeer Badlands during the International Boundary Survey. Later, in 1877, Sitting Bull took refuge in the area with around 5000 Sioux after the defeat of General Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn.
-Address:
Grasslands National Park of Canada South Saskatchewan Field Unit P.O. Box 150 Val Marie, Saskatchewan Canada S0N 2T0
-Phone: West Block Visitor Centre 1-877-345-2257 East Block Visitor Centre– 1-306-476-2018
-Fax: 306-298-2042
-Teletypewriter (TTY): 1-866-787-6221
-Email: pc.infopnprairies-grasslandsnpinfo.pc@canada.ca
2.PALAIS ROYALE MOVIE THEATRE
-A great way to experience the charm of “small-town Saskatchewan,” this volunteer, community-run theatre has movies most Saturday nights, on a new HD projection and sound system. Group rates and private showings available. Located on the corner of Centre Street and 1st Avenue.
-Open Saturday nights at 8:00 pm Cost $5.00 (student), $6.00 (adult)
-Tel 306-298-2124
-Website: https://valmarie.ca/attractions/palais-royale-movie-theatre/
3.Val Marie Elevator
-The old Val Marie Elevator is a Municipal Heritage Property occupying a .6-ha lot on a former Canadian Pacific Railway siding at the south end of Centre Street in the Village of Val Marie. The property features a wood-crib grain elevator built ca. 1924, a frame-type annex built in the early 1950s, and a detached one-storey office.
-The heritage value of the old Val Marie Elevator lies in its association with Saskatchewan’s evolving grain industry, and in its status as one of the last remaining grain elevators of its age in the Val Marie area. From the 1920s onward, the province’s privately-owned “line elevator companies” underwent a series of amalgamations in response to growing competition from the farmer-owned Saskatchewan Wheat Pool. Built around 1924, the old Val Marie elevator was owned by a succession of private grain companies, eventually becoming part of the Federal Grain Ltd. system. In 1972, Federal, then Canada’s largest private grain company, was purchased by the prairie Wheat Pools. Saskatchewan Wheat Pool operated the Val Marie elevator until 2000, when, like many small prairie communities, the village lost its rail line.
-There were once over 3,000 “country elevators” in Saskatchewan. With the evolution of transportation networks and changes in the grain handling system, however, the traditional wood elevators are rapidly being replaced by large, centralized terminals. It is estimated that fewer than 500 of the iconic wood elevators still exist province-wide, and their numbers continue to dwindle. The old Val Marie Elevator, still located on its original site, is a valued landmark that anchors the village's principal streetscape and commemorates the community’s agricultural heritage.
-There is further heritage value in the property’s architectural and mechanical integrity. The elevator is a largely intact example of the sloped-shoulder, standard-plan elevators that were promoted by the Canadian Pacific Railway during the first half of the twentieth century. The elevator’s cribbed construction, in which dimensional lumber was stacked and nailed on its wide side, created a strong and relatively fire-resistant structure for the storage of large amounts of grain. The elevator’s weighing, elevating and cleaning equipment enabled the efficient receiving, sorting, storage and shipping of grain. The positioning of the elevator, annex and office on their original sites on the former railroad right-of-way illustrates the typical spatial configuration of a prairie elevator complex.
-LOCATION OF SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION:
Department of Culture Youth and Recreation Heritage Resources Branch 1919 Saskatchewan Drive Regina, SK File: MHP 2252
-Website: https://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=4150&pid=0
VI.History
-Fr. Louis-Pierre Gravel, missionary and promoter of much French Catholic immigration to southwestern Saskatchewan, originally called this settlement Rivière des Français after the nearby Frenchman River. For an unknown reason, he proposed a different name in a 1911 report to the superintendent of immigration: Libreval ("Free Valley"). Ultimately, neither of Gravel's suggestions was used, and Val Marie ("Valley of Mary"), was coined by Fr. Claude Passaplan, missionary priest in the area. Before coming to Val Marie, Passaplan served as the first Roman Catholic parish priest in Swift Current.
-AS EXCERPTED FROM “WAGON TRAILS ALONG THE WHITEMUD”
Once wild prairie, Val Marie was used by many First Nation tribes who were dependent on the bison. In 1803, this land was part of the Louisiana Purchase and was considered to be in the United States. John Palliser explored this land in 1857 and claimed that it was a barren desert wasteland. Most land surrounding Val Marie remained undisturbed.
In the 1880s the British North American Boundary Commission marked the boundary between the United States and Canada and Val Marie was placed in Canada. This was the time of the open range and this landscape was used by the famous 76 ranch.
The first settlers in Val Marie came from Europe, eastern Canada and the western United States.
The vast expanse of treeless land surrounding the Frenchman River was named Val Marie by Father Passaplan, this was to put the settlement under the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The ranchers and homesteaders who stayed combined ranching and farming with hospitality and friendliness to create our regional prairie communities.
-EARLY RANCHERS
Before the homestead days Val Marie district was strictly a ranching area. Several companies owned ranches and had thousands of head of cattle in the hills and valleys of this region. The Turkey Track, a company from Texas drove in cattle over the Chisholm Trail in 1900. Those were the days of the Texas Long Horns. Their headquarters were in Vanguard. Their ranch extended from the camp to Wood Mountain. They ran from 20,000 – 30,000 head of cattle on the open range.
-THE SETTLERS CAME
The first pioneers who came here had to follow winding prairie trails across the hills for miles upon miles; for in 1910 the nearest railway was Swift Current. Many of the settlers who came, with horses or oxen hitched to a wagon bearing all their possessions, had to camp overnight on the open prairie. Stopping places were very few, if any. The endurance of these pioneers knew no bounds, as for example those who walked all the way from Swift Current looking for a suitable homestead.
The pioneers of Val Marie area came from Europe, eastern Canada and the United States. They came because there were opportunities. Homesteads were given and the adjoining quarter section could be bought for $400 with ten years to pay. Although get rich quick might have been the bait to come to Saskatchewan, it was not realized. Most of the pioneers did get rich, rich in experience.
They spent many happy hours in spite of hardships where each day was packed with thrilling adventures that are never forgotten, but are relived now and again as a pioneer tale.
-CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY
George Spence, an ambitious homesteader who settled south of Val Marie, a few miles from the international border, deserves a lot of credit for his contribution in the development of this area. Besides serving two terms as an MLA, he held membership in the International Joint Commission and other high posts of responsibility. He saw that the quickest way for Val Marie to have a train service would be for the C.P.R. to build its line from the west. He organized meetings, talked to the farmers, urged them to unite in asking for immediate train service. He persuaded government leaders and CPR officials of this necessity.
In 1924, the construction of the railway from Climax to Val Marie began and soon the area of Val Marie was linked with the rest of the country.
-A VILLAGE IS BORN
Val Marie sprang up as the steel ribbons were laid. The land on which the village grew was a school section. The very first house was a pool hall built by Mr. Oscar St. Cyr. The livery barn, which was the main center of activity for a time, was owned and operated by Mr. Anton Erne, who was also the first Mayor. This barn was later bought by Mr. Luke Jacob and converted into a garage. There was also a blacksmith shop owned by Ed Bannock. Two general stores, Mr. Dunand’s was built first, then Mr. McClelland’s. One hardware store was owned and operated by Mr. Gordon Mclean.
The Red and White Store was built and opened in 1925 with Mr. P.A. Sharpe as proprietor. The Post Office also moved into Val Marie in 1925. That same year saw many more buildings, there was even a Bakery, and the baker J.B. Bleau turned out tasty bread. The barber was Ed Lacourse, who also operated the first telephone office. Mr. W. Legault was the butcher. There was also a drug store opened by J.J. Paquette. The carpenters were Mr. P. Lavertu and Mr. Jos. Laflemme. Since all these business establishments were built in a year’s time, it is easy to see that the pioneers were here to stay and wanted to have a community.
Mr. Ovide Nadeau had a three-story hotel built in 1926. The first elevator built was the Alberta Pacific in 1927; it was managed by Mr. A. Lemire. The Canadian National opened a branch in 1928 with Mr. R. Langlais as manager, but it was soon closed. The Val Marie Credit Union was opened on December 8, 1950.
Val Marie was incorporated as a Village in 1926. The first council members were Mr. Anton Erne, Mr. G.H. Laidlaw, Mr. Gordon McLean, and Mr. J.J. Paquette-Secretary-Treasurer. The first meeting of council was held on October 4, 1926.
-THE SCHOOLS
Val Marie School No. 4636 was formally established on Sept 29, 1925. On October 20, 1925 the school was opened and held temporarily in the pool hall (which later became Roland Syrennes hardware store which burned down in 1945 along with the hotel). The convent, a modern brick building was built in 1939. The Sisters of the Assumption were in charge. Two and later three classrooms were opened in this convent.
As the years rolled by the school population kept rising steadily. The closing of the rural schools brought a great influx of students. Besides moving in a two-roomed frame school in 1945, a classroom was opened in the basement of the brick school in 1953.
A new school was started in 1958. It was constructed in three different sections, by three different companies (not that this was intended to be). In 1965, there was more construction. As the building went on through the winter the new part was ready by the new fall term of 1966.
A comprehensive history book of the Village of Val Marie was printed in 2008. Copies are available for viewing at the Chinook Regional Library. For further history of Val Marie and the surrounding area, “Wagon Trails Along the Whitemud” and “Val Echo” are additional history resources.
VII.Other information
-Events
-On August 14, 2004, Grasslands – Where Heaven Meets Earth, a site-specific art performance, was held in the community and park. The event was a collaboration of Canadian artists including Bill Coleman, Edward Poitras, Gordon Monahan, and Margie Gillis.
-Val Marie holds many annual events such as the Val Marie Bob Larson Memorial Rodeo, Lion's Senior's Supper, Lion's Sports Day, a Canada Day parade among others. Between the Val Marie Hotel, Prairie Wind & Silver Sage (the museum), theatre/hall and arena, there are many events taking place weekly. Check the Val Marie website or facebook pages for updates.
VIII.Contact information
-Government
Mayor: Roland Facette
-Contact Information
-R.M. OF VAL MARIE NO. 17
-Tel: 306-298-2009 Fax: 306-298-2224 Email: rm17@sasktel.net
-Office Hours:
-Monday to Friday, 9 am to 4:30 pm. Closed for lunch from noon to 1 pm. Closed for statutory holidays.
-Mailing address:
-PO Box 59 Val Marie, SK Canada S0N 2T0
-Street Address:
-112 Railway Avenue East Val Marie, SK Canada S0N 2T0
-VILLAGE OF VAL MARIE
-Tel: 306-298-2022 Fax: 306-298-2224 Email: vovm@sasktel.net
-Office Hours:
-Monday to Friday, 9 am to 4:30 pm. Closed for lunch from noon to 1 pm. Closed for statutory holidays.
-Mailing address:
-PO Box 178 Val Marie, SK Canada S0N 2T0
-Street Address:
-112 Railway Avenue East Val Marie, SK Canada S0N 2T0
-Website: https://valmarie.ca/contact/