The following is a list of communities that no longer exist or former
Village
A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...
s/
Town
A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city.
The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...
s that have become
unincorporated hamlets
A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. This is often simply an informal description of a smaller settlement or possibly a subdivision or satellite entity to a larger settlement. Sometimes a hamlet is defined f ...
in the
province
A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
of
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
.
Ghost town
A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...
s are
town
A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city.
The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...
s 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
A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It includes not just major roads, but also other public roads and rights of way. In the United States, it is also used as an equivalent term to controlled-access highway, or ...
, train tracks being pulled, or exhaustion of a
natural resource
Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest, and cultural value. ...
. One of the more famous stories of Saskatchewan ghost towns arose around
Uranium City
Uranium City is a northern settlement in Saskatchewan, Canada. The community is at the mouth of Fredette River on Martin Lake. It is north of Lake Athabasca and Beaverlodge Lake and is about northwest of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, northeast ...
which was close to achieving city status and utterly collapsed upon the closure of the
Eldorado mine and the mass exodus of its population.
Initially travel began by horse and wagon or
ox and cart along trails which generally followed animal trails across the
North-West Territories
The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately and a 2021 census population of 41,070, it is the second-largest and the most populous of the three territories in Northern Canada. Its estimated pop ...
. Railways would not build across the
western frontier
The American frontier, also known as the Old West, and popularly known as the Wild West, encompasses the Geography of the United States, geography, History of the United States, history, Folklore of the United States, folklore, and Cultur ...
without settlement as it would be too costly to provide train service across a barren wilderness. The Clifford Sifton immigration policy encouraged settlers to arrive. Western settlement began and immigration encroached across the Manitoba border into the North-West Territories later to become the
Province
A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
of Saskatchewan in 1905. Rail stations, post offices, schools, and towns sprang up approximately to apart to accommodate ox and cart as well as horse and wagon travel.
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, 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
Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants (Flowering plant, angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls in ...
, the birthplace of
Gordie Howe
Gordon Howe (March 31, 1928 – June 10, 2016) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. From 1946 to 1980, he played 26 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) and six seasons in the World Hockey Association (WHA); his first 25 seaso ...
. Floral would be currently located off the
Yellowhead highway
The Yellowhead Highway () is a major interprovincial highway in Western Canada that runs from Winnipeg west to Graham Island off the coast of British Columbia via Saskatoon and Edmonton. It stretches across the four western provinces of Britis ...
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 gathering
A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a Hospitality, host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will oft ...
s. 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
A rural municipality is a classification of municipality, a type of local government, found in several countries.
These include:
* Rural municipality (Canada), Rural municipalities in Canada, a Lists of municipalities in Canada, type of municipa ...
, often abbreviated RM, is a form of
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality' ...
consisting of an elected
reeve for the elected head along with
aldermen
An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking membe ...
or
Councillor
A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or re ...
s of a
rural municipality
A rural municipality is a classification of municipality, a type of local government, found in several countries.
These include:
* Rural municipality (Canada), Rural municipalities in Canada, a Lists of municipalities in Canada, type of municipa ...
, performing a similar role to the
mayor
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...
of a village, town or city. 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
An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
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
Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. It is headquartered in ...
as a population belonging to the RM. For instance
Churchbridge No. 211 includes the
localities
Locality may refer to:
* Locality, a historical named location or place in Canada
* Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England
* Locality (linguistics)
* Locality (settlement)
* Suburbs and localitie ...
of Beresina and the Melville Airport.
List of ghost towns
See also
*
Lists of ghost towns in Canada
This is a list of lists of ghost towns in Canada. A ghost town is a town that once had a considerable population, that has since dwindled in numbers causing some or all its business to close, either due to the rerouting of a highway, train tracks ...
*
List of communities in Saskatchewan
Communities in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada, include Incorporation (municipal government), incorporated municipalities, Unincorporated area#Canada, unincorporated communities and First Nations in Canada, First Nations communities.
Types ...
References
External links
Canadian Ghost TownsSaskatchewan ghost towns - our roots nos racines
{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Ghost Towns In Saskatchewan
*
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...
Ghost towns
A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...