Turtleford is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than city, cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares ...

in the

rural municipality A rural municipality is a classification of municipality, a type of local government, found in several countries. These include: * Rural municipalities in Canada, a type of municipal status in the Canadian provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, a ...

of Mervin No. 499, in the

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North ...

. Turtleford is located on Highway 26 near the intersection / concurrency with

Highway 3 The following highways are numbered 3, H-3, PRI-3, AH3, E03 and R3. For roads numbered A3, see A3 roads. For roads numbered M3, see M3. For roads numbered N3, see N3. For roads numbered 3A, see 3A. International * Asian Highway 3 * Europ ...

and Highway 303. The nearest large communities are

North Battleford North Battleford is a city in west-central Saskatchewan, Canada. It is the seventh largest city in the province and is directly across the North Saskatchewan River from the Town of Battleford. Together, the two communities are known as "The B ...

and

Lloydminster Lloydminster is a city in Canada which has the unusual geographic distinction of straddling the provincial border between Alberta and Saskatchewan. The city is incorporated by both provinces as a single city with a single municipal administrat ...

. The Turtle River runs through Turtleford, and nearby are Bright Sand Lake and Turtle Lake. Turtleford boasts the nation's largest turtle statue (more than eight feet tall), named Ernie. "Ernie the Turtle" is located on Hwy 26 near the south edge of town. A small vulnerable songbird called

Sprague's pipit Sprague's pipit (''Anthus spragueii'') is a small songbird (passerine) in the family Motacillidae that breeds in the short- and mixed-grass prairies of North America. Migratory, it spends the winters in the southwestern United States and norther ...

has a breeding range in the northern Great Plains of North America, and amongst their breeding spots is Turtleford, Saskatchewan.

History

First settled in 1907 and 1908 the town was named for its proximity to the early river crossing (or ford) on the Turtle River. A post office opened in 1913 and by 1914 the ongoing extension of a

Canadian Northern Railway The Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) was a historic Canadian transcontinental railway. At its 1923 merger into the Canadian National Railway , the CNoR owned a main line between Quebec City and Vancouver via Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Edmonton. M ...

(CNoR) branch from North Battleford had reached Turtleford. By 1915 dozens of businesses had opened and Turtleford became a major centre for the area population. The North Battleford - Turtleford Branch of the CNoR (later merged into

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I railroad, Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern United States, M ...

), which primarily serviced the

grain elevators A grain elevator is a facility designed to stockpile or store grain. In the grain trade, the term "grain elevator" also describes a tower containing a bucket elevator or a pneumatic conveyor, which scoops up grain from a lower level and deposit ...

used by the farmers northwest of North Battleford, ceased operation by 2005, when the remaining elevators closed. The branch had served Hamlin,

Prince A prince is a Monarch, male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary title, hereditary, in s ...

, Meota (1910 extension), Cavalier, Vawn, Edam, Mervin and Turtleford, and had been extended farther northwest to Cleeves,

Spruce Lake Spruce Lake is a lake located northwest of Piseco, New York. Fish species present in the lake are brook trout, and black bullhead The black bullhead or black bullhead catfish (''Ameiurus melas'') is a species of bullhead catfish. Like other b ...

, St. Walburg (1919 extension), with a fork to Paradise Hill and

Frenchman Butte Frenchman Butte is a butte located northeast of Lloydminster, is named after a Frenchman who was killed there by Indians in the 19th century. It is not known how or why this man was murdered. This was also the site of the Battle of Frenchman ...

. The rail line and

Saskatchewan Highway 26 Highway 26 is a highway in the western portion of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The southernmost point is a junction with Highway 4, north of North Battleford. From there, it runs generally northwest, including a 29 km concurrency with ...

ran beside each other from Prince to St. Walburg.

Demographics

In the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

conducted by Statistics Canada, Turtleford had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Education

Turtleford (Turtleford Community School) belongs to Turtleford School Division #65 a part of Northwest School Division. Turtleford is served by Lakeland Library Region - Turtleford Branch

Media

*Turtleford is served by The Northwest News weekly newspaper.

Notable people

* Eric B. Rosendahl, Member of the

Legislative Assembly of Alberta The Legislative Assembly of Alberta is the deliberative assembly of the province of Alberta, Canada. It sits in the Alberta Legislature Building in Edmonton. The Legislative Assembly currently has 87 members, elected first past the post from sing ...

for West Yellowhead, May 5, 2015 – March 19, 2019 * Alexander Keen, Teacher Fellow at

University of Saskatchewan A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ...

, 2014 Shad

References

External links

* {{coord, display=title, name=Turtleford, Saskatchewan, 53, 23, N, 108, 57, W, region:CA_type:city Towns in Saskatchewan Mervin No. 499, Saskatchewan