Шоуневин: История города в Саскачеване

Town in Saskatchewan, Canada

Shaunavon ('/ʃ//ɔː//n//ə//v//ɪ//n/, SHAWnəvin) is a town in southwest Saskatchewan. At the junction of Highways 37 and 13, it is 110 kilometres from Swift Current, 163 kilometres from the Alberta border, and 74 kilometres from the Montana border. Shaunavon was established in 1913 along the Canadian Pacific Railway line. The town has several nicknames including Bone Creek Basin, Boomtown, and Oasis of the Prairies. The latter name is derived from the park located in the centre of town. The Shaunavon Formation, a stratigraphical unit of the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin is named for the town.

Shaunavon's earliest development as a civic centre began in 1912 when the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) bought the land as "a divisional point on its Weyburn Lethbridge line" going west to east. At the time there were 9 surrounding townships to the site. The CPR would build tracks through the current site of the town mainly for its bountiful water supplies. As such, prior to the railroad being laid temporary shacks "sprung up around the Hipfner farm just north of the town site" of Shaunavon. as people speculated as to where the railroad would go. The exact spot of where the railroad would go was unknown so many pre incorporation buildings were built on skids along Government Road.

On the morning of September 17, 1913, 51 kilometres north in Gull Lake, the sale of lots in the new CPR town site began. The Shaunavon Standard, established 1913, published its first issue the next day. It reported that "approximately 125 people" were in attendance, and that many had been waiting for "13 days and 13 nights" for the sale to begin. In the same issue the Standard reported that "within eight hours 370 business and residential lots had been purchased". per residential position number, with some buyers buying multiple plots. Members of the 209 reported to the Swift Current barracks on September 15, 1916. Many had been on leave helping their respective families on their farms.

By 1916 Shaunavon had grown to 897 people, keeping with its reputation as a boom town considering. Years after the war in 1922 Shaunavon appealed to the Employment Bureau to make Shaunavon a port of entry for American workers to help with harvest that year. From its inception agriculture was a major component in the Shaunavon economy but 1922 saw a shortage in helping hands.

Later that year lignite, a form of coal, was found south of Shaunavon and was soon after mined and heavily developed. Lignite had always been present in the region and in some cases it was close enough to the surface that farmers could pick it up by hand and, for some time, had been using the lignite to heat their homes. to June 27, 1928 considerable funding went into the town. In subsequent years several buildings were erected. 1928 saw the completion of the King's Hotel. the Tide Water Associated Oil Company was interested in the region of south west Saskatchewan for the development of oil. The discovery of oil in the region was in 1952 and the initial production came from Delta field, Dollard and Eastend. With this discovery of oil, Shaunavon experienced a population boom and an increase in housing.

In 1981, Shaunavon began developing 65 acres of serviced land for the Shaunavon Industrial Park. The park is located on the west side of Highway No. 37. This highway connects Shaunavon to the United States and the Trans Canada north at Gull Lake. The extremities included electrical, natural gas and water services. The first park development was Foothills Pipelines (Sask.) Ltd. In 1983, land sold for $8,500 $9,500 an acre, marketed by SEDCO (Saskatchewan Economic Development Corporation). however, a $665 million purchase in 2009, made Crescent Point the predominant company. Crescent Point Energy is an oil and gas company based out of Calgary, Alberta. In 2009, Crescent Point Energy became the main oil company to invest in Shaunavon, owning approximately 90% of the oil play.

Before the discovery of oil in 1952, Shaunavon relied on coal. Coal was dug outside Shaunavon in the hills and used to heat homes. Coal was used as barter during the Great Depression. and ts in one of the three coal fields in Saskatchewan that contain almost five billion tonnes of Lignite resources. This means it is able to supply the province with thermal electric power for 300 years with the current rate of consumption.

In 1939, 83 men of the 14th Canadian Light Horse left for Dundurn In October 1940 Shaunavon local, Dennis King with the C. A. S. F. England captured a German pilot after his plane was shot down.

In 1913, settlers came to the area that would later be known as Shaunavon. Under a deal by the government at the time, land could be purchased throughout the province for as little as $10 a quarter section after building a homestead on the quarter. Within eight hours, 370 lots totalling $210,000 were purchased! The town gained the title "the water capital of Canada." After the 1983 removal of the Crow Rate, a railway subsidy that benefitted farmers, farmers were forced to pay to ship their grain through larger mainline terminals. Adding to this, by favouring establishing grain terminals on their mainlines, the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Canadian National Railway deprived their thousands of miles of track across the Canadian prairies. Railway companies were forced to abandon some lines in Saskatchewan. These two developments decreased the number of cars moving via railway and forced the Canadian Pacific Railway to abandon the Southwest Saskatchewan Railway portion of Great Western Railway. to sell 550 km (330 miles) of track in south west Saskatchewan. Then in May, Westcan Rail began negotiations with CP Rail to purchase the four branch lines. The Great Western Railway is a fully owned Saskatchewan subsidiary of Westcan and its headquarters are located in Shaunavon, Saskatchewan. Finally on September 13, 2000, Westcan Rail received provincial government approval to purchase the lines. In the fall of 2004, a group of local farmers and municipal governments formed a company and purchased the branch lines to keep the GWR running. and the remaining $1.7 million was supplied by a provincial loan. Today it is still locally owned and operated. The GWR moves 6,400 cars annually. The initial goal in 2000, was 4,000 cars per year, which is the same as 30,000 fully loaded axle trucks off the roads. Grain, fertilizer, corn, crude oil and recycled rubber are the main resources transported, as well as running a prosperous storage car business. However, Shaughnessy was of Irish descent, but was born to dirt poor parents in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Thus, the existence of any kind of an old country estate is highly unlikely, and no such place shows up in Irish place name references. Since CP's files are silent on the subject, the derivation of the town name Shaunavon is likely to remain a mystery.

Since Shaunavon was founded in 1913, the town and surrounding area have been represented by several different political parties and leaders. The town became a part of the new Maple Creek electoral district, established in 1914. In the 1917 federal election, Unionist party member and Saskatchewan Grain Growers' Association organizer John Archibald Maharg ran unopposed, becoming the first Member of Parliament for the area. The next election in 1921 saw Progressive candidate and Gull Lake resident Neil Haman McTaggart win the district, and Liberal George Spence won in 1925. Spence would resign the next year, replaced with fellow Liberal William George Bock. Swanston's time in federal office ended in 1935, when Liberal candidate Charles Evans won the election. Swanston finished third in a race that was closely fought between four candidates. From 1935 until the ridings' redistribution in 1952, the Maple Creek riding was in the hands of left wing parties. The Liberals held the seat the entire time, except from 1945 to 1949, when Co operative Commonwealth Federation candidate Duncan John McCuaig won. Swift Current–Maple Creek constituency combined with the Assiniboia constituency in 1987. Not long after, in 1993, Lee Morrison, a Reform candidate, broke the Progressive Conservatives' hold on the riding. Morrison was elected again in 1997, when Shaunavon was represented by the newly formed Cypress Hills Grasslands riding. The Canadian Alliance party and candidate David Anderson won handily in the 2000 federal election. Anderson, who became a part of the Conservatives in 2004, represented Shaunavon federally until 2019, when he stepped down. The current MP is his nephew, Jeremy Patzer. Since Dr. Swanston's loss in 1935, the Member of Parliament representing Shaunavon has never been a native of the town: Figures like Morrison and Anderson, while representing the town federally, have come from other towns nearby (Morrison and Anderson come from Vidora and Frontier, respectively.)

Provincially, Shaunavon was part of the Gull Lake constituency from the town's beginning in 1913 to 1917. They were led by Liberal party member Daniel Cameron Lochead. In 1917, Shaunavon became part of Saskatchewan's Cypress constituency, and elected Liberal leaders in three straight elections. Henry Halvorson won two of those elections, including the 1921 provincial election, in which he ran unopposed. Shaunavon had its own electoral district between 1934 and 1938, and elected Farmer Labour candidate Clarence Stork. The Shaunavon district was abolished in 1938, and Shaunavon was made a part of the nearby Gull Lake constituency. The first leader of the new Gull Lake district was Liberal Harvey Harold McMahon, and he was replaced by CCF candidate Al Murray after the 1944 provincial election. The CCF would control the district until it was rezoned and renamed in 1952. Wayne Elhard won the Cypress Hills Constituency for the Saskatchewan Party in 1999, and served until his retirement in 2016. The constituency is currently represented by Saskatchewan Party MLA Doug Steele.

Shaunavon is largely an agricultural community. Before settlement in 1913, Shaunavon was entirely open land. After settlement, the community largely subsisted on agriculture and ranching, including growing wheat that won top wards at international agriculture shows. The 1920s and 30s met with unprecedented economic boom. In 1921, Rancher Harry Otterson constructed the community's first dipping vat. At the time, his land included 20,000 acres and 350 head of cattle. In 1927, Otterson shipped a stock of cattle to Chicago for $16.65 per 100 lbs, which was the highest price for cattle post war up until that point. Other animals bred in Shaunavon at the time included horses, pigs, and turkeys. Like much of the rest of the Saskatchewan, the 1940s experienced difficult farming conditions. In June 1940, Shaunavon experienced an increasing number of grasshopper infestations that negatively affected crops. The 1940s also experienced several natural disasters. The winter of 1940 had record breaking snowfall. The snowfall disrupted several services, including road clearing and mail. During the winter, Rancher Dan Gunn spent several days travelling 10 miles to his neighbour's farm in an unsuccessful trip to get some horse feed. In 1942, Shaunavon experienced two large prairie fires that destroyed thousands of acres of crops. The fires were believed to have been caused by sparks from machinery, with one spark originating in the Waldville district. The damage spread far enough to cause concern for citizens in Montana on the other side of the border. The 1940s also saw an incredible decline in crop yields, likely resulting from the conditions described above. In 1949, crop yields were at an all time low. Spring wheat, barley, and fall rye produced a mere one bushel per acre. Oats proved completely impossible to grow, being recorded as producing zero bushels per acre. This time also saw a sharp turn upwards for agriculture. In 1948, residents of Shaunavon first began experimenting with fertilizer. The first farmer to use fertilizer was Anton Dynneson. By 1950, the benefits for fertilizer had become evident, with Dynneson reporting better yields than years without fertilizer. This year also marked a great emphasis on exporting crops, with Shaunavon containing a total of eight grain elevators.

The tail end of the 20th century marked a continual increase in crops. In 1970 durum wheat was first introduced. Canola was also introduced in this year, but was not replanted until the 1990s. This trend continued. In 1993, several new crops were introduced, including mustard, sunflowers, and peas.

Shaunavon resides in the rural municipality of Grassy Creek (No. 78). In 1913, the first reeve was L. T. Bergh. In 1956, they introduced two year terms and in 2012, four year terms. Michael Sutter currently sits as reeve.