Eastend

Eastend
Town
Storefronts on main street Eastend
Nickname(s): Dinocountry
Eastend Eastend Location of Eastend in Saskatchewan
Coordinates: 49°30′50″N 108°49′10″W / 49.5139°N 108.8195°WCoordinates: 49°30′50″N 108°49′10″W / 49.5139°N 108.8195°W
Country	Canada
Province	Saskatchewan
Region	Saskatchewan
Census division	4
Rural Municipality	White Valley
Post Office Founded	1914-01-01
Government
• Mayor	Alan Howard
• Administrator	Edna Laturnus
• MLA Cypress Hills	Doug Steele
• MP Cypress Hills—Grasslands	David L. Anderson
Area
• Total	2.71 km^2 (1.05 sq mi)
Population (2011)[1]
• Total	527
• Density	194.7/km^2 (504/sq mi)
Time zone	CST
Postal code	S0N 0T0
Area code(s)	306
Highways	Highway 13 Highway 18
Waterways	Frenchman River
Climate	Dfb
Website	Eastend, Saskatchewan
[2][3]

Eastend is a town in southwest Saskatchewan, Canada. It is situated approximately 55 kilometres (34 mi) north from the Montana border and 85 kilometres (53 mi) from the Alberta border.

The town is best known for the nearby discovery of a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton nicknamed "Scotty" in 1994. The town has used the discovery of this fossil as the main centrepiece in the construction of a museum called the T. rex Discovery Centre, which opened on May 30, 2000. The centre is operated by the Royal Saskatchewan Museum, and contains the RSM Fossil Research Station. A former resident of Eastend is the writer Wallace Stegner, who lived in the town between 1917 and 1921 and featured it as the village Whitemud in his book Wolf Willow.

Geography

Eastend is located south-east of the Cypress Hills, east from Ravenscrag Butte and south from Anxiety Butte. It lies at an elevation of 915 meters (3,002 ft), in the valley of the Frenchman River. The Eastend Reservoir was built upstream from the community.

The Eastend Formation, a stratigraphical unit of the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin was named for the town and was first defined in outcrops close to the settlement.

Demographics

Canada census – Eastend community profile
	2011	2006
Population:	527 (11.9% from 2006)	471 (-18.2% from 2001)
Land area:	2.71 km^2 (1.05 sq mi)	2.71 km^2 (1.05 sq mi)
Population density:	194.7/km^2 (504/sq mi)	174.0/km^2 (451/sq mi)
Median age:	56.6 (M: 54.7, F: 59.4)	56.8 (M: 53.3, F: 58.5)
Total private dwellings:	332	304
Median household income:		$40,639
References: 2011[4] 2006[5]

Infrastructure

Saskatchewan Highway 13 and highway 614 intersect in Eastend. The Canadian Pacific Railway tracks also pass through the town. The Saskatchewan Transportation Company provides intercity passenger and parcel express service to Eastend.^[6]

Attractions

• T.rex Discovery Centre, a world class facility to house the fossil record of the Eastend area started many years before the discovery of "Scotty" the T.Rex in 1994.^[7]

Regional Attractions

• Big Muddy Badlands, a series of badlands in southern Saskatchewan and northern Montana along Big Muddy Creek. They are found in the Big Muddy Valley, a cleft of erosion and sandstone along Big Muddy Creek. The valley is 55 kilometers (34 mi) long, 3.2 kilometers (2.0 mi) wide and 160 meters (520 ft) deep.^[8] The valley was formed when it was part of an ancient glacial meltwater channel that carried great quantities of water southeastward during the last ice age.^[9]

• Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park, an interprovincial park straddling the southern Alberta-Saskatchewan border, located north-west of Robsart. It is Canada's first and only interprovincial park.
• Cypress Hills Vineyard & Winery, open by appointment only from Christmas until May 14.^[10]
• Fort Walsh, is part of the Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park. As a National Historic Site of Canada the area possesses National Historical Significance. It was established as a North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) fort after and at the location of the Cypress Hills Massacre.
• 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 WWF-defined Northern short grasslands ecoregion, which spans across much of Southern Saskatchewan, Southern Alberta, and the northern Great Plains states in the United States.
• The Great Sandhills, is a sand dune rising 50 feet (15 m) above the ground and covering 1,900 square kilometers. Native prairie grass helps keep the sand together.^[11]
• Robsart Art Works, opens July 1 to August 28, 2010 from 1 to 4 p.m. and by appointment and features Saskatchewan artists featuring photographers of old buildings and towns throughout Saskatchewan.^[12]

Notable residents

• John W. Bascom (1869–1948), frontier lawman, rancher, rodeo pioneer, rodeo stock contractor, Hall of Fame inductee.
• Melvin Bascom (1903–1987), rodeo pioneer and champion, rancher, Hall of Fame inductee.
• Raymond Bascom (1901–1943), rodeo pioneer, champion chariot racer, rancher, race horse trainer, Hall of Fame inductee.
• George Haddad (1918–2010), world-renowned pianist, who was born and raised in Eastend.^[13]
• Wallace Stegner- Pulitzer Prize–winning writer and environmentalist who lived in Eastend from 1917 and 1921
• Sharon Butala, Canadian author who resides on a ranch outside of Eastend.
• Séan Virgo, poet and novelist who was born in Malta and has lived in South Africa, Malaya, Ireland, and the UK. His work has won various national and international awards.^[14]
• Clark Stork (1979–present), voice of the Humboldt Broncos.

References

1. "2011 Community Profiles". Statistics Canada. Government of Canada. Retrieved 2014-06-01.
2. National Archives, Archivia Net. "Post Offices and Postmasters". Retrieved 2014-06-01.
3. Government of Saskatchewan, MRD Home. "Municipal Directory System". Retrieved 2014-06-01.
4. "2011 Community Profiles". Canada 2011 Census. Statistics Canada. July 5, 2013. Retrieved 2012-10-30.
5. "2006 Community Profiles". Canada 2006 Census. Statistics Canada. March 30, 2011. Retrieved 2009-02-24.
6. STC Service Map
7. T.rex Discovery Centre
8. Yanko, Dave. "The Badlands". Virtual Saskatchewan. Retrieved 2010-05-11.
9. Harel, Claude-Jean (2006). "Big Muddy Valley". Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan. Great Plains Research Center. Retrieved 2010-05-11.
10. Cypress Hills Vineyard & Winery
11. Great Sandhills
12. Robsart Art Works
13. http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=U1ARTU0001484
14. Gowan, Jessi. "Eastend author shortlisted for Saskatchewan Book Award (Prairie Post 27 February 2013)". Retrieved 2014-06-01.

External links

• T.rex Discovery Centre
• Fictional and non-fictional accounts of the Eastend area of SW Saskatchewan - photographs and text
• Eastend and Area business and tourism site
• Eastend and Area cultural and tourist site
• Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan (Eastend)