No town is an island, to paraphrase an old saying. And Kerrobert is no exception. There were, and are, many neighbouring communities which had an influence on the 'town on the hill'. Once again, I found my inspiration in the official town history. There were certain communities which kept cropping up. I thought that it would be interesting to compile a list. I have arbitrarily chosen to limit the list to communities which are/were in 'reasonable' proximity to Kerrobert. If there are any omissions, please drop me an e-mail, and we'll try to rectify the error.
If the box below the name contains "NA" that means I have no relevant information on the location. Feel free to contribute if you have information that is pertinent.
Where the name is underlined and in blue, it means that there is a website which has information on that community. Double click on that name and you will be taken to that site. To return to this page, click on the 'back' button of your browser.
| Antelope Hill | Arcata |
Astum |
| NA | NA |
Astum is about 15 miles SE of Kerrobert on the CPR line that runs from Rosetown. Its name is an Indian word meaning "come here" |
| Avoca | Baliol |
Beaufield |
| NA | Baloil is located on a CPR line halfway between Kerrobert and Luseland. It was named for Baloil castle in Scotland. There's nothing left of the town now. The old schoolhouse was moved to the farm of Ed and Sheila Flahr in the early '70s. | Beaufield is the next station North of Coleville. The first settlers arrived in1906-07. One of the early settlers was Carl "the Bo" Jellenick. The town was named in his honour. Other early settlers were Fred Harvey, Harry Turner, Joe Little, Herb Bingham, Eddy Elder and George Cummins. |
| Broadacres | Cactus Lake | |
| Many of the early settlers arrived from lands that were heavily forested, and had spent back-breaking labour "clearing the land". The treeless prairies seemed like heaven to them, and the names of the new communities reflected that feeling, Broadacres being an example. Broadacres is the second stop North of Kerrobert on a CPR line to Wilkie. | This town/district took its name from the lake which was 3/4 mi wide and 7 mi long with abundant growth of Cacti on its banks. The town boomed after the CNR built a line from Unity to Castor AB, south of the lake in 1931. | This town took its name from the first postmaster, Malcolm Cole. In 1951 oil was discovered on the farm of A.M. Cole, a nephew of Malcolm Cole. A huge natural gas field has been developed there, which provides much of Saskatchewan's need for gas. |
Compeer |
Cosine | |
| NA | This community was settled around 1904. Its name originated when the settlers found ways and means of crossing the South Saskatchewan river at Outlook. | This community owes its name to a surveyor's mistake when using the trigonometric function of cosine from his book of logarithm tables. |
| Court | Delisle | Denzil |
| Court was one of a series of communities that came into being during the time of the Coronation of King George V, and the names reflect a strong sentiment for the Royal family. Other towns influenced by this sentiment were Coronation, Throne, Veteran, Consort in Alberta and Court, Fusilier and Major in Saskatchewan. | This community was named after the four Delisle brothers, Amos, Eddie, Eugene, and Fred. It is the home of the Bentleys of hockey fame (Max, Doug, Reg, Wyatt, Jack and Roy) | Apparently a Mr. A. F. Olson, had a lumberyard near the town site. When some railway officials came along to lay out the new railway line, they called on Mr. Olson. He invited them to dinner. In appreciation the railway people promised to name the town site after Mr. Olson's oldest son, Ansel. Perhaps Mr. Olson's strong Scandinavian accent caused a misunderstanding, for the official name became Denzil. |
| Dinsmore | Dodsland | Driver |
| In 1907 a Post Office was opened in the district by James Mason. It was named Dinsmore after a farmer who farmed 2 miles to the west of the Post Office site. When the Canadian Northern arrived in 1913 the Post Office was moved to the new town site, to the back of Tom Cowan's store. The town was named after the Post Office. | Dodsland's town site on the Biggar-Loverna branch of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway was opened in August 1913. It was incorporated in the same month/year. It was named after Dr. Dodds, an arrival from Nebraska, who at one time held equity in 2,000 acres in the area. | The post office for this town was establishe in 1908 and named Glenloney for George Loney, an early settler. The town was established in 1913 when the GTP railway line was put through. It was not named after the post office because of an interesting phenomenon. When the railway grade was under construction through Buffalo Coulee on the way to Smiley, young men of the district, Milt Culham, Alex McKilligan and Vern Hambly used to race their sulkies on the new grade. The intrigued railroad officials then decided to name the town site, Driver. |
| Druid | Elrose | Englewood |
| Druid is located a mile to the west of Dodsland. It was on the CPR from Rosetown, Dodsland was on the Biggar-Loverna line. The village reached its peak in the 1920's, but thereafter was eclipsed by its larger neighbour. The railway gave it the name of a Celtic priest, but there is no significance attached to the name, as far as is known. | This town was originally known as Laberge, in honour of one of the early settlers. In the fall of 1913 a contractor named Louis Chirhart proposed that the site be renamed to Elrose. This found favour with the majority of the inhabitants. The rest is history. No one seems to know why that particular name was chosen, although some believe that it was named for a settlement in the USA. | NA |
| Enterprise | Ermine | Fusilier |
| NA | The settlement was located on the CPR line between Druid and Kerrobert. One of the early settlers was Jakob Neumeier, who used to trap weasels. So he suggested that name for the site. When a weasel's fur is used to trim a lady's coat it becomes ermine, and the postal officials persuaded Jakob to change to the more fashionable name. | Fusilier is between Court and Major on a CPR line that used to run from Kerrobert to Coronation, AB. This railway was built in 1911, the year of the coronation of King George V, hence its name. Court and Major also received their names in honor of this event. |
| Greene | Hallam | Handel |
| This settlement was located on the Grand Trunk Pacific railway that ran from Biggar through Loverna into Alberta. Greene was located 6 miles from the Alberta border. Nothing now remains of the village: even the elevators have disappeared. | NA | This settlement was named after the famous German composer, George Frederick Handel. Other German musicians were immortalized in street names: Wagner, Schuman, and Mozart. |
| Hearts Hill | Hoosier | Jellicoe |
| This community came into existence in 1912 with the formation of Hearts Hill R.M. 352. It takes its name from a range of hills i the municipality, that from a distance look like hearts. It is on the CNR line from Unity to Brodo, Alberta. | This community is located between Loverna and Smiley. The earliest settlers were a group of Americans from Indiana. These were known as Hoosiers from their habit of calling out "Hoosier?" (Who's there?) And that is how the town became known as Hoosier. |
I don't have any details on this
community but do have a picture that is of a class there in the mis-50's. Click on this link. |
| Kelfield | Kindersley | Leney |
| This place got its name when an airplane landed on David H. Kelly's field. The first post office was run from this farm, before the village was started. | The first settler on the town site, W.R.Tindall, erected a sod house in 1907. In 1909 the Canadian Northern Railway laid its tracks through the town site and named after one of its major stockholders, Sir Robert Kindersley. | This is a town in the "L" series of alphabetically named stations on the CNR line from Saskatoon to Biggar. It was named in honor of a railway official. It is located approximately one mile south of Perdue, which gradually subsumed the village. |
| Loverna | Luseland | Major |
| This community was named after a daughter of W.K. McFarland, an early settler in the district. The railway arrived in 1913 in the form of a branch line between Biggar and Hemaruka, Alberta. | This town is named after the Luse family of Minnesota who operated the Luse Land Development Company. This company was responsible for bringing many of the settlers into the territory,, many from Nebraska and Indiana. | Major is one of those towns that was renamed during the military mood of World War I. Before that the district was called Obrechia. This militaristic tendency was also evident in the naming of Fusilier and the Alberta town of Veteran. |
| Macklin | Mariposa | Millerdale |
| This town on the Alberta border, was named after Harry Macklin, an executive of the Winnipeg Free Press, who was reporting on the GTP construction at the time. Macklin is also home to the world's largest Bunnock! | NA | Millerdale is located on the CNR line between Dodsland and Coleville. Essentially it consisted of the Pool Elevator and the Pool agent's house. The site was named for Paul Miller, a German immigrant who farmed the site. Paul was a man of immense strength and size who was capable of extreme feats of power. Other early settlers were: Pinchbeck, Gardiner and Murphy/ |
| Oakdale | Oakwood | Onward |
| NA | NA | When the CPR expanded westward fro Kerrobert to Lacombe, Alberta. it named the first siding Onward. That was in 1914. According to accounts, by 1924 the site consisted of an elevator, a disused box car for the station, and a general store. Alas, like so many small communities whose existence was linked to the railway, Onward has disappeared from the map. |
| Perdue | Plenty | Prairiedale |
|
Interesting enough, the name in French
means "Lost". We know that the village is located 40 miles west of
Saskatoon, on the main line of the CPR. So it isn't really lost! It was named after Judge W.E. Perdue of Winnipeg. |
Plenty is located approximately halfway between Stranraer and Druid, on the CPR line running from Rosetown to Macklin. It was supposedly named by one of the engineers who surveyed the railway line, because the only crops he saw leaving Rosetown were in the Plenty District. | NA |
| Primate | Progress | Revenue |
|
The name of this community is derived from the Latin "Primus" or first, which reflected the early settlers view that they were the first on the site. The Hamlet is located between Macklin and Salvador on the CPR line which was built in 1910. Howver, many of the settlers preceded the construction of the line. |
NA | This town received its name because the CPR engineer who surveyed the town thought that it was a good district for revenue! The town is the third stop south of Wilkie on the line that led to Kerrobert. |
| Reward | Ruthilda | Salvador |
|
When Marquis wheat, "the King of Wheats",
proved to be vulnerable to stem rust, Several new varieties of wheat
were developed, including Reward and garnet. In 1931 whne the CNR built SW
from Unity, Reward wheat was in general use and thus they named the third
grain point on the line after it. Reward is also home to an annual pilgrimage in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary. |
This community was named after Ruth and
Hilda, daughters of A. Goodwin, an early settler in the area. In the '20's and 30's the community was noted for its outstanding ball club. |
Not many people realize that this
community, halfway between Kerrobert and Macklin, may have a connection to
the country of the same name in Central America. Both appear to have been
named after a Spanish Explorer, who is said to have discovered this
continent. (Is Columbus aware of this?) The community was founded in 1910. |
| Smiley | Superb | Tramping Lake |
| This town was named for Ernest Everett Smiley who settled in the area in 1906. It is 2 stops west of Coleville on the Biggar -Loverna CPR line. It is part of the "oil patch" area centred in Coleville | This community owes its name to a remark by famous Canadian author, Nelly McClung. In 1913 Nelly was travelling through This part of the country. It was a dry, dusty year, but when they arrived near the townsite, the heavy gumbo soil still sported green grass. "Superb, an oasis in the desert", exclaime the author. Hence the name | This village takes its name from the nearby Tramping lake. The English named the lake because of the well-tramped buffalo tracks that led to it from all directions. The lake now has a fine regional park. The community is a part of the St. Jospeh's Colony, founded by German settlers fleeing from Tsarist Russia. |
| Verulam | Warcop | Winslow |
| This is the first grain point north-east of Kerrobert on the way to Wilkie. It is probably named for a township in Victoria county, Ontario. That township was named for the Earl of Verulam, James Walter Grimstow. | NA | NA |
A number of these communities long ago disappeared from the landscape. However, if you are interested in seeing where they were located visit the Wheat Pool map site. They have maps of the area showing the communities in the early 1920's. Very interesting. The site is located at http://www.rootsweb.com/~skwheat/kindersley.htm.
Don't let the"Kindersley" in the URL fool you, the page has an alphabetical index to all towns that were in existence as of 1924.