Eastend


Eastend is a town in southwest Saskatchewan, Canada. It is situated approximately north from the Montana border and 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, 2003. The centre is operated by the Royal Saskatchewan Museum, and contains the RSM Fossil Research Station. Eastend has been home to many famous residents, including 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. Today, the former home of Stegner is used as an artists retreat which can be rented out by artists to focus on their work.

History

The Eastend Area is rich in history and geology, and is rife with paleontological sites. A Métis settlement developed north of Eastend, and in the 1870s a Hudson’s Bay Company trading post was established in the region. In the mid 1880s as bison populations were being decimated on the eastern plains, the area became an important hunting ground that nearby First Nations tribes regularly fought over. The post only lasted one season, due to hostilities between the neighboring tribes. Many years later, this site became known as Chimney Coulee – the name being derived from the remnants of stone chimneys that were once a part of Métis homes.
In the late 1870s the Northwest Mounted Police established a satellite detachment of the Fort Walsh site in Chimney Coulee, and gave the area the name of "East End", due to its location on the East End of the Cypress Hills. When the Mounties moved to the nearby townsite years later, they condensed the name into one word, and the town was christened "Eastend". The first ranch was established in the area in 1883, and a ranch house was built in the town in 1902, the community’s first residence, which remains occupied to this day. Surveyors came to the area in 1905, a precursor to the expansion of the railway.
In 1913, construction of the railway in the area began. Lumber was freighted from Gull Lake, Saskatchewan to Eastend until the railroad reached town in May, 1914. Many young people began coming to the townsite, and tents were placed across the river to accommodate them. J.C. Strong, the original owner of the townsite, donated land to build the first church, cemetery and a lot for the first baby born in Eastend. She was born in June, 1914 and was named Eastena. On her 21st birthday she donated the lot given to her to the United Church.

Flood of 1952

In the fall and winter of 1951 the town saw a record amount of snow. In the spring of 1952, unusually warm weather melted the snow quickly and caused a massive flood in Eastend. The town was evacuated and residents found refuge with friends and family that lived in nearby towns. The water receded after three days, leaving immense amounts of destruction in its wake. A few years later a dike was constructed along the river, to prevent history repeating itself.

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, 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. The Eastend Formation was the final marine deposit on the plains, and was home to many marine animals.

Demographics

Infrastructure

and highway 614 intersect in Eastend. The Great Western Railway tracks also pass through the town.
The nearest major airports are Saskatoon John G. Diefenbaker International Airport, Regina International Airport and Calgary International Airport.

Attractions