Spiritwood, Saskatchewan

Spiritwood is a town in Saskatchewan, Canada.

It has a population of 907 and is located 125 km W of Prince Albert and about 110 km NE of North Battleford at the junction of Hwys 3, 24, and 378.

As the largest community in the region, the community functions as the major supply, service, and administrative centre for a trading area population of several thousand including four First Nations communities. Mixed Farming predominates and consists primarily of grain production. A Spiritwood company that focuses on pig genetics, producing breeding stock and commercial swine, has roughly 50 employees. There is some forestry in the region north of Spiritwood. The town has a complete range of recreational facilities and, additionally, there are six golf courses in the district, six Regional Parks, and about 35 lakes within an hour’s drive.

History

The district began to be settled around 1911–12; however, growth in the area was slow until the coming of the railway in the late 1920s. The first settlers primarily engaged in ranching. The Spiritwood post office, which had been established in 1923, was named after Spiritwood Lake, North Dakota, the hometown of the first postmaster, Rupert J. Dumond. After the railway arrived, settlers of diverse origins poured into the district and many businesses were established.

On October 1, 1935, Spiritwood was incorporated as a village and, by September 1, 1965, the community had grown large enough to attain town status.

This was the scene of the two deaths of RCMP officers in 2006, where after a 12 day manhunt, the suspect surrendered without incident.

Spiritwood is also the home of the great Mike McLachlan, ranked first overall in free throws for the Northern Lakes '92/93 basketball season.

tatistics

Canada_CP_2001|pop=907|popDelta=-1.8%|landArea=2.95|popDensity=306.9
medianAge=43.4|medianAgeM=41.8|medianAgeF=44.8
privateDwell=394|medianHHIncome=37,129

External links

* [http://tostos.sasktelwebsite.net/index.htm Town of Spirtwood Website]