Wingard, Saskatchewan

Wingard is a hamlet in central Saskatchewan, Canada. Wingard is seven miles northeast of Fort Carlton and twelve miles northwest of Duck Lake. Its history dates back to 1882 when Danish settler Nels Peterson established a farm at the site along the North Saskatchewan River a short distance from Fort Carlton. Peterson named the settlement "Weingarten" which is Danish for "Wine Garden", but later English and Anglo-Metis settlers anglicized the name to "Wingard."

During the Northwest Rebellion of 1885, Peterson and the other settlers fled to Prince Albert to escape Gabriel Dumont's victorious rebels after the Battle of Duck Lake, alongside the retreating North West Mounted Police and Prince Albert Volunteers. They later returned to the community following the Battle of Batoche.

Wingard is the only remaining ferry on the North Saskatchewan between The Battlefords and Prince Albert. The first ferry was established by Nels Peterson in 1895, prior to that boats and scows had been used to cross the river.

Today Wingard consists of little more than a ferry, an Anglican Church, and cemetery.

References

Print

* Where the River Runs: Stories of the Saskatchewan and the People Drawn to its Shores, Victor Carl Friesen, 2001, Fifth House Ltd., Calgary AB
* What's in a Name: The Story Behind Saskatchewan Place Names, Third Edition, E.T. Russell, 1997, Fifth House Ltd., Calgary AB