Shaunavon, Saskatchewan
| Shaunavon | |
|---|---|
| Town | |
Grain elevators by the railway track
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| Nickname(s): Bone Creek Basin, Boomtown, | |
| Motto: Oasis of the Prairies | |
 Shaunavon
Shaunavon
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| Coordinates: 49°39′04″N 108°24′43″W / 49.651°N 108.412°W | |
| Country | Canada |
| Province | Saskatchewan |
| Region | Saskatchewan |
| Census division | 4 |
| Rural Municipality | Grassy Creek |
| Post office established | 1913 |
| Incorporated (Village) | 1913 |
| Incorporated (Town) | 1914 |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Grant Greenslade |
| • Administrator | Jay Meyer |
| • Governing body | Shaunavon Town Council |
| • MP | David L. Anderson |
| • MLA | Wayne Elhard |
| Area | |
| • Total | 5.10 km2 (1.97 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 916 m (3,005 ft) |
| Population (2011) | |
| • Total | 1,756 |
| • Density | 344.2/km2 (891/sq mi) |
| Time zone | CST |
| Postal code | S0N 2M0 |
| Area code(s) | 306 |
| Highways |
Redcoat Trail Highway 37 Highway 722 |
| Industries | Agriculture Oil Tourism |
| Climate | Dfb |
| Website | www |
The town of Shaunavon is located in southwest Saskatchewan at the junction of Highways 37 and 13. It is 110 kilometres from Swift Current, 163 kilometres from the Alberta border and 74 kilometres from the Montana border. Shaunavon was established in 1913 along the Canadian Pacific Railway line.
The town has several nicknames including Bone Creek Basin, Boomtown, and Oasis of the Prairies. The latter name is derived from the park located in the centre of town. The Shaunavon Formation, a stratigraphical unit of the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin is named for the town.
Before 1000 CE, only two distinct technological traditions were present on the Canadian plains. Archaeologists refer to them as the Besant and Avonlea phases. Besant sites first appeared on the eastern plains of Minnesota about 200 BCE. Makers of Avonlea technology first appeared in the arid southern plains of Alberta and Saskatchewan three centuries later.
There is no physical or documentary evidence of a widespread and deadly “disorder” among game animals in the archaeological record, but by the 1760s HBC (Hudson Bay Company) employees were reporting game shortages along the North Saskatchewan River. Archaeological studies on the northern Great Plains have uncovered the influence of the fur trade from as early as the 1670s. Recognizing the arrival and impact of epidemic disease known as “virgin soil epidemic”, historical experience of indigenous populations.
Aboriginal traders periodically suffered from breakdown of the precarious link between Europe and Hudson Bay. When the French controlled Hudson Bay, from 1680 to 1713, they were unable to deliver supplies to the region for four years in succession.
The complex interaction of the global economy and the spread of disease are illustrated by the virgin soil outbreak of smallpox amongst the Niitsitapi of Southern Alberta prior to 1750. The Cree people of the Saskatchewan parklands did not experience their virgin soil outbreak of smallpox until the 1780s.
Gradually fur traders began to come into the territory. In 1871, a severe drought brought near starvation to the whole area. Wild animals migrated in search of food and water and the white men in the area lived on gophers, barley and potatoes. The Indians had even less. Long before the settlers or fur traders ever dreamed of the Cypress Hills, the land in the southwestern corner of Saskatchewan was inhabited by bands of nomadic Indians. There were the Assiniboines in the Cypress Hills, the Cree on the flat plains to the east of them, and the Blackfeet toward the west in the foothills of the Rockies.
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