Saskatchewan (province)

I

Introduction

Saskatchewan (province), province in western Canada. Saskatchewan is one of the Prairie provinces, the others being Manitoba and Alberta. Its name is derived from the Cree Indian word kisiskatchewan, which means “swiftly flowing,” a term first applied to the Saskatchewan River. Crossed by a vast belt of flat prairie land, Saskatchewan, with Alberta, is one of only two Canadian provinces with no saltwater coast. Regina is the capital of Saskatchewan, and Saskatoon is the largest city.

Until 1870, most of Saskatchewan was included in the vast Rupert’s Land domain of the Hudson’s Bay Company, which had a monopoly on the North American fur trade. Before 1880 the area was exploited mainly for animal pelts. Only when the railroads came through the prairies in the 1880s did settlers begin coming to Saskatchewan in any numbers. These early pioneers settled the flatlands of central and southern Saskatchewan in scores of tiny rail-side towns, strung out at 13-km (8-mi) intervals along the railroad routes. The excellent soils of the southern prairies enabled Saskatchewan to become the largest producer of wheat in Canada. Saskatchewan, which became a province in 1905, has also prospered with the discovery of petroleum, natural gas, coal, potash, uranium, and other valuable minerals.

II

Physical Geography

Saskatchewan is a long, narrow swath of territory that stretches 1,225 km (761 mi) from the 49th parallel of north latitude, the United States boundary, to the 60th parallel. In width the province varies from 632 km (393 mi) along the southern boundary to 446 km (277 mi) at the northern margin. It is the only Canadian province whose boundaries are drawn without reference to any natural feature. The area they circumscribe is 651,036 sq km (251,366 sq mi), of which 59,366 sq km (22,921 sq mi) are inland water. Saskatchewan ranks fifth in size among the provinces.

A

Natural Regions

Saskatchewan contains portions of two major natural regions: the Canadian Shield in the north and the Interior Plains in the south.

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The Canadian Shield, a rugged, rocky, glacier-scoured region, makes up about 40 percent of the surface area of the province. Its southern edge begins north of the Saskatchewan River at the Manitoba border and can be traced roughly west-northwest across the province, through Lac La Ronge to the Alberta boundary south of Lake Athabasca. The shield is a complex area of old rocks, which are the eroded roots of ancient mountain ranges. In more recent geologic time, great glaciers moved across the shield, modifying its surface. The result is a low rippled surface, dotted with lakes and poorly drained tracts of land. Bare rock is exposed in some places. In other places the bedrock is covered by materials left by the glaciers or by meltwater from the once-great ice masses.

South of the shield is a part of the Interior Plains, which is a great sedimentary basin that lies between the shield and the Rocky Mountains. The plains are underlain by nearly horizontal rock strata. The surface, which slopes gently eastward, has been etched by rivers and modified by glacial ice to the point that it is far from uniform. Traditionally, three subdivisions of the plains, often called prairie levels, have been recognized within Saskatchewan.

To the east is the First Prairie Level, or Manitoba Lowland. A small section of it extends from Manitoba into eastern Saskatchewan, beginning at the margin of the shield and ending at a point south of the Saskatchewan River. In glacial times large portions of this lowland were submerged beneath the waters of prehistoric Lake Agassiz, and a great delta was formed where the Saskatchewan River entered the lake. Vestiges of this ancient delta remain in the level and poorly drained lands on either side of the Saskatchewan River, around Cumberland House. This part of the Manitoba Lowland is commonly called the Saskatchewan Delta.

West of the Manitoba Lowland is the Second Prairie Level. Its boundary with the First Prairie Level is marked by a long, broken cliff, called the Manitoba Escarpment, which faces east and rises above the lowland. It is breached by river lowlands and shows the effects of having been sculptured by the continental ice sheets. The Porcupine Hills and the Pasquia Hills are part of the Manitoba Escarpment. The plains, sweeping westward from this escarpment, strike the base of a second escarpment in central Saskatchewan. It is capped with material left by glaciers and forms a more or less continuous belt of hills, traceable from the U.S. border northwestward to a point not too far south of Lake Athabasca. The distinctive southern part of this escarpment, separating the Second and Third prairie levels, is called the Missouri Coteau. West of the coteau are the High Plains, or the Third Prairie Level. Geologically, this region is a continuation of the Great Plains of the United States.

B

Rivers and Lakes

More than 12 percent of the surface area of Saskatchewan is covered by rivers and lakes. They are heavily concentrated in the northern half of the province, in the Canadian Shield. Of the thousands of lakes found here, the largest is Lake Athabasca, which is shared with Alberta. Second in size is Reindeer Lake, shared with Manitoba. Other large lakes include Wollaston, Cree, and Frobisher lakes and Lac La Ronge. Immediately south of the shield are a number of other sizable bodies of water, including Peter Pond, and Doré, Montreal, Primrose, and Cumberland lakes.

Most of the rivers of Saskatchewan flow eastward toward Hudson Bay. In the southeast the Qu’Appelle and Souris rivers feed into the Assiniboine-Red River system of Manitoba, which drains through Lake Winnipeg and the Nelson River into Hudson Bay. The central plains are crossed by the most important of the province’s rivers, the Saskatchewan, whose northern and southern branches join east of Prince Albert. It also flows into Lake Winnipeg. The Churchill River system in Saskatchewan is actually a series of lakes connected by streams. The Churchill River drains the southern part of the Canadian Shield and adjacent parts of the Interior Plains. In southwestern Saskatchewan, the Frenchman River feeds southward into the Missouri River System. Northern Saskatchewan falls within the extensive Mackenzie River Basin, which drains northward into the Arctic Ocean.