The Saskatchewan Traveller
By Trudy & Dale Buxton
On this new trip we decided to speed a weekend and travel into Alberta with some friends. The end destination is Medicine Hat but to travel there we take and stop at some different points along the way.
It’s a beautiful morning when we leave Biggar as we head west on highway 51 towards Kerrobert.
Did you know that there was a train station in Ruthilda? Yup in 1912 the rails were laid and the station was built, at the same time the post office was officially established.
Ruthilda is named after the 2 daughters of Alex Goodwin, who was an early pioneer, the daughters names were Ruth and Hilda.
Did you know that in Ruthilda, the community had 3 grain elevators and was a thriving community; there were as many as 114 residents, in 1931, that called Ruthilda home.
Also in 1925, despite the community being small, Ruthilda fielded one of the provinces most formidable baseball teams and were crowned Saskatchewan Champions.
Like most small communities in Saskatchewan the rail line was shut down and the school was closed. Today there only lives a handful of people in the community.
Did you know that there was 2 sawmills in Kelfield, as well as a hotel, butcher shop and other business within the small hamlet?
Continuing on through Kerrobert we head south on highway 21 towards Kindersley.
Kindersley has a population of around 4500 people and is rich in natural resources of oil and gas as well as the large farming economy that surrounds this community.
Kindersley is a full service community and the largest in the area.
Kindersley once hosted the world junior baseball championship in 1984. It was the first championship hosted outside the USA. The team from Cuba won the gold medal, while the USA took silver and Taiwan took bronze.
Kindersley is a large sporting community with hockey as one of the premier sports and baseball in the summer.
Kindersley got its name from Sir Robert Kindersley who was a large stockholder with the Canadian National Railway and later the Hudson’s Bay Company.
Kindersley was once inhabited by the Blackfoot as they followed the large bison herds but as settlers began migrated to the area the Blackfoot moved out. Many early settlers mention of the bison bones found on the land when they had arrived.
Near Kindersley you will find the Addison Sod House Historic Site, which lays memory to most settlers who lived in sod houses on the prairie. Sod houses were well suited to the climate of the area.
If you have the time the museum in Kindersley offers a good insight to the large bison herds and the native peoples that roamed the area.
A couple of well know people to come out of Kindersley was Bill Baker who played 11 seasons with the Saskatchewan Roughriders and inducted into the hall of fame and Bob Bourne who had excelled in both hockey and baseball. Bob was a part of the New York Islanders team that would win 4 Stanley Cups in a row, leading the team in playoff scoring in 1983.
Stay tuned for more adventures!
Ruthilda Ball Team 1925
Addison Sod House
