Turtleford
Turtleford is a town in the Rural Municipality of Mervin No. 499, in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. Located on Highway 26 near the intersection / concurrency with Highway 3 and Highway 303.
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In this article
Overview
Overview
The nearest cities are North Battleford and Lloydminster. The Turtlelake River runs through Turtleford, and nearby are Brightsand Lake and Turtle Lake. Turtleford has the Canada's largest turtle statue (more than eight feet tall), named Ernie. "Ernie the Turtle" is on Highway 26 near the south edge of town. A small vulnerable songbird called Sprague's pipit has a breeding range in the northern Great Plains of North America, and amongst their breeding spots is Turtleford, Saskatchewan.
Key facts
Key facts
• Official Name — Turtleford • Settlement Type — Town • Subdivision Type — Country • Subdivision Type1 — Province • Subdivision Type2 — Rural municipalities (RM) • Subdivision Name — Canada • Subdivision Name1 — Saskatchewan • Subdivision Name2 — Mervin No. 499 • Leader Title — Mayor • Leader Name — Milne, Doug(2024) • Leader Title1 — MLA of Cut Knife-Turtleford • Leader Name1 — Larry Doke • Leader Title2 — MP of Battlefords—Lloydminster • Leader Name2 — Rosemarie Falk • Established Title — Post office Founded • Established Date — 1913-12-01 • Established Title2 — Village • Established Title3 — Town • Established Date3 — July 1, 1983 • Area Total Km2 — 1.69 • Population As Of — 2011 • Population Total — 525 • Population Density Km2 — 311.6 • Timezone — Central Standard Time • Utc Offset — −6 • Utc Offset Dst — −5 • Postal Code Type — Postal code • Postal Code — S0M 2Y0 • Blank Name — Highways • Website — Official Website
History
History
First settled in 1907 and 1908 the town was named for its proximity to the early river crossing (or ford) on the Turtlelake River. A post office opened in 1913 and by 1914 the ongoing extension of a Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) branch from North Battleford had reached Turtleford. By 1915 dozens of businesses had opened and Turtleford became a major centre for the area population. The North Battleford — Turtleford Branch of the CNoR (later merged into Canadian National Railway), which primarily serviced the grain elevators used by the farmers northwest of North Battleford, ceased operation by 2005, when the remaining elevators closed. The branch had served Hamlin, Prince, Meota (1910 extension), Cavalier, Vawn, Edam, Mervin and Turtleford, and had been extended farther northwest to Cleeves, Spruce Lake, St. Walburg (1919 extension), with a fork to Paradise Hill and Frenchman Butte. The rail line and Saskatchewan Highway 26 ran beside each other from Prince to St. Walburg.
Demographics
Demographics
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Turtleford had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of. With a land area of 1.66 km2, it had a population density of sqmi in 2021.
Education
Education
Turtleford (Turtleford Community School) belongs to Turtleford School Division #65 a part of Northwest School Division. Turtleford is served by Lakeland Library Region — Turtleford Branch
Media
Media
• Turtleford is served by The Northwest News weekly newspaper
Notable people
Notable people
• Eric B. Rosendahl, Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for West Yellowhead, May 5, 2015 – March 19, 2019
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Turtleford, revision 1363237150 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.National Archives, Archivia Net. Post Offices and Postmasters.
- 2.Government of Saskatchewan, MRD Home. Municipal Directory System.
- 3.Canadian Textiles Institute. CTI Determine your provincial constituency. 2005.
- 4.Commissioner of Canada Elections, Chief Electoral Officer of Canada. Elections Canada On-line. 2005.
- 5.LARGE CANADIAN ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS, Ed Solonyka. Ernie - Canada's Largest Turtle Turtleford, Saskatchewan. 1998–2006.
- 6.Sprague's Pipit
- 7.CANADIAN PLAINS RESEARCH CENTER, UNIVERSITY OF REGINA. The Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan (Turtleford). 2006.
- 8.Russell, Edmund T. What's In a Name: The Story Behind Saskatchewan Place Names (3rd edition). Western Producer Prairie Books. 200. 1973. 0-88833-053-7.
- 9.Waghorn's Guide. Map of Western Canada showing part of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta. Stovel Co. Ltd. 1914.
- 10.Troy A. M. Zimmer. Abandoned Rail Lines in Saskatchewan. Saskatchewan Trails Association. 2008-09-14.
- 11.Statistics Canada. Population and dwelling counts: Canada, provinces and territories, census divisions and census subdivisions (municipalities), Saskatchewan. February 9, 2022.
- 12.GrassRoots - Project Gallery Search Results. January 2017.
- 13.Turtleford Community School.
- 14.NWSD.
- 15.Libdex - the library index. Lakeland Library Region - Turtleford Branch.
Makers, houses and production
Knowledge graph
Makers, houses and production
The people, houses and objects recorded in connection with this place.
Born at
1- Edna AlfordAuthor
Established from a fact already recorded on a verified source.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 26 September 2026.
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