History of Estevan

The Estevan area is rich in energy resources and has a substantial history of trade and industry. Hardwoods which grew here 25 million years ago have been formed into the area's lignite coal, and marine plants and animals of the Paleozoic era have become abundant oil and gas reserves. Several thousand years ago, the slowly meandering Souris River - Estevan's former water source - was a torrential spillway draining glacial Lake Regina into the Mississippi. The glacial meltwater cut downward, revealing layers of shale, clay and coal; it may also have helped shaped the curious sandstone formations at Roche Percee.

The exposures of coal, the hardwoods flanking the Souris River, and numerous buffalo herds steadily drew various Indian hunting and trading groups to the area during the past 10,000 years. Between 1984 and 1987, over 380 new archaeological sites were identified in a relatively small area surrounding Estevan. It is not surprising then to see on the La Verendryes' 1734 Map of the West, a trade/hunting corridor called "The Warriors Trail" in the vicinity of Estevan. As in other areas, the trade routes established by the aboriginal people were adopted by European fur traders. During the 1700s, enterprising Metis hunters/traders made frequent stops at St. Peter's Spring and Long Creek in their travels between the then Spanish Territory (Louisiana) just south of Estevan, and the Brandon House-Red River area to the northeast. In 1988, a copper awl produced in the Lake Superior region perhaps during or before fur trading days, was found at a nearby archaeological site.

By 1805, when Lewis and Clark scouted along the Dakota stretch of Long Creek, the Assiniboine had replaced the Mandan/Hidatsa as the dominant people of the area.

Coal and curious sandstone outcrops continued to attract visitors. In 1853, four members of a U.S. Government survey party visited the Souris Valley near Estevan, and reported:

"lignite coal is to be found in quantity in the valley of the Mouse (Souris) River and by proper blast furnaces, may become of service."

Rocks at Roche Percee

Rocks at Roche Percee

Four years later, James McKay, the factor of Fort Ellice, led John Palliser and geologist James Hector to a point near what Metis hunters called "La Roche Percee", about 15 miles southeast of Estevan. Hector described the site thusly:

"One of these (sandstone) pillars standing out from the side of the valley is perforated by a large hole, and is "La Roche Percee"... The Indians never pass this stone without making some offering to Manitou... such as rubbing vermilion on it, depositing beads, tobacco, or the like in the crevices."

Woodend, near the junction of Long Creek and the Souris River, was so named because there was no firewood to be found north or west of this area for many miles. The British America Boundary Commission established a survey camp there in 1873, in order to extend the International Border westward. During the next year, Commissioner G.A. French of the North West Mounted Police led a force of 275 policemen, 114 Red River carts with 20 Metis drivers and 310 horses to Woodend, on the NWMP's famous "March to the Mountains".

Utilized for several years thereafter, the original Woodend NWMP barracks are still standing, although they were relocated to Estevan before the 1957 flooding of Boundary Dam reservoir on Long Creek.

A village 17 miles northwest of Estevan bears the name of a famous promoter of prairie settlement, John Macoun. Employed as a botanist by the Canadian Pacific Railway, he contradicted Palliser's earlier assertions that much of the Canadian prairies were semi-arid, poor agriculture lands. Although Macoun's 1883 observations may have reflected an exceptionally "wet" year, his message of productive farmland in Western Canada helped bring thousands of European settlers to the prairies in the late 1800's.

Settlement of Estevan began in 1892, with the extension of the CPR line from Brandon to Estevan. Extension of the Soo Line railway between North Portal and Moose Jaw brought many American settlers to the area, acceleration the pace of settlement, and placed Estevan on a major northwest - southeast trade route terminating in Minneapolis. In 1899, Estevan was incorporated as a village, and became a town in 1906, with a population of about 600. By World War I, Estevan was known as an agriculture service center, a railway divisional point, and a coal mining centre.

As the newly-established Souris settlement grew, the residents eagerly awaited a name for their community. J.M. Walsh, the president of the Dominion Coal, Coke and Transportation Company, asked the vice-president of the CPR to name the new settlement as soon as possible, recommending that the name be "some very popular name connected with coal interests."

Walsh suggested the names "Pittsburgh", "Yatesburgh" and "Yates", but these recommendations were rejected. He then suggested that the residents of the new community were getting restless for a settlement name, and he thought "Shaughnessy" would be a suitable name - after the vice-president of the CPR himself. This recommendation also fell on deaf ears.

Few people know the actual origin of the name "Estevan." Estevan was named to commemorate railway achievements.

One popular misconception about the name is that it originated as a fusion of two names - Stephen and Van Horne. George Stephen was the original president of the CPR, while W.C. Van Horne was the president of the company at the time a name for the settlement was being debated.

This theory of the origin of "Estevan" is incorrect. Actually, the "Energy City" is named entirely after George Stephen - it is not a combination of the names of the two prominent CPR officials. "Estevan" was George Stephen's cable name, or his "registered telegraphic address." Telegraph systems were common in that day, and people were frequently labeled when they used the wire system.

Stephen enjoyed an illustrious career. He was the president of the CPR from 1881 - 1888. Stephen has been referred to as the "organizer" of Canada's first transcontinental railway, as he turned the bankrupt St. Paul and Manitoba railway into the "Confederation Line" unifying the nation.

Stephen provided the financial backing for the building of the CPR, which was known as "one of the greatest financing feats in its way that the world has ever seen."

Stephen was knighted, and given the title Baron Mount Stephen for his tremendous impact on the development of Canada's West. A mountain in the Canadian Rockies is also named after this extraordinary businessman.

The first viable coal mine in the area was established at Roche Percee in 1891. As Estevan grew, numerous miners were established closer to it, with some shafts reaching a depth of 90 feet; many local farmers used coal mining income to help them establish their farming operations. Underground coal mining and the local settlements associated with it thrived - at least until the Great Depression and the advent of surface "strip" mining by electric shovels in the 1930's. By 1956, a sixty year era of underground coal mining in the region had come to an end. Today there are just two companies mining coal in the Estevan area, but with several huge draglines operating, their combined annual productions are approximately 12 million tonnes.

Estevan Generating Station	Boundary Dam Power Station	Shand Power Station

Electric power generation has become a major industry in Estevan. The Estevan Generating Station, begun in 1930 with a 2,750 k.w. capacity unit fired by local lignite, has since been dwarfed by Boundary Dam Station, an 882,000 k.w. facility.

The $579,000,000 Shand I Power Station recently constructed just east of Estevan generates 300,000 k.w. of electricity, and will bring the total local generating capacity to 1,252,000 k.w. or 30% of SaskPower's total in 1992.

An oilfield replica welcoming people into Estevan on the east side of town.

The third major industry in the Estevan area is oil and gas production. Natural gas was struck in the boring of a water well just north of Estevan in 1911. Probably due to a lack of required technology, oil was not produced around here until 1953. However, that oil boom converted Estevan form a town of approximately 4,900 to a city of nearly 8,000 in just a few years. Today, there are approximately 6,400 oil and gas wells in the Estevan area, and a flare gas conservation plant at Steelman (20 miles northeast) produces 465,000 m. of gas per day.

In addition to its coal, electric and petroleum energy resources, Estevan has the distinction of being the "Sunshine Capital of Canada", with an average of 2,536 hours of sunshine per year. These sources of energy are part of what makes Estevan the "Energy City": the key energetic components being the city's 11,000 people.

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