Turtle River No. 469

Geography

The office of the Rural Municipality is located in Edam, approximately 60 km northwest of North Battleford. The Provincial Highway #26 runs through the municipality. The rural municipality encompasses the Villages of Edam and Vawn. The North Saskatchewan River borders the South and West side of the municipality. Turtle River flows from Turtle Lake through the municipality to the North Saskatchewan River. The topography of the Municipality is flat to gently rolly. The area is 154,000 acres. The soil structure is sandy to light sandy loam.

History

The Rural Municipality of Turtle River No.469 was incorporated in December 1912 consisting of 7 townships or 154,000 acres.

Economic Information

The population of the RM of Turtle River #469 consists of 370 residents. The majority of these residents are engaged in the agriculture industry, both grain and cattle. The cattle farmers or ranchers usually maintain 130 cows or more and market the spring calves in the fall of the year. Cattle are fed and watered in corrals in the winter and let out to graze in the spring, summer, and fall. Crops that are planted in April and May consist of wheat, barley, oats, canola, peas and lentils. Most of the cereal grains are kept to feed to cattle during the winter months.

The other predominate industry in this area is the oil and gas industry which employs many people in the area and has been responsible for sustaining several businesses in the community. The oil industry started drilling wells in 1978 although exploratory wells started in the fifties. In 1980 over 100 oil wells were drilled west of Edam close to the North Saskatchewan River. These wells were developed and are still pumping today. New technology has helped increase development within the municipality. The crude that is pumped from these wells is heavy black crude. The formal name of the equipment extracting the oil is 'screw jacks', a device to auger the sandy heavy crude out of the ground. To date this municipality has approximately 900 wells. (Note, not all are operating)

Attractions

The RM of Turtle River has many attractions, some are: Picnic Lake Municipal Park, airstrip (1,800 ft above ground), nature trails, Pine Island, Ferry crossing, Horse-Hill Cross Country Ski Trail, golf course, picnic area and rest stop.

Picnic Lake is a small lake 4.5 miles East of Edam. The lake is stocked with Rainbow trout. Record trophy Rainbow Trout weighing 16lbs. have been caught in Picnic Lake. Also at the lake are 26 electrical camp sites. Nature trails exist over the half section which belongs to the RM of Turtle River. Unsupervised swimming takes place in the summer and a new playground has been set up.

The municipality maintains a picnic area and rest stop North of Edam on Highway #26 so travelers can get out and take a break. Further to the North of this is Horse Hill Cross Country Ski Trails which are groomed and maintained in the winter.

An airstrip is located just west of Edam along with a sand green golf course, which is great for kids.

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