Government of Saskatchewan Western Red Lilies


Prairiedale No. 321

Geography

The Rural Municipality (RM) of Prairiedale contains six townships with approximately 138,240 acres and the Villages of Smiley and Major. Dewar Lake is part of the municipality.

History
The RM was incorporated in 1910; the name of the municipality is a descriptive one chosen by the early settlers.

Major is approximately 266.6 kilometres (kms) west of Saskatoon on Highway 51. The name comes from a series of titular names from a Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) list; the military theme is carried out in the names of the Village streets: Trooper Street, Recruit Street, and Sergeant Avenue. People from Ontario and the United States (U.S.) first settled the area in the 1880s. Major now has shopping/groceries, service station, camping, a credit union, post office, and courier service.

Smiley was named for Ernest Everett Smiley. Born in Missouri, he filed on a homestead in the Smiley area in 1906. Today Smiley has groceries, service station, picnic/park/play area, post office, and courier service.

Attractions
The Great Wall of Saskatchewan is 1.6 kms west of Smiley. Without realizing what would evolve, Albert Johnson started arranging stones in the shape of a wall as they were cleaned off the slopes of a slough. The wall, started in 1962, continued to grow until 1991 as stones picked off the surrounding farmland were contributed to the wall. As the stones were hauled to the wall they were placed in such a way that the wall would support itself without using cement or mortar. The outermost, visible stones are specially shaped stones, which have been tapered inward in order to prevent movement. The interior of the wall has been filled with the small and odd shaped stones. While the wall was being built, spuce trees were planted along side to act as a wind barrier. After 29 years of work the final product was a stone wall with a 6-foot wide base, which extends more than 3/8 of a mile in length. The height of the wall varies throughout the length, but has an average of about 6 feet with a maximum of 12 feet. Along side the stone wall visitors will find a sod house, built from sod cut out of the surrounding grasses. The sod house was completed in 1986 with help form others in the Smiley area. In 1991, when the stone wall seemed to be complete, Albert began stoning the slopes around the wall and planting various flowers and vegetables.

School sites marked:
Bonnie Burn School #531, 1912-1942, SW 15-31-26 W3

Prairiedale School #335, 1912-1958, NE 8-32-26 W3

Victory School #852, 1912-1958, NW 10-32-25 W3

In Major the TransCanada Trail follows the gravel roadbed of the railway which used to run through the Village.




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