Elphinstone is an unincorporated community recognized as a local urban district in the Rural Municipality of Yellowhead in the

Canadian province Canada has ten provinces and three territories that are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of Canada, Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North Amer ...

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

. It is located northwest of

Brandon, Manitoba Brandon () is the second-largest city in the province of Manitoba, Canada. It is located in the southwestern corner of the province on the banks of the Assiniboine River, approximately west of the provincial capital, Winnipeg, and east of the ...

and is on Highway 45. It is on the west bank of the

Little Saskatchewan River The Little Saskatchewan River is a river in western Manitoba. It originates in Riding Mountain National Park at Lake Audy and flows about south through the communities of Minnedosa and Rapid City. Its approximate length is 185 km. It jo ...

. The primary industry of the community is agriculture. The

Keeseekoowenin Ojibway First Nation Keeseekoowenin Ojibway First Nation (KOFN; also known as Riding Mountain Band, ) is a First Nations community primarily located on Keeseekoowenin 61 (Indian Reserve 61A), situated near Elphinstone, Manitoba, south of Riding Mountain National Park. ...

reserve is located just to the north, around the former

Riding Mountain House Riding Mountain House was a Hudson's Bay Company trading post set up to the south of what is now the Riding Mountain National Park, on the Little Saskatchewan River. It was built in 1860 and maintained until 1895, by which time there was little rem ...

trading post of the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

(HBC).

History

Elphinstone was named after

Lord Elphinstone Lord Elphinstone is a title in the Peerage of Scotland created by King James IV in 1510. History The title of Lord Elphinstone was granted by King James IV in 1510 to Sir Alexander Elphinstone of Elphinstone, who was killed at the Battle ...

, who came about 1880 as a guest of Robert Campbell, chief factor of the HBC, and bought about of land on the

. Elphinstone

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

was established 1 August 1887 with John A. McDonald as first postmaster. Elphinstone is home to a unique regional breed of sheep, the Lord Elphinstone Burdock, commonly "Elphinstone Burries" or just "Burries". The breed has direct links to Lord Elphinstone, as it was inspired by his speech made during his celebrated 1880 visit. While there is a little bit of debate about the matter, some holding that what Lord Elphinstone said was in reference to his observation of a scene on the train platform involving local James Murdoch's attempt to assess Gloria Booth's rendition of what she thought the most recent style of continental bodices, most agreed that what he must have muttered while the train slowed referred to the most obvious natural features of the landscape. At any rate "Good for nlyburdock and sheep" just seemed more inspirational than "Murdoch that creep" and so became the mantra of local herdsmen. Before long a local breed was established that embodied all the known qualities of the town's namesake. Stupid to an amazing degree, easily led, wondrously unable to care for itself and prickly to the touch the "Burries" do amazingly well grazing the local scrub, so long as you keep them away from sharp objects, dogs, large cats, loud noises, objects they could become entangled in, anything hard they might repeatedly ram their heads into, and mice.

References

{{MBDivision15 Local urban districts in Manitoba