Carlyle ( 2016 population 1,508) is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an o ...

in the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions out ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

, Canada. Carlyle is the largest town servicing the far south-eastern corner of Saskatchewan and as a result, has become the economic and services centre of the region.

Estevan Estevan is the eighth-largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada. It is approximately north of the Canada–United States border. The Souris River runs by the city. This city is surrounded by the Rural Municipality of Estevan No. 5. History Th ...

and Weyburn are the closest cities and both are a little over 100 kilometres away. Regina, the provincial capital, lies 200 km to the north-west. Carlyle is located within the RM of Moose Mountain in Census Division No. 1 in

Western Canada Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West or the Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a Canadian region that includes the four western provinces just north of the Canada� ...

. Geographically, it is in the

Canadian Prairies The Canadian Prairies (usually referred to as simply the Prairies in Canada) is a region in Western Canada. It includes the Canadian portion of the Great Plains and the Prairie Provinces, namely Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. These provin ...

, which is part of the

Great Plains The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, a ...

and

Prairie Pothole Region The Prairie Pothole Region (PPR; french: Région des cuvettes/fondrières des prairies) is an expansive area of the northern Great Plains that contains thousands of shallow wetlands known as potholes. These potholes are the result of glacier act ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

. Carlyle was incorporated as a village in 1902, and as a town in 1905. The name Carlyle was chosen by the first postmaster to honour the niece of the Scottish historian and essayist,

Thomas Carlyle Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher. A leading writer of the Victorian era, he exerted a profound influence on 19th-century art, literature and philosophy. Born in Ecclefechan, ...

. His niece and her husband settled in the

Arcola Arcola may refer to: Places ; Australia * Arcola, Grafton, a heritage-listed house in New South Wales ;Canada * Arcola, Saskatchewan, a town in the Province of Saskatchewan * Arcola Airport, an airport in the Province of Saskatchewan ;England * ...

district, and farmed and raised a family there. Several other communities in south-east Saskatchewan along the

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...

were also named after famous British and Canadian poets, garnering the nickname "Poet's Corner". Some of the others include, Wordsworth (

William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication '' Lyrical Ballads'' (1798). Wordsworth's ' ...

Browning Browning may refer to: Arts and entertainment * The Browning, an American electronicore band * ''Browning'', a set of variations by the composer William Byrd Places * Browning, Georgia, USA * Browning, Illinois, USA * Browning, Missouri, ...

(

Robert Browning Robert Browning (7 May 1812 – 12 December 1889) was an English poet and playwright whose dramatic monologues put him high among the Victorian poets. He was noted for irony, characterization, dark humour, social commentary, historical sett ...

), Service ( Robert W. Service), Cowper (

William Cowper William Cowper ( ; 26 November 1731 – 25 April 1800) was an English poet and Anglican hymnwriter. One of the most popular poets of his time, Cowper changed the direction of 18th-century nature poetry by writing of everyday life and sce ...

), and Lampman (

Archibald Lampman Archibald Lampman (17 November 1861 – 10 February 1899) was a Canadian poetry, Canadian poet. "He has been described as 'the Canadian John Keats, Keats;' and he is perhaps the most outstanding exponent of the Canadians, Canadian school of ...

History

In 1870 Canada purchased Rupert's Land from the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business di ...

and created a vast territory called the

North-West Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...

. The future site of Carlyle was in this territory. In 1874 the

North-West Mounted Police The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) was a Canadian para-military police force, established in 1873, to maintain order in the new Canadian North-West Territories (NWT) following the 1870 transfer of Rupert’s Land and North-Western Territo ...

(NWMP), as part of their

March West The March West was the initial journey of the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) to the Canadian prairies, made between July 8 and October 9, 1874. It was the result of the force being deployed to what is now southern Alberta in response to the C ...

, travelled through the area just south of present-day Carlyle en route to what is now

Southern Alberta Southern Alberta is a region located in the Canadian province of Alberta. In 2004, the region's population was approximately 272,017.Cypress Hills Massacre The Cypress Hills MassacreThe Cypress Hills Massacre
at

Red Coat Trail The Red Coat Trail is a route that approximates the path taken in 1874 by the North-West Mounted Police in their March West from Fort Dufferin to Fort Whoop-Up. Route description A number of highways in southern Manitoba, Saskatchewan, a ...

, which today's

Highway 13 The following roads may be referred to as Route 13 or Highway 13. For a list of roads named A13, see List of A13 roads. International * Asian Highway 13 * European route E13 * European route E013 Afghanistan *The Kabul–Behsud Highway - N ...

through Carlyle approximates. The original Carlyle townsite was chosen by a

Métis The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Canadian Prairies, Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United State ...

man named John G. Turriff at NW 26-07-03 W2 in 1882, which is about 8 kilometres south of present-day Carlyle, along the east bank of Swift Creek, near where it and Morrison Creek meet Moose Mountain Creek. The first post office opened at that location on 1 December 1883. When it looked like the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canad ...

(CPR) was going to build its track north of the townsite, the town moved north to 07-08-02 W2 in 1900, its current location. The CPR branch line was constructed in 1900 and in operation by 1901. This original branch line went from

Souris, Manitoba Souris is an unincorporated urban community in the Municipality of Souris – Glenwood within the Canadian province of Manitoba that held town status prior to January 1, 2015 (2016 population: 1,876). It is located within the municipality at t ...

through Carlyle to Arcola, Saskatchewan. The

(CNR) laid steel into the townsite on 28 October 1909, and on 7 June 1910, the first passenger train went through town. This rail line was built to bring

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

from the coalfields near

Bienfait, Saskatchewan Bienfait is a town in Saskatchewan on Highway 18 that is 14 km (9 miles) east of Estevan. It is 30 km northwest of the town of North Portal, which is next to the Canadian-American border and is also 10 km south of Estevan. It ...

and

Estevan, Saskatchewan Estevan is the eighth-largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada. It is approximately north of the Canada–United States border. The Souris River runs by the city. This city is surrounded by the Rural Municipality of Estevan No. 5. History Th ...

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 it just happened to go past Carlyle's original location. In 1912, the CNR built a brick roundhouse capable of servicing up to five engines and a bunkhouse to house the engineers while they waited for the engines to be serviced. With diesel locomotives replacing steam engines, the water tower was demolished in 1969. The former CN Carlyle railway station was sold in 1976 and then moved to its current location and now houses the Rusty Relics Museum and tourist Information Centre.

Historical photographs

File:Carlyle, Saskatchewan (juillet 1980) (2).jpg, Downtown Carlyle, July 1980 File:Carlyle July 2021.jpg, Downtown Carlyle, July 2021 at dawn. Same view as previous picture, 41 years later. File:Carlyle, Saskatchewan (juillet 1980).jpg, Carlyle Station and grain elevator, July 1980 File:Carlyle 150517-054 (17722971494).png, Rusty Relics Museum, Anglican Church. Built 1905, demolished 2019 File:Carlyle 150517-050 (18347072021).png, Constructing of the foot bridge over Morrison Creek into West Park (c. 2000s)

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultu ...

, Carlyle had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Climate

Industry and businesses

The three most prominent industries in the Carlyle area are agriculture, the oil and gas sector, and tourism. Tourism sees its biggest impact to local businesses that cater to tourists who come to south-eastern Saskatchewan to visit nearby attractions, such as Moose Mountain Provincial Park. Being the largest town in the area, Carlyle has a wide variety of businesses that not only cater to local residents and tourists, but to people from neighbouring communities as well. Businesses such as hotels, grocery stores, banks, a Credit Union, gas stations, several restaurants, including

fast food Fast food is a type of mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. It is a commercial term, limited to food sold in a restaurant or store with frozen, preheated or precooked ingredie ...

chains, a department store, building supply outlets, and several mom-and-pop specialty shops provide an ample variety of services. There are also two car dealerships, an RV dealership, a pleasure craft dealership, and other businesses that deal in ATVs and

snowmobile A snowmobile, also known as a Ski-Doo, snowmachine, sled, motor sled, motor sledge, skimobile, or snow scooter, is a motorized vehicle designed for winter travel and recreation on snow. It is designed to be operated on snow and ice and does not ...

s. Every September Carlyle hosts the annual Home Spun Craft Show that features over 70 venders from all over Canada. The show is held in the Carlyle Sports Arena and over 4,000 people attend. Agriculture is what initially brought settlers to Carlyle in the late 1800s and it continues to play an important role in the local economy. While Carlyle's

grain elevator A grain elevator is a facility designed to stockpile or store grain. In the grain trade, the term "grain elevator" also describes a tower containing a bucket elevator or a pneumatic conveyor, which scoops up grain from a lower level and deposi ...

is long gone, a vibrant trucking industry, farm equipment sales and repair, and other agriculture related businesses continue to thrive. Compared to the other two main industries,

oil and gas A fossil fuel is a hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the remains of dead plants and animals that is extracted and burned as a fuel. The main fossil fuels are coal, oil, and natural gas. Fossil fuels ...

is the newest. Oil was first discovered in south-eastern Saskatchewan in 1953 near

Midale Midale () is a town in the rural municipality of Cymri No. 36, in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It is located on Highway 39, midway between the cities of Weyburn and Estevan. The population of Midale is 562. It is south-east of ...

. The oil industry was slow to develop but with advances in Bakken oil extraction techniques in the 1990s, the industry started to take off. And by the 2000s, the industry was booming. Pump jacks, oil batteries, and pipeline terminals are found all around the Carlyle area. Oil companies have set up offices in Carlyle and companies that service the oil industry, such as drilling rigs, service rigs, transport, oil waste disposal and cleanup, and petro-chemicals, have come to dominate the local economy.

Transportation

Carlyle sits at the cross-roads of Saskatchewan highways 9 and 13. Of the two original railway lines that went through Carlyle, only one, the CNR line, remains and it carries freight, such as oil and grain. The last passenger train to depart from Carlyle was on 25 August 1959. The other line, CPR, issued notices of discontinuance for the section going from Carlyle to Arcola on 24 March 2000 and from

Redvers Redvers may refer to: Places *Redvers, Saskatchewan Redvers is a town in southeast Saskatchewan, Canada. It is the first town one passes through travelling west from Manitoba on the Red Coat Trail, the path taken by the North-West Mounted Pol ...

to Carlyle on 20 July 2004. There is no public transportation to or from town, with the exception of a shuttle that goes to the Bear Claw Casino. Locally, the town operates a Handi-Transit van for the elderly and disabled. The Carlyle Airport is owned and operated by the town. The Carlyle Flying Club sells 100LL and Jet A.

Services

On main street in the Carlyle Civic Centre, there's the Carlyle Provincial Court-Circuit Point that takes care of many court related needs, such as traffic tickets. The Carlyle Detachment of the

RCMP The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal and national police service of Canada. As poli ...

is located on Railway Avenue W and, like the Provincial Court, is responsible for a large catchment around Carlyle. Carlyle does not have a hospital, but does have a Primary Health Clinic and ambulance service; the nearest hospital is about 17 kilometres away in

. The volunteer fire department, located on the west side of town, is responsible for fire management in town and the surrounding RM of Moose Mountain. Construction of the current fire hall was completed in 2020 and the official opening ceremony was on 7 December 2020. Other services include a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional se ...

, the Carlyle Observer, which is a weekly print and online newspaper, the Carlyle Public Library, which is a branch of the Southeast Regional Library. and five churches.

Parks and recreation

Twenty-four kilometres north of Carlyle on Highway 9, in the heart of Moose Mountain Uplands, is

Moose Mountain Provincial Park Moose Mountain Provincial Park is a provincial park, located in south-eastern Saskatchewan 24 km north of the town of Carlyle on the Moose Mountain Upland. It is one of Saskatchewan's few parks with a community inside the park as the ...

, the most significant tourist attraction in the region. The park features Kenosee Lake, Kenosee Superslides, golfing, mini-golf, the Moose Mountain Chalet, camping, hiking, fishing, and many more activities. About 30 kilometres to the north-east is

Cannington Manor Provincial Park Cannington Manor Provincial Park is an historic park in the RM of Moose Mountain in the south-east corner of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. An aristocratic English colony was established at the site in 1882 by Captain Edward Michell ...

, which is a IUCN protected area category III and on the

Canadian Register of Historic Places The Canadian Register of Historic Places (CRHP; french: Le Répertoire canadien des lieux patrimoniaux), also known as Canada's Historic Places, is an online directory of historic sites in Canada which have been formally recognized for their he ...

. The

Bear Claw Casino & Hotel Bear Claw Casino & Hotel is a small casino located on the White Bear First Nations near Moose Mountain Provincial Park and Carlyle, Saskatchewan, Canada in the Moose Mountain Upland. The facility includes a casino (with 132 slot machines an ...

is also located north of Carlyle on highway 9. It is on the White Bear First Nation. In town, there's a 9-hole golf course, Carlyle Sports Arena (CSA), an outdoor swimming pool,

curling Curling is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area which is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take turns slidi ...

with four sheets of ice, a

motocross Motocross is a form of off-road motorcycle racing held on enclosed off-road circuits. The sport evolved from motorcycle trials competitions held in the United Kingdom. History Motocross first evolved in Britain from motorcycle trials competiti ...

track, and a

playground A playground, playpark, or play area is a place designed to provide an environment for children that facilitates play, typically outdoors. While a playground is usually designed for children, some are designed for other age groups, or people ...

. Lions Park in Carlyle has a soccer pitch, six ball diamonds, the aforementioned swimming pool, camping, and walking paths. Centennial Park was established in 2005 to recognise Carlyle's 100-year anniversary. There's a

gazebo A gazebo is a pavilion structure, sometimes octagonal or turret-shaped, often built in a park, garden or spacious public area. Some are used on occasions as bandstands. Etymology The etymology given by Oxford Dictionaries is "Mid 18th c ...

time capsule A time capsule is a historic cache of goods or information, usually intended as a deliberate method of communication with future people, and to help future archaeologists, anthropologists, or historians. The preservation of holy relics dates ...

, and a children's splash park, which was added in the spring of 2021. West Park, on the west side of town along Morrison Creek, has a picnic area, gazebo, and, added in 2020, an off-leash dog park. Carlyle was featured on Global Regina's 'Focus Saskatchewan' on 12 January 2014. The Prairie Dog Drive-in Theatre, one of five left in Saskatchewan, is located about three kilometres north of town along Highway 9. The

drive-in theatre A drive-in theater or drive-in cinema is a form of cinema structure consisting of a large outdoor movie screen, a projection booth, a concession stand, and a large parking area for automobiles. Within this enclosed area, customers can view movi ...

originally opened at that site in 1981 and has gone through several name changes since. The only other

big screen A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

in town is a one-screen theatre on the second floor of the Carlyle Memorial Hall in downtown. Unlike the Prairie Dog Theatre, it does not have regular showings and is only open for special events. The other four drive-in theatres include the Jubilee Drive-In Theatre in Manitou Beach, the Clearwater Drive-In in Kyle, the Moonlight Movies Drive-in in Pilot Butte, and the Twilite Drive-In Theater in Wolseley.

Dickens Village Festival

On the first weekend of December each year since 2002, the town holds a

Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian er ...

Village Festival, which features a

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

parade, horse

carriage A carriage is a private four-wheeled vehicle for people and is most commonly horse-drawn. Second-hand private carriages were common public transport, the equivalent of modern cars used as taxis. Carriage suspensions are by leather strapping ...

rides, and many of the businesses and people put on a Charles Dickens-19th century theme. It is the only annual Dickens Village Festival in Canada. The Cornerstone Theatre group runs at least two shows a year. The one on the first weekend in December is in co-ordination with the Dickens Village Festival. The theatre shows are sold out every year.

Carlyle Fun Dayz

Carlyle Fun Dayz is an annual summer event put on by the town. The event features a Lion’s Pancake Breakfast, live shows with music and street dancing,

beer garden A beer garden (German: ''Biergarten'') is an outdoor area in which beer and food are served, typically at shared tables shaded by trees. Beer gardens originated in Bavaria, of which Munich is the capital city, in the 19th century, and remain c ...

s, food venders, a kids zone that includes a petting zoo, a parade, and a farmer's market.

Organised sports

Carlyle has a variety of organised sports that make use of its facilities. The Carlyle Cardinals of the men's senior Saskota Baseball League call the baseball diamonds at Lions Park home. There is also a Carlyle Minor Ball for youth programme there. Another youth programme, Moose Mountain Soccer, plays at the soccer pitch at Lions Park. In the Carlyle Sports Arena, the Cougars of the

Big 6 Hockey League The Big 6 Hockey League is a senior men's ice hockey league in south-eastern Saskatchewan, Canada. There are currently nine teams in the league. The league began in 1959-1960 with four teams, the Bienfait Coalers, Frobisher Flyers, Glen Ewen ...

play senior men's

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...

. The Cougars have won the championship Lincoln Trophy nine times since the league's inception in 1960; the last time was in 2001. For youth, there is a CanSkate programme through Carlyle Skating Club, minor hockey, and female midget hockey. There is also a figure skating club.

Education

Carlyle has two public schools, an

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

and a

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

, and they are in the

South East Cornerstone Public School Division The South East Cornerstone South Public School Division No. 209 provides public education to nearly 8,000 students in south east Saskatchewan. The School Division was created in April, 2005 as part of the Provincial Government's plan to restructure ...

. Carlyle Elementary School (CES) has children from

pre-kindergarten Pre-kindergarten (also called Pre-K or PK) is a voluntary classroom-based preschool program for children below the age of five in the United States, Canada, Turkey and Greece (when kindergarten starts). It may be delivered through a preschool ...

to grade 6. The school's mission statement is "To enable every student to be the best that they can be." The high school, Gordon F. Kells, has grades from 7 to 12. Its moto is ''"Respect, Responsibility, and Integrity."''

Notable people

Brenden Morrow Brenden Blair Morrow (born January 16, 1979) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey left winger. Morrow was drafted in the first round, 25th overall, by the Dallas Stars at the 1997 NHL Entry Draft, the organization he would play with for 1 ...

–

player * Eliza Beatty –

Silver Cross Mother A Silver Cross Mother (french: Mères décorées de la Croix d’argent) is chosen each year by the Royal Canadian Legion to lay a wreath during the Remembrance Day ceremony at the National War Memorial in Ottawa on behalf of all mothers who have ...

* Haydn Fleury - ice hockey player *

Cale Fleury Cale Fleury (born November 19, 1998) is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman for the Seattle Kraken of the National Hockey League (NHL). Fleury was selected 87th overall by the Montreal Canadiens in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft. Playing ca ...

- ice hockey player

References

External links

* {{Authority control Towns in Saskatchewan Division No. 1, Saskatchewan