Tangent is a
hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
in
northern Alberta
Northern Alberta is a geographic region located in the Canadian province of Alberta.
An informally defined cultural region, the boundaries of Northern Alberta are not fixed. Under some schemes, the region encompasses everything north of the cen ...
, Canada within
Birch Hills County
Birch Hills County is a municipal district in north-western Alberta, Canada. It is located in Census Division 19, northeast of Grande Prairie.
The district takes its name from a range of hills of the same name, which in turn were named by Cre ...
,
located along
Alberta Highway 740, approximately northeast of
Grande Prairie
Grande Prairie is a city in northwest Alberta, Canada within the southern portion of an area known as Peace River Country. It is located at the intersection of Highway 43 (part of the CANAMEX Corridor) and Highway 40 (the Bighorn Highway), a ...
. It was named by surveyors due to the formation of a tangent (straight-section) in the rail track that ran from
Edmonton
Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...
to
Dawson Creek
Dawson Creek is a city in northeastern British Columbia, Canada. The municipality of had a population of 12,978 in 2016. Dawson Creek derives its name from the creek of the same name that runs through the community. The creek was named after ...
.
History
On June 18, 1928, John Yaremko chose to settle at the current location of the hamlet, later joined by Albert Purcha and his family. The spring of 1929 brought a large group of settlers under the recruitment of Father Josephat Hamelin. In May, a general store was built, and a post office erected in the winter of that same year.
Natural gas
Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...
was discovered in the 1950s, opening up a new industry alongside
agriculture
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...
and
animal husbandry.
Today, Tangent is an agricultural community made up of mostly
Franco-Albertans
Franco-Albertans (french: Franco-Albertains) are francophone residents of the Canadian province of Alberta. Franco-Albertans may also refer to residents of Alberta with French Canadian ancestry, although publications from the government of Alberta ...
descended from the settlers that followed Father Hamelin,
Eastern European Canadians, and
Anglo-Canadians.
Demographics
Tangent recorded a population of 39 in the
1991 Census of Population conducted by
Statistics Canada.
[
]
See also
*List of communities in Alberta
The province of Alberta, Canada, is divided into ten types of Local government in Canada, local governments – urban municipalities (including List of cities in Alberta, cities, List of towns in Alberta, towns, List of villages in Alberta, vil ...
* List of hamlets in Alberta
References
Birch Hills County
Hamlets in Alberta
{{NorthernAlberta-geo-stub