Carlyle ( 2021 population 1,524) is a town in the

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

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

, 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 eleventh-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 The ...

and

Weyburn Weyburn is the tenth-largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada. The city has a population of 11,019. It is on the Souris River southeast of the provincial capital of Regina, Saskatchewan, Regina and is north from the North Dakota border in the ...

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 Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a list of regions of Canada, Canadian region that includes the four western provinces and t ...

. 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 is a broad expanse of plain, flatland in North America. The region stretches east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, and grassland. They are the western part of the Interior Plains, which include th ...

and

Prairie Pothole Region The Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) 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 activity in the Wisconsin glaciation The Wisconsin gl ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

. 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. Known as the "Sage writing, sage of Chelsea, London, Chelsea", his writings strongly influenced the intellectual and artistic culture of the V ...

. His niece and her husband settled in the Arcola 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 () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue a ...

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

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 ...

(

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

), Browning (

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 literature, Victorian poets. He was noted for irony, characterization, dark humour, social commentar ...

Service Service may refer to: Activities * Administrative service, a required part of the workload of university faculty * Civil service, the body of employees of a government * Community service, volunteer service for the benefit of a community or a ...

(

Robert W. Service Robert William Service (16 January 1874 – 11 September 1958) was an English-born Canadian poet and writer, often called “The Poet of the Yukon" and "The Canadian Kipling". Born in Lancashire of Scottish descent, he was a bank clerk by trade ...

), Cowper (

William Cowper William Cowper ( ; – 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 scenes of the Engli ...

), and Lampman ( Archibald Lampman).

History

In 1870 Canada purchased

Rupert's Land Rupert's Land (), or Prince Rupert's Land (), was a territory in British North America which comprised the Hudson Bay drainage basin. The right to "sole trade and commerce" over Rupert's Land was granted to Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), based a ...

from 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 ...

and created a vast territory called the

North-West Territories The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately and a 2021 census population of 41,070, it is the second-largest and the most populous of the three territories in Northern Canada. Its estimated pop ...

. 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 paramilitary 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 Territory to ...

(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 ...

, 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 2016, the region's population was approximately 291,112. The primary cities are Lethbridge and Medicine Hat. The region is known mostly for agricultural production, but o ...

to deal with the

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, and 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 * AH13, Asian Highway 13 * European route E13 * European route E013 Afghanistan *The Kabul–Behsud Highwa ...

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

Métis The Métis ( , , , ) are a mixed-race Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces extending into parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northwest United States. They ha ...

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 () , 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 Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...

(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 (2021 population: 1,970) is an unincorporated urban community in the Municipality of Souris-Glenwood within the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba that held town status prior to the 2015 Manitoba municipal ...

through Carlyle to

Arcola, Saskatchewan Arcola is a town in south-east Saskatchewan, Canada, approximately north and east of Estevan. Saskatchewan Highway 13, Highway 13, Saskatchewan Highway 604, Highway 604, and Arcola Airport provide access to the community. Arcola served as the ...

. 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 Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

from the coalfields near Bienfait, Saskatchewan and

Estevan, Saskatchewan Estevan is the eleventh-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 T ...

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

Demographics

In the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), 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 culture. It is headquartered in ...

, 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 production, mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. ''Fast food'' is a commercial term, limited to food sold in a restaurant or store with frozen, preheat ...

chains, a department store, building supply outlets, and several

mom-and-pop Small businesses are types of corporations, partnerships, or sole proprietorships which have a small number of employees and/or less annual revenue than a regular-sized business or corporation. Businesses are defined as "small" in terms of being ...

specialty shops provide an ample variety of services. There are also two car dealerships, an RV dealership, a

pleasure craft Boating is the leisurely activity of travelling by boat, or the recreational use of a boat whether powerboats, sailboats, or man-powered vessels (such as rowing and paddle boats), focused on the travel itself, as well as sports activities, suc ...

dealership, and other businesses that deal in ATVs and

snowmobile A snowmobile, also known as a snowmachine (chiefly Alaskan), motor sled (chiefly Canadian), motor sledge, skimobile, snow scooter, or simply a sled is a motorized vehicle designed for winter travel and recreation on snow. Their engines normally ...

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 or grain terminal 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 lowe ...

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 flammable carbon compound- or hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the buried remains of prehistoric organisms (animals, plants or microplanktons), a process that occurs within geologi ...

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. It is south-east of Regina. History Midale was inc ...

. 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 An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) and lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...

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, a town in Canada People * Redvers (given name), including a list of people with the name * Kelvin Redvers, First Nations filmmaker * Redvers family See also * Redvers Airport, an abandoned air ...

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; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...

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 Arcola. 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 letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

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

Canadian Register of Historic Places The Canadian Register of Historic Places (CRHP; , ), also known as Canada's Historic Places, is an online directory of historic places in Canada which have been formally recognized for their heritage value by a federal, provincial, territorial ...

. The Bear Claw Casino & Hotel 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 #Curling stone, stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area that is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take t ...

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 competi ...

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 wi ...

. 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 Gun turret, turret-shaped, often built in a park, garden, or spacious public area. Some are used on occasions as bandstands. In British English, the word is also used for a tent-like can ...

time capsule A time capsule is a historic treasure trove, 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 ...

, 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/theatre or drive-in cinema is a form of movie theater, 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, c ...

originally opened at that site in 1981 and has gone through several name changes since. The only other big screen 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 novelist, journalist, short story writer and social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by many as the great ...

Village Festival, which features a

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

parade, horse

carriage A carriage is a two- or four-wheeled horse-drawn vehicle for passengers. In Europe they were a common mode of transport for the wealthy during the Roman Empire, and then again from around 1600 until they were replaced by the motor car around 1 ...

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 co ...

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, Saskatchewan, Frob ...

play senior men's

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

. 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, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

and a

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

, and they are in the South East Cornerstone Public School Division. 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 –

player * Eliza Beatty – Silver Cross Mother *

Haydn Fleury Haydn Fleury (born July 8, 1996) is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman for the Winnipeg Jets of the National Hockey League (NHL). Fleury was selected by the Carolina Hurricanes in the first round (seventh overall) of the 2014 NHL entry ...

- ice hockey player * Cale Fleury - ice hockey player

References

External links

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