Oxbow is a town in the southeast of 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. It is located on 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 ...

and on Highway 18. It is approximately west of Saskatchewan's border with

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 ...

and approximately north of the Canada–US border with

North Dakota North Dakota ( ) is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...

. The town's official motto is "Progress with Pride", but the town's weekly paper, the ''Oxbow Herald'', has long included two other unofficial town mottoes on its masthead: "Queen of the Scenic Souris" (a reference to the Souris River, near which Oxbow is situated) and "Where Oil and

Agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

Meet" (a reference to the town's two major industries).

History

The first settlers around Oxbow - mainly of English, Irish, and Scottish descent - began homesteading the area under the '' Dominion Lands Act'' in 1882. The town's

weekly newspaper Weekly newspaper is a general-news or Current affairs (news format), current affairs publication that is issued once or twice a week in a wide variety broadsheet, magazine, and electronic publishing, digital formats. Similarly, a biweekly newspap ...

, the ''Oxbow Herald'', was founded in 1903. The town was incorporated in 1904. The town was named after the "

oxbow __NOTOC__ An oxbow is a U-shaped metal pole (or larger wooden frame) that fits the underside and the sides of the neck of an ox or wikt:bullock, bullock. A bow pin holds it in place. The term "oxbow" is widely used to refer to a U-shaped meand ...

" in the Souris River near which the town is situated. Etymologically, the word "oxbow", as applied to a river, is a metaphor for the

worn by an ox. The town grew rapidly in the years following incorporation, reaching a population of 678 in 1916. The town's population then hovered around 600-700 for the next several decades. In the mid-1950s, oil companies began developing the oilfields around Oxbow. This set off a boom time, as personnel moved to Oxbow to work on

drilling rig A drilling rig is an integrated system that Drilling, drills wells, such as oil or water wells, or holes for piling and other construction purposes, into the earth's subsurface. Drilling rigs can be massive structures housing equipment used to ...

s and provide other services to the oil industry. As of 2010 there has been roughly 38,000 oil and gas wells around the surrounding area.

and oil remain the two major industries of the town. On October 16, 1982,

Royal Canadian Mounted Police 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 ...

(RCMP) Officer Cst. Butler was killed while on duty in Oxbow. A high speed pursuit had begun earlier west of Oxbow with the pursuit heading towards Oxbow. Cst. Butler had set up a road block with his RCMP cruiser across the roadway. A high speed collision occurred with Cst. Butler still in the vehicle. He later died of his injuries. Two occupants of the evading vehicle were also killed.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population 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 ...

, Oxbow 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.

Government

The mayor is Doug Pierce, who was elected by acclamation in October 2020.

Education

The main school in Oxbow is Oxbow Prairie Horizons School (OPHS), a

K–12 K–12, from kindergarten to 12th grade, is an English language expression that indicates the range of years of publicly supported primary and secondary education found in the United States and Canada, which is similar to publicly supported sch ...

school, with a

Preschool A preschool (sometimes spelled as pre school or pre-school), also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, play school, is an school, educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they ...

Program. Oxbow Prairie Horizons School opened in the 2010-11 school year. Prior to the construction of Oxbow Prairie Horizons School, Oxbow had two schools: (1) Oxbow Prairie Heights School (OPHS), which taught Grades 6 through 12 (Oxbow Prairie Heights School opened in 1986, following renovations to the former Oxbow High School, which had taught Grades 7 through 12); and (2) Oxbow Elementary School, which was Grades K through 6 until 1985, and taught Grades K through 5 from 1985 to 2010. In addition to the elementary school and high school, the Glenn McGuire School used to provide educational opportunities for intellectually and physically challenged students ranging in age from three to twenty-two years of age. As of September 1, 2008, the Glenn McGuire school has been demolished, and the physically challenged students have been integrated into the elementary school and high school.

Sport and recreation

Sporting sites available in Oxbow include tennis courts, ball diamonds, a motocross track, an artificial-ice skating rink, a curling rink, and an outdoor swimming pool. Moose Creek Regional Park is located north-west of Oxbow, and it offers camping, fishing, boating, water-skiing, a nine-hole golf course with grass greens, and driving and putting ranges. Oxbow is home to the Oxbow Huskies. They play in the senior men's Big 6 Hockey League. The Oxbow Chiefs of the Saskota Baseball League play at the local ball diamonds.

Bow Valley Park

Bow Valley Park is a campground with many recreational opportunities south of Oxbow along the Souris River. Some of the amenities and activities include ball diamonds, a pavilion, outdoor theatre, potable water, and a boat launch. The park is also home to the annual Bow Valley Jamboree. In 2011, the Souris River flooded destroying much of the park. It cost $300,000 and took almost six years to restore the park. The official grand reopening was in June of 2017.

Literary references

Renowned Canadian journalist Ralph Allen came from Oxbow. Allen was the author of several books, including the novel ''Peace River Country'' (1958) and a history of Canada during the period of the two world wars entitled ''Ordeal By Fire: Canada, 1910–1945'' (1961). In 1967, Christina McCall Newman edited a collection of Allen's columns from '' Maclean's'' entitled ''The Man From Oxbow''. Oxbow's town museum is named in Allen's honour. During his time as Editor of '' Maclean's'', Allen (who was famous for the quote, "this will have to be re-written before we can reject it") mentioned Oxbow several times in the magazine. The November 10, 1956, cover featured a full-colour illustration of the offices of the Oxbow Herald newspaper and showed owner Joe Pedlar at work. There is also a reference to Oxbow in ''My Discovery of America'' by Farley Mowat (1985). The book is a memoir detailing why Mowat was denied entry to the US in 1985. In the Appendix, he points out that one of the reasons was that he had supported an Oxbow group that was opposed to nuclear weapons at the Minot Air Force Base. Another reference to Oxbow can be found in Peter Newman's ''Mavericks: Canadian Rebels, Renegades and Anti-Heroes'' (2010), in the chapter recounting the history of the Bronfman family's early involvement with bootlegging during prohibition, prior to their establishment of the Seagram Company in Montreal. Oxbow was also infamously the target of an article by

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

author W. P. Kinsella (who was catapulted to fame when his book '' Shoeless Joe'' (1980) was made into the movie '' Field of Dreams'' by

Kevin Costner Kevin Michael Costner (born January 18, 1955) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Kevin Costner, various accolades, including two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and a Primeti ...

in 1989). Kinsella was sent to Oxbow by '' Saturday Night'' magazine after Oxbow had the dubious distinction of having Canada's highest per-capita murder rate. Years later, Kinsella followed up with a second article, again in '' Saturday Night''.

Notable people

* Ralph Allen — Editor of '' Maclean's'' * Eric Berntson — Politician * Lorna Brown — Artist * Lindsay Carson — Retired

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

hockey player *

Sandy Cushon Sandy Cushon (born in Oxbow, Saskatchewan) is best known as former host of agricultural program ''Country Canada'' on CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language te ...

— Television Host for

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...

* Theoren Fleury — Retired NHL hockey player * Andrew Irvine — Professor and dramatist at

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

* Tanner Jeannot — NHL hockey player * Reg Kerr — Retired NHL hockey player * Chaelynn Kitz — Curler * Marj Mitchell — World Curling Championships Curler * Kris Porter — Retired professional hockey player * Lanette Prediger — Canadian skeleton racer * Archibald Riddell — Politician * Richard Southam — Politician * Jesse Pickard Tripp — Politician * Frank B. Walsh — Ophthalmologist

References

External links

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