Senate is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either hav ...

within the

Rural Municipality of Reno No. 51 The Rural Municipality of Reno No. 51 ( 2021 population: ) is a rural municipality (RM) in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan within Census Division No. 4 and Division No. 3. Located in the southwest corner of the province, it is adjacent ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in 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 the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

. The village had a population of 63 around 1940 and has since declined to 0 residents. The townsite is located along Hwy 21 & the historic

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 ...

(also known as Hwy 13), about 20 km east of the

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

border Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political bo ...

and is about 200 km southwest of the city of

Swift Current Swift Current is the fifth largest city in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It is situated along the Trans Canada Highway west of Moose Jaw, and east of Medicine Hat, Alberta. Swift Current grew 6.8% between 2011 and 2016, ending up at ...

Demographics

Prior to January 1, 1994, Senate was incorporated as a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

, and was dissolved into an unincorporated community under the

jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels. Ju ...

of the

Rural municipality A rural municipality is a classification of municipality, a type of local government, found in several countries. These include: * Rural municipalities in Canada, a type of municipal status in the Canadian provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, a ...

of Reno on that date.

History

Paul Kalmring's family ran a corner store and gas station for most of the time between 1916 and 1983 in the tiny community, named after federal senators of the day when the community was created in 1914. Kalmring's family moved to the area when Paul was two, and his father soon purchased a convenience store and gas station. Senate's population peaked at 63 in the 1940s and was a stopping point for 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 ...

. For a few years, Senate even had its own train ticket agent. The west had just been opened up to waves of European

settlers A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established a permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. A settler who migrates to an area previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited may be described as a pioneer. Settl ...

seeking prosperity, and at first, the future appeared promising for Senate and several others along Highway 13, or what is now know today as the

. During Senate's best years, the community boasted two elevators, a five-room

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

and restaurant,

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

shop, lumberyard and Kalmring's general store and

gas station A filling station, also known as a gas station () or petrol station (), is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold in the 2010s were gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Gasol ...

. For leisure, the citizens of Senate also built a

tennis court A tennis court is the venue where the sport of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the centre. The same surface can be used to play both doubles and singles matches. A variety of surfaces can be ...

and a

baseball diamond A baseball field, also called a ball field or baseball diamond, is the field upon which the game of baseball is played. The term can also be used as a metonym for a baseball park. The term sandlot is sometimes used, although this usually refers ...

across the train tracks. But as in most other locales along southwest Saskatchewan, Senate's fortunes declined after the 1940s. Regional farm consolidation, drought and rural depopulation ended all hope for any lasting life at Senate. By the early 1980s, Kalmring sold his store and moved to his farm, three kilometres north of Senate. And in 1983, the community was empty, home only to prairie ghosts. In 1994, with the railway and elevators also gone,

rural municipality A rural municipality is a classification of municipality, a type of local government, found in several countries. These include: * Rural municipalities in Canada, a type of municipal status in the Canadian provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, a ...

officials brought in the bulldozers and levelled Senate's remaining dilapidated buildings and dumped part of the debris into a nearby landfill.

Geography

Most cities in Canada and throughout the world have their

antipode Antipode or Antipodes may refer to: Mathematics * Antipodal point, the diametrically opposite point on a circle or ''n''-sphere, also known as an antipode * Antipode, the convolution inverse of the identity on a Hopf algebra Geography * Antipode ...

in the ocean. In the 1940s, Senate was one of only a handful of communities in Canada that has not only land, but a similar size village, in this case Port aux Francais on the

Kerguelen The Kerguelen Islands ( or ; in French commonly ' but officially ', ), also known as the Desolation Islands (' in French), are a group of islands in the sub-Antarctic constituting one of the two exposed parts of the Kerguelen Plateau, a large ...

Islands, within 10 km of its antipode.

References

Reno No. 51, Saskatchewan Former villages in Saskatchewan Unincorporated communities in Saskatchewan Populated places established in 1910 Ghost towns in Saskatchewan Division No. 4, Saskatchewan {{canada-ghost-town-stub

Demographics

History

Geography

See also

References