Spirit River is a town 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 ce ...

, Canada. It is approximately north of

Grande Prairie Grande Prairie is a city in Northern Alberta, northwestern Alberta, Canada, within the southern portion of an area known as Peace River Country. It is located at the intersection of Alberta Highway 43, Highway 43 (part of the CANAMEX Corridor) ...

at the junction of Highway 49 and Highway 731.

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 ...

, the Town of Spirit River had a population of 992 living in 445 of its 510 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 995. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. In the 2016 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, the Town of Spirit River recorded a population of 995 living in 442 of its 487 total private dwellings, a change from its 2011 population of 1,025. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2016.

Economy

The community is largely

agricultural 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 f ...

, being located in the fertile

Peace Country The Peace River Country (or Peace Country; ) is an aspen parkland region centring on the Peace River in Canada. It extends from northwestern Alberta to the Rocky Mountains in northeastern British Columbia, where a certain portion of the region is ...

. It also features an active

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 ...

industry.

History

The name Spirit River comes from the

Cree The Cree, or nehinaw (, ), are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people, numbering more than 350,000 in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada, First Nations. They live prim ...

''Chepe Sepe'', or Ghost River. In 1891, a trading post became the original settlement along the banks of the Spirit River.

Ranching A ranch (from /Mexican Spanish) is an area of land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of farm. These terms are most often applied to li ...

in the area started as early as the 1840s and

farming 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 ...

in the 1880s. The first school opened in 1910. In 1915, to the northwest, on Section 22, the

Edmonton, Dunvegan and British Columbia Railway Northern Alberta Railways was a Canadian railway which served northern Alberta and northeastern British Columbia. Jointly owned by both Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway, NAR existed as a separate company from 1929 until 19 ...

subdivided a townsite called ''Spirit River Station''. The residents and storekeepers at the old settlement then moved, creating a village in 1916. On February 16 of that year, the Herald Tribune reported that McRae & Co. opened a general store. Spirit River was incorporated as a town in 1951. In 1923, the

wheat pool A wheat pool is a co-operative that markets grain (mostly wheat) on behalf of its farmer-members. In Canada in 1923 and 1924, three wheat pools were created. They were agricultural cooperative, farmer-owned co-operatives, created to break the ...

was established. In October 2013, a pipeline inspection crew working in the Saddle Hills area southwest of Spirit River unearthed a 10-metre long dinosaur fossil. It was later confirmed to be that of the duck-billed

hadrosaur Hadrosaurids (), also hadrosaurs or duck-billed dinosaurs, are members of the ornithischian family Hadrosauridae. This group is known as the duck-billed dinosaurs for the flat duck-bill appearance of the bones in their snouts. The ornithopod fami ...

. The Town of Spirit River, along with the Municipal District of Spirit River celebrated its 100th anniversary in August 2016.

Government

The Municipal District of Spirit River No. 133's municipal office is located in Spirit River. It is also home to the Peace-Wapiti School Board and provincial offices for Alberta Agriculture and Fish and Wildlife.

Infrastructure

;Transportation A paved airport accommodates medical emergency flights and private aircraft. ;Recreation The town features a curling rink, arena, outdoor pool, library, museum and community hall. ;Health care Spirit River is home to a hospital and the Central Peace Health Centre, a newly constructed clinic that has physician, dentist, physiotherapist and massage therapist offices. A new 92-bed seniors care home is set to open in 2024.

Education

The town is home to two schools – Ste. Marie Catholic School (elementary) and Spirit River Regional Academy (K-12).

Sports

The

Spirit River Rangers Spirit(s) commonly refers to: * Liquor, a distilled alcoholic drink * Spirit (animating force), the non-corporeal essence of living things * Spirit (supernatural entity), an incorporeal or immaterial being Spirit(s) may also refer to: Liquids ...

of the

North Peace Hockey League The North Peace Hockey League (NPHL) is a Canadian men's Senior ice hockey league in Peace River Country in Northern Alberta and British Columbia. History The league formed in 1954 and is the longest running senior ice hockey league in Canada. ...

play out of the Maclean Rec Centre.

Notable people

Hilarion Kapral Metropolitan Hilarion (born Igor Alexeyevich Kapral, ; 6 January 1948 – 16 May 2022) was a bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR), Metropolitan of Russian Orthodox Eparchy of Eastern America and New York, Eastern America ...

, a bishop and First Hierarch of

ROCOR The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (), also called Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia or ROCOR, or Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (ROCA), is a semi-autonomous part of the Russian Orthodox Church, Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Pat ...

* Patricia Joudry, screenwriter. *

Tim Howar Timothy Howar (born 24 November 1969) is a Canadian-born British singer with the pop-rock band Mike + The Mechanics who also acts in leading roles in West End and Broadway musicals. Career Howar was born in Spirit River, Alberta, Canada.Ma ...

, singer and dancer, known as a London-based rock vocalist with

Mike + the Mechanics Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and documenta ...

Aaron Goodvin Aaron Goodvin is a Canadian-American country music singer and songwriter. Active since 2016, he has charted multiple singles on the ''Billboard'' Canada Country charts, including the number-one hits " You Are" and " Boy Like Me", and the double p ...

, country singer * Frank Grigware, who escaped from

Leavenworth Prison The Federal Correctional Institution, Leavenworth is a medium-security federal prison for male inmates in northeast Kansas. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice. It also includes ...

while serving a life sentence for train robbery, and was elected mayor in 1916 using the name James Fahey

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1916 establishments in Alberta Hudson's Bay Company trading posts Municipal District of Spirit River No. 133 Towns in Alberta